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He said TriMet currently has an inventory of spare parts, and TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen said major components in the commuter rail cars, such as the engine and transmission, will be built by subcontractors as needed.
Future aspirations for WES include expanding its hours and possibly having the trains run during the weekend.
“But right now we are focusing on how to walk before we run,” Hansen said, as he swayed back and forth during Wednesday’s inaugural ride.
The commuter rail will run every 30 minutes weekday mornings from 5:20 to 9:54 a.m., and weekday evenings from 3:27 to 8:01 p.m. between Wilsonville and Beaverton.
Fare is $2.30 for a two-hour ticket.
WES cars will make a total of eight round trips during the morning shift and eight round trips during the evening shift. Out of those shifts, three trips in the morning and three in the afternoon will include both the diesel multiple unit (DMU) and the trailer, increasing commuter capacity.
A one-way trip is anticipated to take 27 minutes at an average speed of 37 mph and at a top speed of 60 mph.
Travel time from station to station is as follows:
For a detailed departure schedule from Wilsonville to Beaverton go to www.trimet.org/schedules/w/t1203_1.htm .
For a detailed departure schedule from Beaverton to Wilsonville go to www.trimet.org/schedules/w/t1203_0.htm .
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Just another example of a good press release, free train ride, and coffee and donuts getting you a positive press! If you really had a reporter on WES, you might try and find the answer to any of the questions Erik H. lists or you might look into the noise problem that TriMet says they have no money to help with (even after throwing millions of dollars down the Colorado rat hole). How about asking what the fare would be if this was not just to be a continuing drain on bus revenues (hint, it would be closer to $15 one way instead of $2).
Maybe you could ask Tom Brian why he isn't trying to get real public transportation in Washington County for everyone rather than this white elephant (check contributions from consultants and contractors). How about if Mr. Brian and other county commissioners all agreed to go to work one day a week by public transit? I bet not one has the slightest idea of the time it would take or how they would get there. Why not have a reporter duplicate the route they would take and tell us about it?
(email verified)
Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 09:02 AM
Last I heard, Fred Hansen takes a BUS to work every day ...
There are a large number of trips for which there are no transit alternatives. The opening of WES will reduce that number. It provides fast, high quality trips in a busy corridor at that. The complaints here seem to be of the half-full kind. Ignoring what it will do, while criticizing it for what it won't do.
(email verified)
Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 03:44 PM
Just Saying, the complaints are that TriMet has set off on the wrong track with their focus not on what they can do today for better public transportation. They continue to flush money down the drain on headline gathering money losing projects that transport few people and drain the future funds from their system. Next they are throwing unlimited public funds at light rail to Milwaukie, including building a new bridge over the river just for light rail. Wouldn't they be better to partner with those rebuilding the Sellwood Bridge? The days of unlimited income are at an end, the fare box needs to support the operations of all modes of public transit.
(email verified)
Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 11:55 PM
The construction cost of Wes alone, without the operation cost adds up to $15.00 a trip.
A trip is every time you board the train.
The High speed WES goes about 14 miles in 28 minutes, not counting getting to WES and going from WES to wherever your going.
WES is a step back to 19th century transit.
It is not fiscally sustainable. That is why our Senators and Congressman received a waver to build this line, despite the fact that it did not meet federal guidelines. This is just another pork barrel project that will need subsidizing until the end of time.
Another albatross around the neck of the taxpayers
(email verified)
Sun, Feb 01, 2009 at 07:59 AM
"the fare box needs to support the operations of all modes of public transit. "
Trying to get all the revenue from the fare box is an obviously silly standard for funding transit. In fact, abolitioning fares all together would make a lot more sense.
There are a lot of public benefits to people using transit. We ought to be doing everything possible to encourage its use. There are many people and businesses who don't pay fares but get direct benefits from the choice of people who do. And virtually everybody gets some benefits from others using transit.
The only reason fares haven't been eliminated entirely is that they provide a lever for policing the system. By the time you factor in the costs of fare collection, including the delays they create while people pay them, they don't generate enough net revenue to really justify them as a revenue source.
(email verified)
Sun, Feb 01, 2009 at 05:59 PM
Transit is nearly free now and it only attracts 2% of the metro area, that is forced to subsidize it.
Having a bus stop in front of your business often attract food garbage and cigarette butts, extra cleanup because eating and smoking on transit is not allowed, so it is discarded before they get on. If it really was such a great benefit, businesses would not need to be forced to contribute to Tri-Met.
Tri-Met will never be self supporting at the fair box because it is about redeveloping neighborhoods, not transit.
We can't afford to keep bailing out Tri-Met
(email verified)
Sun, Feb 01, 2009 at 07:37 PM
Another massive waste of the taxpayers dollars. It will never be self sustaining and will always be subsidized by our tax dollars. It is an impracticle waste of money that 99% of the people won't be able to utilize for transportation to and from work only for weekend excursions into the city.
STOP WITH THE TOY TRAINS !!!
(email verified)
Mon, Feb 02, 2009 at 06:27 AM
Yes, let's stop with the toy trains. While we are at it, let us also kill the bus lines, light rail and streetcars. I personally think a private lane for Hummers in the transit mall downtown would be best. Get a grip, people - mass transit serves a vital function to prevent more gridlock then we already have, plus providing a mode of transportation for those who do not, or cannot, own their own forms of transportation.
(email verified)
Mon, Feb 02, 2009 at 07:56 AM
I don't hate mass transit at all, I do hate wasteful spending building massive cost trains with limited service when the same amount of money could have provided much more service on bus routes that connect jobs to homes. If you really cared for mass transit you would want it run like a business and fill real needs, not just acting as spokes off downtown Portland where few jobs exist. Maybe you ought to support a circle route that connected Beaverton, Tualatin, Oregon City, and Gresham during the hours people commute and do business. I have ridden mass transit in cities all over the world and found that they sold tickets and collected fares just like a business, show me one other operating system where they use the TriMet system of free rides to the crooked!
(email verified)
Mon, Feb 02, 2009 at 08:49 AM
"Tired of mass transit haters" - you are not paying attention. Regional Bus Service is good because it can change its route as needs change, costs less to operate, and its economic effect can be measured. "Fixed" Mass Transit - Trains, have huge start up costs, costs more to operate and maintain. We don't hate Mass Transit - we hate the excess, and waste of our tax dollars being used to redevelop areas to justify the construction of Rail Transit. We accept the fact that, as a community, we need to offer a service to deliver residents from point a, to point b, but Mass Transit has morphed into a Regional Mission to Spend Tax Dollars and change behavior at the expense of our roads, infrastructure, and public safety. Government - in the USA - exists to accommodate the individual, not to change behavior. Sure we have laws to encourage a minimum code of behavior, but that should not extend to how, where, when you travel and direct where you live based upon your socioeconomic status in the community.
"just saying" Since you seem to ALWAYS comment about things that are only perceived to be true to you - let me enlighten you about something. Riders have to pay a fee to ride. Why? Because there will then be a perceived "Value" to the rider - and more will ride. There will also be less vandalism, and crime along the route, because there will be "Value" offered at the destination point of the rider, where they have paid to go. This is a Marketing Principal that has existed for centuries. I know this will be a tough concept for you to accept but it always proves to be true. What about Fare Less Square? Well, it exists to encourage point to point BUS use Downtown - in a very limited area - for the convenience of Businesses Downtown to accomidate their employees, not for the shoppers - they benefit - but it is not the primary goal. To eliminate the extension of Fareless Square up to the Lloyd District would have little if no impact on ridership - it might even increase.
(email verified)
Mon, Feb 02, 2009 at 11:34 AM
"I have ridden mass transit in cities all over the world and found that they sold tickets and collected fares just like a business, show me one other operating system where they use the TriMet system of free rides to the crooked!"
Many cities in Germany and other European countries operate their streetcars on the honor system. Fines are steep if you get caught, however. I do not know if they operate at a profit or not.
I personally believe we save little or nothing by NOT having mass transit. Without mass transit our traffic gets worse faster, idle times and stress increase, and rising fuel prices everyone more more. Mass transit gives people more reliable transit options.
(email verified)
Mon, Feb 02, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Mass transit is a wonderful idea and I would support that. However that is not what this is!
Mass transit has a train every 15 min. to half an hour and carries hundreds of people at a time. This is nothing but a feel good project for people who don't have a clue!!
(email verified)
Mon, Feb 02, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Look at it this way. Now public affairs coordinators can respond to an emergency business call and not fear being caught behind a six hour traffic accident reconstruction investigation.
(email verified)
Mon, Feb 02, 2009 at 07:24 PM
WES stands for Wasteful Excessive Spending.
Yup in this economy government introduces ANOTHER form of mass transit that sucks non-riding taxpayer money to run the system. Did all the elected officials show their 'just got out of shock therapy' card to get elected?
Mark is correct, not only can buses change routes as the population and businesses change (gee, a system that responds to the people instead of trying to make people respond to the system); but they use roads which transport goods and services as well as people. Much more 'bang' for the buck. If the money wasted building these stupid trains had been spent on roads we'd be much better off.
You want mass transit, then buses are your economical answer. You want to suck taxpayer dollars, then toy trains (of every stripe) are your answer.
Funny, the 'planners' seem to think our places to live need to be mixed use, but the transportation system goes back to single use.
(email verified)
Mon, Feb 02, 2009 at 11:17 PM
In another 10 years we are going to get hit with replacing worn out tracks. If we had buses instead of our little choo choo's it would not be on the radar. I can't wait!
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 12:34 AM
To "tired of mass transit haters",
The people to whom you refer also hate poor people, immigrants, homeless people, homosexuals, and people who are more or less religious than they are. They are pretty good at concealing their racism too, and ducking responsibility.
This attitude is prevalent in war-torn areas of the world. If these people lived in the West Bank (what was called Palestine before 1917), they would be building nothing, hating everything, and lobbing crude missiles at anyone who works hard and celebrates life.
We have fought several wars to keep the USA safe from people like these. It's scary how many of them now live inside our borders and call themselves Americans. But there is nothing effective to be done but to tolerate their hatred, suffer their poison, and continue to lead by example.
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 07:18 AM
"Patience" needs to cut back on the meds or smoking med weed and see if they can find anything to connect their thoughts to reality.
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 07:42 AM
I am all for mass transit and I believe that you have to give a project time to see how it will work. The thing that drives me crazy is the loud, never ending horn blasts from the WES. The trains themselves aren't loud, but I have to wonder if there aren't some sadistic engineers more than happy to wake up all of suburban Tualatin. Thanks for turning my street into the inner city. Should accompany the huge explosions from Tigard Sand and Gravel quite nicely.
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 11:00 AM
I agree, the honking is horrible. Our city leaders should have made sure the honking would not be a factor. They could have put up the right gates. Now much of Tualatin has become a honking mess. The residents are being woken up (including the kids). It goes on and on. Wait until the summer when the windows are open and we are outside. We can hear that train with the windows closed, the heater on and the T.V. on.
Ridiculous! All the city says is that there is no money. Maybe the fool who allowed this to happen should be losing their job.
I'm sure this will be another one of those costly wastes funded by us.
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 12:55 PM
I don't understand why people think it's Trimet's problem with the whistle blows?
1st - Trains have regularly traveled that line for some time (going back about 100 years).
2nd - The trains are operated by Portland & Western Railroad (including WES).
3rd - ODOT is the crossing safety authority over all public highway-railroad crossings (per the Oregon.gov website).
4th - In the end, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is responsible for operating practices including the "annoying" whistle blows.
$10,000 says that if the train wasn't required to blow the whistle at crossings and didn't, if someone was killed at a crossing, these same complainers would then be saying Trimet should be held responsible and should be doing more to prevent the deaths.
If the whistle blows still annoy you, you should move since the trains were there before you. If you can't move, you should take up your issue with the party responsible for creating the rule, the Federal Railroad Administration. I even looked up the website for you: http://www.fra.dot.gov/
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 01:48 PM
Along with the vast majority of your writers, I think this was a huge waste of money and will never live up to the hopes and dreams of some.
The noise of the whistles is frustrating, as the frequency has increased many-fold, and each time I hear it, I think "Lou-Lou-Lou-Lou" as our current mayor is one of the promoters of this neighborhood busting project in Tualatin.
We can all take solace in the cost of this project, as we watch the 1/2 empty cars go by and tie up traffic at all the intersections it crosses, and know that our money is supporting such a few number of riders.
Convenience-NO, Expensive Annoyance-Yes.
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 03:53 PM
Chris A., you need to do a little research into what you post.
1. I have lived here over fifty years and even though the tracks were here, the average train traffic was two trains a day. On one day WES runs more trains through here than the various railroads did in a month, and at night we get the same freight traffic we had on the rail before WES!
2. WES is not operated by Portland & Western, it is running on tracks rebuilt for Portland & Western by TriMet and under an agreement with them. It is owned and operated by TriMet.
3. There are ways to mitigate the noise impact that the Tualatin City Council and TriMet chose not to pursue (that comply with Fed Stds), even though independent expert testimony was offered on the negative impact. Maybe if you researched the meetings with TriMet and the City you would understand that TriMet simply wouldn't pay for a better way, even while they threw millions in money down the rat hole in Colorado.Many towns like Milwaukie, Oregon and Tacoma, Washington are working on crossing whistle noise impact and moving toward solutions, because they care about quality of life in their cities.
This problem was brought to TriMet's attention in the earliest stages of the project but they simply don't care.
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 04:10 PM
I live in Tualatin as well, and just a few hundred yards from a railroad crossing. Let me tell you, this WES is one of the most disturbing things I have ever experienced. It's very easy for people to comment about how we should move away from the train tracks if the noise is bothersome. Or that we should not have moved there in the first place if we knew there were train tracks nearby. But it is not that easy. Yes, I knew full well that I would be living right by the train tracks when I moved in. But that was when they were used by the freight trains only. Those train only went by a few times a day. You learn to live with the horn noise, and tune it out. It did not bother me at all.
There is a big difference between listening to a train whistle a few times a day versus over 30 times a day. (Not to mention that it starts at 5:30 AM every morning). It's not just one whistle, it's multiple times each passing. Then of course you hear the same thing as it passes through downtown Tualatin at the crossing down the road. I challenge anyone who thinks that it's our fault because we live near the train to actually come spend a day here listening to it(and be woken up at the crack of dawn).
The horn noise is hard to accept. And I hope that in the near future it will be addressed. And I am glad to hear I am not the only one in Tualatin who has noticed this disturbance.
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 07:15 PM
Trimet,HONK HONK,HONK HONK, HONKKKKKK---lied---,HONK HONK,HONK HONK, HONKKKKKK, Tualatin died when Tri-Met lied! The peaceful little community is now the HORN BLAST capital of the metro area...over 1100 BLASTS PER DAY at over 95 decibels.... All because Tri-Met came up with an Environmental Assessment that said the commuter rail would be quieter than a few freight trains a day...they forgot to figure in the HORN BLASTS!!! They didn't want to have to budget to mitigate the problems they were going to cause....Now they want the citizens to foot the bill for the quiet zones....only $2,000,000+ and it will take care of the problem....and after Trimet makes the residents of Tualatin come up with the money it will only take 3 years to get it approved by the feds..... If you want anything to get moving on fixing this, make your complaints known to the City of Tualatin at the City Council meeting on 2/9 at 7 P.M. and also via email through the City Council at http://www.ci.tualatin.or.us/government/CityCouncil.cfm
(email verified)
Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 10:51 PM
Thanks a lot to the person who wants us all to move. You try selling a house with all that honking going on. How can you have no sympathy for us? Would you like to have trains honking at 5:30 A.M. near your house? Also, for your information all of us who live near the tracks know that the trains use to come a couple of times a day, not anywhere near as many as this WES thing. You need some facts and a little compassion for us. We were here before WES, so by your own statement we should take precedent. If you prefer a honking city then you don't have high standards.
(email verified)
Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 07:58 AM
Chris A... You should probably know something about the issue before you speak. You obviously don't understand that the group who is responsible for this honking problem in Tualatin is the city counsel. Our counsel members chose not to act to defend our concerns. Most of the counsel members don't live near the tracks and basically don't care. Now they want us to come up with the money. Remember that stupid bond measure for the rec. center? That was for about ten times as much as the crossing gates we need. I'm sure instead of proposing a much cheaper bond measure for the trains alone they will put out a bond measure with the train crossings and a rec. center on the same bond, so they can force another money losing (rec. center) down our throats. Get a clue.
(email verified)
Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 09:38 AM
Wow, like I posted previously it really helps when you get your information first hand.
Walk onto a WES train and ask the train engineer or conductor who they work for. Their company issue identification clearly states they work for Portland & Western Railroad.
Trimet contracts with Portland & Western Railroad to operate WES. Portland & Western Railroad are 100% responsible for the maintenance of the railroad tracks and crossings.
When Trimet and the City of Tualatin stated they couldn't do anything about the crossings, they were indeed correct. Technically the crossings are the responsibility of Portland & Western Railroad, the State of Oregon's ODOT Rail Division, and Federal Railroad Administration.
The City or Trimet would have given the money to Portland & Western Railroad, the State of Oregon's ODOT Rail Division, and Federal Railroad Administration to install the alternative crossing gates, however they have no oversight or obligation to have done so.
The point of my original post was that complainers are barking up the wrong tree. On another note, I've lived near railroad tracks pretty much my whole life that have random usage day and night. It has never bothered me like others, but if it did and I wanted to let someone know, I would be sure to let the right agency know.
(email verified)
Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 04:01 PM
The right agency is the city of Tualatin. Just call them and get the planning department. They will tell you that they are working on it and that the city doesn't have the money to put up the crossings. It doesn't matter who owns what, the fact of the matter is that the noise problem has been dumped on the city of Tualatin to fix and that means a large part of the money is coming from the residents. They are trying to get government funds, but may not. Anyway, of course we should be angry. This situation could have been avoided completely. Why are you happy that the city did a poor job of representing us?
(email verified)
Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 05:09 PM
This problem was not dumped on Tualatin, staff and elected officials have been involved all along and were repeatedly warned about the noise problem. Did they make an issue of it, no! Did they curtail spending on items so they could be ready for finding a solution, no they did not! They instead threw a quarter of a million dollars at "Tualatin Tomorrow" a pie in the sky list of projects (90% of which went to consultants). They are now spending about four hundred thousand to pave a lot at the public works shops. They proposed a huge bond levy for an un-needed rec center, which thankfully the voters stopped. Were they in line with all the others who got huge amounts of extra money from TriMet? They were busy approving an undersized and poorly located park and ride for TriMet and spending a large amount of money to have the station look like a train station (a cost that just keeps on giving, because they pay additional annual maintenance fees forever).
While not a complete lie, when they say they don't have the money to fix the noise problem they participated in creating, they mean that they are spending it on other things and hoping to get past those affected by it. Everyone in Tualatin ought to demand that the City Council postpone all optional expenditures of any type until they resolve the noise issue and that this become the City's number one priority until resolved. We should also request that the public's business be conducted in the Council Meeting and not have decisions predetermined in "work sessions".
(email verified)
Wed, Feb 04, 2009 at 11:36 PM
That is right the city should be made to stop spending on stupid things and get working on those crossings. I have a feeling that it is going to take a real long time for anything to be done and by that time the residents of Tualatin will be a mess from lack of sleep and frustration. People will be moving, if they can sell that is. This is horrible and should never have happened. No matter where the train is put, the noise factor will be a problem and it should not ever become a thing where residents have to pay for it. It should come with the train.
(email verified)
Thu, Feb 05, 2009 at 08:06 AM
I live near the Beaverton Transit Center and am very disappointed that the Wes Line is so loud. The horn is as loud as the old trains that carry lumber! I find it incredibly insensitive that this issue was not addressed to the extent that it should have prior to opening a few days ago. I am having difficulty sleeping and dread the warmer months when my windows are open. Can anything be done to reduce the noise?
(email verified)
Thu, Feb 05, 2009 at 08:13 AM
Here is an idea, how about if they just park the "Colorado Cadillacs" they bought to pack less than 2000 people per day until they fix the noise problem they knew about ahead of time, created anyway and are ignoring. They have caused a problem for far more people than ride this pitiful attempt at effecient transportation.
Since they only have the two power units they need to run the posted schedules, it won't be long before this equipment from a bankrupt firm cuts the service in half or stops it all together.
It also wouldn't hurt to write all of our representatives and senators in Salem to see if we can get more local control over TriMet and fewer political hack appointees to the board and managment.
(email verified)
Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 06:13 PM
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Re: WES rolls
"“I’m not seeing any cons with this,” said Dan Knoll, Wilsonville public affairs coordinator. “("
Of course not, Dan.
Wilsonville's contribution was fixed and well below what it should have paid for the benefit. Meanwhile, Wilsonville HAS built an extensive bus network which will feed into WES and will take you anywhere in town.
Meanwhile, for us in TriMet land, we have a system that cost TriMet taxpayers $40 million in cost overruns, which directly translates into cutbacks in bus service. TriMet failed to meet promises for additional bus service in Tigard and Tualatin - just try to get to the Tualatin-Sherwood employment corridor. Wait, there's no bus there. How about Boones Ferry? Nope, the 76 only travels down Boones Ferry a few blocks before turning to Meridian Park Hospital. The residential neighborhoods along Tualatin Road? Nope, no bus there either. But the 76 line which used to serve the Fred Meyer store was relocated, so thanks to WES Tualatin residents no longer have direct bus service to the lesser expensive of the two grocery stores. (Haagen is god-awful expensive...I don't care what their commercials say. We tried shopping there and gave up because it cost at least 25-50% more than Freddy's, and frankly the cashiers at Haagen are rude. At least at Freddy's they are indifferent, but not rude.)
Tigard was promised more local bus service, which wasn't delivered.
Has anyone tried to transfer between WES and the bus at Hall/Nimbus? Well, if you're trying to catch the 43 into the Nimbus business park...where's the bus stop? You can't get to it from the WES station, and it's a very long (and roundabout walk). The bus stop to Washington Square was never improved, lacks a shelter or any amenities and is barely ADA accessible.
No cons? Well, I agree with Dan, in Wilsonville there are no cons. But for TriMet, it's con after con after con. And for TriMet's bus riders who are paying more to subsidize TriMet's rail services...well, I guess bus riders aren't important.
"Erik H."
(email verified)
Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 05:29 PM