This is a couple days old, but, as usual, I got sucked into reading the comments after the article. I do have to wonder why it cost TriMet $600,000 to put up a fence. On the other hand, the geniuses who comment on these articles are all up in arms about the "half-assed" measures TriMet is taking. Of course, the thing is that they way Max is built, there's no way to close off these stations in anything other than a symbolic way - without spending hundreds of millions. Several commenters noted that "it works for BART" to have stations closed, but of course BART is an entirely different story. And naturally if we were to spend the millions it would take to close off these stations they'd be complaining about spending all that money. Ah, well...
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/...63940318432800
TriMet targets MAX freeloaders
Gresham City Hall unimpressed with plan to renovate
By Mara Stine
The Gresham Outlook, Aug 1, 2008
JIM CLARK / Gresham Outlook
Stephanie Gabel, who rides MAX to work in Portland, said a proposed new fence at Central Station in Gresham won't make much of a difference and people will still find a way to avoid paying fares.
After years of complaints about crime and disorder on the local MAX line, TriMet now plans to fence off a particularly dangerous Gresham platform.
The Gresham Central transit center, at Northeast Eighth Avenue and Kelly Street, will become the MAX line’s first platform to be physically enclosed to reduce freeloaders from riding the rails.
But some local riders, police and even Gresham’s mayor say there are holes in TriMet’s plan. Not only would the fence contain ticket machines where people pay their fare, but the fence – at 42 inches high – is so short people could easily jump over it, said Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis.
“I’ve seen more protection at a kiddy pool,” he said. “I don’t know what they’re thinking. They need to go back to the drawing board.”
TriMet already has a handful of stations considered “fare zones” – areas where only those with a paid ticket are allowed. But there’s no fence to contain the zones, although a few are down flights of stairs from upper platforms where tickets are purchased, creating a delineation between the two areas. The 82nd Avenue platform is such a station.
Designs for Gresham Central changes, as well as improvements to the 82nd Avenue station, are about 75 percent done. Cost is estimated at $600,000.
Those designs call for a 42-inch-high fence to create a fare zone on the westbound side of Gresham Central. No such zone is needed on the eastbound side because there’s only one more station to the east, said Mary Fetsch, TriMet spokeswoman.
The zone also will be TriMet’s only one with ticket machines inside of it. Moving the station’s two ticket machines would cost an estimated $120,000, which is too expensive, Fetsch said. Two 8-foot gaps in the fence would allow riders to enter and exit the zone.
Bemis said the plan doesn’t make much sense.
“The whole idea was to make sure people had their ticket before getting on the platform,” he said. Besides, $600,000 is a lot of money for a fence that’s short enough for people to hop over, he added.
Fetsch pointed out that the $600,000 also pays for better lighting, signs directing riders to the fare zone and pavement treatments identifying the zone for both the 82nd and Gresham Central stations.
As for fence height, “We’re sending a clear message that this is a fare zone; at the same time, we didn’t want people to feel trapped by a taller fence if there was a situation that was making someone feel uncomfortable,” she said.
No full-time staff will be on hand to check fares, but more inspectors will frequent the zone, as will supervisors who now have authority to check fares and write tickets, Fetsch said.
“It’s still an honor system, it’s still an open system,” she said of the MAX line. “This isn’t going to become like a subway system, where you have turnstiles and staff there all hours all days.”
Also, starting in September, TriMet will replace 37 ticket machines dating back to when the light rail system was built 22 years ago. Six of those old machines are in Gresham, including one at Gresham Central. TriMet hopes this eliminates a common rider complaint that they couldn’t buy a ticket because the machine was broken, Fetsch said.
TriMet is scheduled to make the changes by the end of the year.
The changes are intended to help TriMet plug a revenue leak from people riding for free. About 8 percent of MAX riders don’t pay, “which is about the industry standard,” Fetsch said.
Based on that statistic and the $32 million that TriMet made in light-rail ticket sales during the last fiscal year, TriMet lost approximately $2.56 million in ticket revenue due to freeloaders.
TriMet’s proposed changes also could improve safety. Last spring at a local community safety summit, Gresham citizens told Bemis they didn’t feel safe on the train or at stations, particularly at night. Bemis and citizens suggested that TriMet enclose stations to keep out fare-evaders and criminals.
Then in late October, just as Bemis assigned two Gresham police officers to patrol the train, a 15-year-old boy armed with a baseball bat brutally beat an elderly man at Gresham Central, nearly killing him.
Gresham Capt. Tim Gerkman doubts the fare zone will reduce freeloaders. The Gresham City Hall and Cleveland Avenue stations are within walking distance, he said. “So if you’re not law abiding, wouldn’t you just walk the extra four or five blocks?” he asked. “People who are intent on being disruptive, loud, rowdy and obnoxious are not going to pay their fare.”
Rider reaction to the plan is mixed.
“I think it’s a good idea because … it would erase a lot of the people who come here just to hang out and cause trouble,” said Sandy resident Gabriela Novak, 25, as she waited for a westbound train.
“I’ve got two kids,” ages 1 and 3, she said. “I don’t want them around that kind of thing.”
Stephanie Gabel, 39, of Gresham is less optimistic.
“I don’t think it’s going to stop people from not paying,” she said while headed to work at a bank near Portland’s Hollywood station. In fact, the Hollywood station has a downstairs fare zone, and she still sees people getting on the train without buying a ticket. “It doesn’t stop anybody,” she said.
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Anyway, I listed Kruse Way as an area they forgot... mainly because I work there, but also it seems to be a huge employment area that is incredibly underserved transit-wise.
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