State representative is interested in supporting affordable and flexible transit solutions that deliver value to citizens and taxpayers
Rep. John Ley
for Clark County Today
Rep. John Ley attended the C-TRAN ribbon cutting for their new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line in Vancouver on Wednesday. The new line will run from WSU Vancouver down Highway 99 to downtown Vancouver, offering more frequent and higher-capacity bus service for transit riders. The total cost for the proposed construction is not expected to exceed $42.5 million, according to C-TRAN figures. This is the third line in C-TRAN’s BRT system.
“The $42 million project highlights a much more affordable, flexible, and efficient mass transit system for Vancouver and Clark County residents,” said Ley, R-Vancouver. “This contrasts with the $2 billion light rail extension proposed for the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) Program that extends Portland’s MAX light rail into Vancouver. The Yellow Line only travels 14 mph, whereas if we extend this BRT line into Portland, it will travel well over twice that speed.”
Ley is interested in supporting affordable and flexible transit solutions that deliver value to citizens and taxpayers. “The C-TRAN bus service offers better quality service and costs roughly 40% less per boarding rider to operate than TriMet’s MAX light rail. Clark County citizens do not want to pay more taxes for Portland’s troubled MAX light rail.”
The IBR is currently proposing to replace an over-congested 3-lane bridge with another 3-lane bridge that allocates 54 percent of the bridge surface to bikes, pedestrians and transit.
Adding the BRT line to the replacement bridge would save $2 billion and allow BRT buses to mingle with other vehicles on the bridge if the light rail tracks were replaced with two additional vehicle lanes. “Everyone wins under this scenario,” Ley concluded.
Information provided by Washington State House Republicans, houserepublicans.wa.gov
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Years ago, when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I commuted from the East Bay to Downtown San Francisco for many years. During the early years, I rode the bus. It ran like clockwork, rarely more than a minute or two variation in arrival and departure times. Even when the Bay Bridge was very congested, significantly delays were rare.
Then BART was built, and I had moved to a more suburban location, The BART trains were very unreliable. The least little problem caused trains to be delayed. (The buses generally could simply drive around an obstruction or detour a few blocks out of the way.) Every day was a crapshoot if the train would arrive at my station on time and if it would manage to get to the exit station on time. Trains are inflexible and suffer delays for any minor condition. Busses are flexible, and can easily detour around most problems. In addition, buses are substantially less expensive to operate.