Following in TriMet’s Tracks: Defined-Contribution Pensions a Necessary First Step to Oregon’s Fiscal Health
By Scott Shepard Scott Shepard is a lawyer and was a visiting law…
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TriMet Needs a Broader Definition of Diversity
By John A. Charles, Jr. TriMet has been recruiting a new General Manager…
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For Green Activists, the Cleanest Cars in History Are Bad News
By John A. Charles, Jr. The Oregon Legislature convened again this week. A…
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Road Policy Belongs to Those Who Show Up
By John A. Charles, Jr. The Oregon Department of Transportation is hosting three…
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Poll Shows Voters Are Smarter Than Politicians Think
By John A. Charles, Jr. In November the regional government, Metro, released the…
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Tolling People on to Portland’s Highways
By John A. Charles, Jr. Earlier this year the state legislature passed a…
Read Blog DetailPortland’s latest attempt to centrally plan transportation patterns is backfiring
By Jessica Miller Portland has a longstanding history of attempting to socially engineer…
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Transportation Finance Isn’t as Complicated as Legislators Make It
By John A. Charles, Jr. Some members of the Oregon Legislature think you…
Read Blog DetailThe Case of the Missing Transit Money
By John A. Charles, Jr. Last week the TriMet Board adopted a budget…
Read Blog DetailThe Greatest Challenge to Traffic Safety? It’s Not Residential Speed Limits
By John A. Charles, Jr. Earlier this week the Oregon House of Representatives…
Read Blog DetailLet’s Build Some Highways
By John A. Charles, Jr. Oregon stopped building new highways in 1983 when…
Read Blog DetailPortland’s Regional Transit Strategy Is Not Working
By John A. Charles, Jr. The Portland Auditor released the 2016 Annual Community…
Read Blog DetailUber Translated: Better Service for the Underserved
By Lydia White It’s not news that free-market visionaries provide better service than…
Read Blog DetailLight Rail to Bridgeport Village: The Dumbest Train Project Yet
By John A. Charles, Jr. TriMet and Metro are promoting the idea of…
Read Blog DetailMAX at 30: Portland Transit Needs a New Plan
September 5 marked the official 30th anniversary of the opening of TriMet’s light…
Read Blog DetailNew Report: Transportation Funding Should Be a State and Local Responsibility
Study Finds That Transportation Funding Should Be a State and Local Responsibility May…
Read Blog DetailTriMet’s Edifice Complex
Recently TriMet announced that after two years of planning for an expensive new…
Read Blog DetailPortland Chases Another Dream
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced this week that Portland is one of…
Read Blog DetailBroken Promises: The Real Trends in TriMet’s Transit Performance (2004-2015)
TriMet’s ridership is declining and its level of fixed-route service is lower today…
Read Blog DetailFailed Promises: Why the Legislature Should Reject TriMet’s Request for New Spending Authority
TriMet is currently seeking new spending authority in SB 1510 to help finance…
Read Blog DetailTriMet’s 7-Year-Old WES Line: Still a Project in Search of a Purpose
February marks the seven-year anniversary of the Westside Express Service (WES), the 14.7-mile…
Read Blog DetailWES at 7: Still a Financial Train Wreck
February marks the seven-year anniversary of the Westside Express Service (WES), the 15-mile…
Read Blog DetailNew Transportation Funding Bill: Going Nowhere FAST
Last week Congress passed H.R. 22, a five-year transportation funding bill known as…
Read Blog DetailThe Futility of Public Hearings
Over the past four years, TriMet and Metro have been planning something called…
Read Blog DetailIs TriMet Better Off Than Greece?
Syndicated financial writer Malcolm Berko recently advised a small investor to stay away…
Read Blog DetailMysteries of Tilikum Crossing
Portland’s newest bridge over the Willamette River, Tilikum Crossing, has a few puzzling…
Read Blog DetailTilikum Crossing: More Punishment for Motorists
The new bridge over the Willamette River, TriMet’s Tilikum Crossing, opened for business…
Read Blog DetailOregon Leads the Nation in Passenger Rail Subsidies
By John A. Charles, Jr. In the waning days of the 2015 legislative…
Read Blog DetailThe Extinction of Public Transit
By Emma Newman Uber and Lyft have recently gained over 50 percent of…
Read Blog DetailPress Release: Cascade Policy Institute Urges TriMet to Cancel Proposed Tax Increase
July 23, 2015 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: John A. Charles, Jr. 503-242-0900…
Read Blog DetailDoes PCC-Sylvania Need a Light Rail Tunnel?
By Emma Newman Metro and TriMet are jointly considering an expansion of the…
Read Blog DetailEvent Video – Aging Roads? New Ideas!
Cascade welcomed transportation expert Adrian Moore, Ph.D., Vice President of Policy for Reason…
Read Blog DetailTime to “Uberize” the Transportation Economy
This week marks the beginning of a 120-day “pilot project” by the City…
Read Blog DetailAging Roads? New Ideas!
Cascade Policy Institute presents Aging Roads? New Ideas! featuring Adrian Moore, Ph.D. Vice…
Read Blog DetailTriMet’s Great Disappearing Act
During the 2003 session of the Oregon State Legislature, TriMet sought an increase…
Read Blog DetailReport Shows Oregon Public Employment Contracts Are a Ticking Time Bomb
PORTLAND, Ore. – Cascade Policy Institute today announced the release of a new…
Read Blog DetailNo Wonder Portland Can’t Afford to Maintain Streets
The Portland City Council seems determined to raise taxes to pay for street maintenance. But the City doesn’t have a revenue shortage problem; it has a spending misallocation problem, which continues to grow.
Read Blog DetailPortland’s Streetcar Audit: What Went Wrong?
Last Thursday, auditors released a report questioning the Portland Streetcar’s performance. Ridership counts…
Read Blog DetailPortland Should Join the “Free World” of Ridesharing
In November, Beaverton, Gresham, Hillsboro, and Tigard, Oregon joined Vancouver, Washington in welcoming…
Read Blog DetailPortland’s “F” Doesn’t Stand for “Transportation Friendly”
R Street Institute, a D.C.-based think tank, released its Ridescore website last week….
Read Blog DetailScare Tactics Not Working in Road Tax Debates
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) recently issued a report describing the deteriorating…
Read Blog DetailScare Tactics Not Working in Road Tax Debates
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) recently issued a report describing the deteriorating…
Read Blog DetailNo New Street Fee: City Council Should Approve Street Maintenance from the General Fund
Last week Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick suggested that the City Council approve…
Read Blog DetailForum on the Future of America’s Transportation Infrastructure
Cascade president and CEO John Charles presented on the demise of the highway trust…
Read Blog DetailThe Demise of the Highway Trust Fund: A Market Solution
In the 1967 film The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman plays a nerdy twenty-something…
Read Blog DetailTime for a Third Bridge to Vancouver
Last week a conceptual plan for a new bridge over the Columbia River…
Read Blog DetailShould Portland Residents Pay Another Fee to Cover Basic Road Maintenance?
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is proposing a new transportation tax for 2015. He…
Read Blog DetailTime to Stop Throwing Money down the WES Sinkhole
In its proposed fiscal year 2015 budget, TriMet forecasts the purchase of two…
Read Blog DetailEnergy-Efficiency Myths of Commuter Rail
Advocates of rail transit tend to argue that we need trains because they…
Read Blog DetailJohn Charles Debates Tigard’s Light Rail Ballot Measure
During January’s Tigard Initiative Public Forum, John Charles debated a Tigard City Counselor…
Read Blog DetailAs TriMet Sinks, Should Portland Suburbs Go Down With the Ship?
Last week Cascade released a report encouraging cities and counties to consider leaving…
Read Blog Detail$52 Million Retrofit Makes Traffic Worse in Portland’s South Waterfront
A case study released by Cascade Policy Institute shows the $52 million retrofit…
Read Blog DetailReport Makes the Case for Cities and Counties to Leave TriMet
A report released Monday by Cascade Policy Institute recommends that cities and counties within TriMet’s service jurisdiction…
Read Blog DetailThe Check Engine Light Is On
By William Newell Imagine you’re in a car traveling down I-5 at 60…
Read Blog DetailTriMet Violates Clean Air Act While “Regulators” Stay Silent
In previous decades the Portland region failed to meet national air quality standards…
Read Blog DetailTriMet Finally Admits Rail Problems
Last week I wrote about the problems TriMet is having with its constantly…
Read Blog DetailThe Chronic Failure of Rail Transit
The local transit agency, TriMet, likes to claim that continued expansion of the…
Read Blog DetailWhy Cities and Counties Should Consider Leaving TriMet
Please join us for Cascade’s monthly Policy Picnic led by Cascade President John Charles on Wednesday,…
Read Blog DetailThe Trouble with ObamaCare Is…Parking?
By John A. Charles, Jr. Oregon is scrambling to open its new federally…
Read Blog Detail“Field of Dreams” Is No Strategy for TriMet
September 12 will be the 15th anniversary of the opening of Westside MAX….
Read Blog DetailMoving Forward from the Columbia River Crossing
By Kevin Sharp With the recent suspension of the Columbia River Crossing project,…
Read Blog DetailStatement on the Columbia River Crossing Project
For Immediate Release Media Contact John A. Charles, Jr., [email protected] 503-459-3727 Sarah Ross…
Read Blog DetailOpen Letter to Federal Transit Administration Regarding TriMet
On June 14th, John Charles sent this letter to the Federal Transit Administration…
Read Blog DetailWhy Do Transit Officials Lie About Light Rail?
The transit agency for Vancouver (C-TRAN) is reconsidering its support for the Columbia…
Read Blog DetailWES at 4: Still a Financial Train Wreck
February marked the four-year anniversary of the Westside Express Service (WES), the 14.7-mile…
Read Blog DetailSaving Transit by Shrinking TriMet
In the past eight years, the all-funds budget for TriMet has gone up…
Read Blog DetailWhere’s the Secret Tax for the I-5 Bridge Proposal?
On Monday, the Oregon Senate passed House Bill 2800, the new Interstate 5…
Read Blog Detail“Streetcar Drives Development”―Portland’s Urban Legend
For much of human history, mass transit has had the utilitarian goal of…
Read Blog DetailHow Many Feet Should Sellwood’s Sidewalk Be?
If we build a new bridge over the Willamette River, how much space…
Read Blog DetailIs Driving Less a Good Thing?
Recently, the Metro Council received the results of a four-county household travel survey…
Read Blog DetailTaxpayers Pay the Difference for ODOT’s Solar Power “Champagne”
By Chris Barton Imagine heading out to your favorite bar one evening to…
Read Blog DetailDoubling the Sellwood Bridge for the Use of the Two Percent
By Michael Nielsen For more than six years, Multnomah County has been considering…
Read Blog DetailThe New Sellwood Bridge: Subsidizing the Two Percenters
By Michael Nielsen For more than six years, Multnomah County has been considering…
Read Blog DetailJohn Charles talks with Victoria Taft about the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project
Victoria Taft, radio host on KPAM 860, interviewed John Charles about his latest…
Read Blog DetailJeff Kropf talks with John Charles about TriMet’s Transit Hypocrisy
KUIK radio host Jeff Kropf interviewed Cascade President John Charles on his latest…
Read Blog DetailSteve Buckstein talks with Victoria Taft about ‘TowncarGate’ and public transportation
Victoria Taft spoke with Senior Policy Analyst Steve Buckstein on Monday about public…
Read Blog DetailThe Proper Use of Road Tolling in Oregon
John Charles presented his views on the proper use of road tolling in…
Read Blog DetailJohn Charles talks with Victoria Taft on light rail use and TriMet
Talk show host, Victoria Taft, talked with John Charles Monday about light rail…
Read Blog DetailSubsidized Car Sharing: The Next Frontier in Wasteful Spending
Nine months ago I happily testified (twice) on behalf of a legislative bill…
Read Blog DetailFree citizen education forum on Urban transportation and the CRC Light Rail Project
Citizens are warmly invited to hear five national experts share research on the…
Read Blog DetailRubber-Tire Contempt: TriMet’s $1.5 Billion Plan to Deliver Inferior Transit Service
As a young environmental activist growing up in north Jersey in the 1960s,…
Read Blog DetailTriMet’s War on Urban Livability
The following is an op-ed posted in the Oregonian. Weigh in on the…
Read Blog DetailGreen to Gray: TriMet and SW Lincoln Street in Portland, Oregon
Narration text below: In the 1960’s, SW Lincoln Street, near Portland State University,…
Read Blog DetailHow many presidential buses does it take to equal the cost of one light rail car?
President Obama is traveling the Midwest on a new bus purchased by the…
Read Blog DetailCascade Requests Congressional House Committee to Delete Funding for Milwaukie Light Rail
Portland, OR – Today Cascade Policy Institute sent a letter to Rep. John…
Read Blog DetailJohn Charles message to the TriMet Board Members
Below is the message John Charles sent to TriMet board members on August…
Read Blog DetailJohn Charles responds to attacks made by Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder and Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette
At the July 14, 2011 JPACT meeting, accusations were made about John Charles…
Read Blog DetailJohn Charles responds to Portland Mayor Sam Adams
At the July 14, 2011 JPACT meeting, accusations were made about John Charles…
Read Blog DetailTriMet’s New Transit Bridge to the Last Century
On June 30 TriMet formally began construction on the new Willamette River Bridge…
Read Blog DetailFTA Response to John Charles breach of contract letter
John Charles talked to the TriMet board about their FTA agreement, click below…
Read Blog DetailJohn Charles to TriMet Board: Understand Obligations Before Signing FTA Grant Agreement
Testimony before the TriMet Board of Directors Regarding Resolution 11-06-38 Application for a…
Read Blog DetailComments to the TriMet Board Regarding Proposed TriMet Fare Increase
The following comments were submitted to the TriMet board June 3, 2011. Members…
Read Blog DetailTriMet is violating its Full Funding Grant Agreement with the federal government for MAX Green Line
A letter sent yesterday to the regional administrator of the Federal Transit Administration…
Read Blog DetailPress Release: Light Rail and Streetcar Fail to Provide “High-Capacity” Service, Study Shows
A study released today by Cascade Policy Institute shows that TriMet’s so-called “High-Capacity Transit”…
Read Blog DetailOn the CRC Mega-Project: Differing Visions, Shared Sense
The two of us may be strange bedfellows. Over the past twenty years,…
Read Blog DetailJohn testifies before the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Transportation and Economic Development
Listen to John’s testimony. John starts around 1:30:00.
Read Blog DetailTake a Gamble on the Train
[audio:3-9-11SteveTakeaGamble.mp3] Click the play button to hear the audio commentary by Steve…
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