December 17, 2024
Joint Legislative Committee on the IBR
Salem, OR 97301
Dear Committee members,
With regard to IBR testimony titled Responses to 10/14/24 Meeting Questions, page 5, I offer the following observation:
Legislators are being promised that the proposed light rail service to Vancouver, WA will arrive every 6.7 minutes during weekday rush hours.
We don’t need to guess whether this forecast will be wrong. We already know it.
Before the Yellow Line opened in 2004, TriMet promised that peak-hour trains would arrive every 7.5 minutes by 2020.
That never happened. In fact, the Yellow Line today only arrives every 15 minutes, 50% below what was promised.
Not only did TriMet planners give the wrong forecast for levels of service, they weren’t even close on the ridership estimates. TriMet predicted 35,320 weekday riders on the Yellow Line by 2020. Actual ridership in 2024 is 10,611, 70% below the forecast.
C-TRAN already offers express bus service to Portland, which is a superior ride compared to light rail. Spending $3 billion to add rail will be a waste of money. You should cut this from the project while you still can.
Sincerely,
John A. Charles, Jr.
President & CEO
