In July 2002, the regional governments changed the "TransPlan" to include more of the West Eugene Parkway into the long term transportation budgets. Of the four entities that voted to do this - the Cities of Eugene and Springfield, Lane County, and LTD - LTD was the only governmental body that made an unanimous endorsement of the WEP. Even the "conservative" Springfield City Council had a couple of objections to the WEP. It is strange - and revealing - that LTD's board was 100% in favor of a new, expensive highway project that does not even have a token tiny transit component. It is long past time for LTD's board to be elected by the voters -- perhaps those who regularly use LTD buses could be the electorate for picking LTD directors. If we had a more democratic political system, the voice of the union (bus drivers) would have a substantial say in these sorts of decisions.

www.eugeneweekly.com/2006/02/16/news.html

HEFTY PAY-OUT FOR HAMM
On Feb. 9, the Lane Transit District board awarded former General Manager Ken Hamm a $112,000 settlement in a severance package that includes nine months' salary, car allowance, taxes, insurance and attorney fees. Hamm announced his resignation on Dec. 2 and stepped down on Jan. 27 after weathering mounting criticism from LTD employees, riders and community leaders. The agency is funded by payroll taxes.
LTD Board Chair Gerry Gaydos called the settlement "reasonable and realistic," but union leaders question why Hamm should receive any settlement at all. Hamm's employment contract with LTD stipulates that no severance payment shall be made if he resigns or is terminated with cause.
"If [Hamm's] contract does not provide for any severance, then why are we even talking about it?" asked Amalgamated Transit Union 727 Executive Board Officer Carol Allred, who represents unionized LTD drivers and mechanics, in December. "The district holds the bargaining unit to our contract."
LTD spokesman Andy Vobora declined to comment, and neither Gaydos nor Hamm responded to calls by press time. Assistant General Manager Mark Pangborn will assume Hamm's former duties while the board conducts a search for a new general manager, with a target hire date in the fall. — Kera Abraham [emphases added]

This map shows Lane Transit District's long term plans for Bus Rapid Transit in the Eugene - Springfield metro region.

The first segment is under construction (2005) between downtown Springfield to downtown Eugene.

The next parts are Coburg Road and Pioneer Parkway.  Ultimately, these two lines and the Eugene - Springfield line are to be linked up together into a circle line, with buses running clockwise and counterclockwise.

The northwest Eugene and west 11th routes are planned for the distant future, but they should be brought forward as partial compensation for cancellation of the WEP.

for more information about BRT, see LTD's website at www.ltd.org/brt1.html

a good article about BRT is at www.postwritersgroup.com/archives/peir0819.htm

Bus Rapid Transit

- west 11th line (from Garfield to Seneca station - potential route through bldgs identified by LTD)
- 99 line to bethel / barger
- NW expressway? new line through RR brown field?

Neighborhood micro-buses timed with BRT line

- convert Coburg RV factories to BRT manufacture after RV industries collapse due to increasing gas prices

- biodiesel production in the Valley from oil seed (instead of grass seed) to power BRT vehicles

- electric buses?

- bus transportation will be more popular and necessary after the peak of oil

Existing bus service must be preserved

Seneca Station: a potential BRT oriented mixed use development
BRT to fred meyer

Transit Usage, Urban Density and Gas Prices
its success depends, in part, on LTD maintaining local bus routes on frequent schedules. Unfortunately, LTD cut bus service and raised fares while planning to spend tens of millions on the new, fancy BRT.
The BRT requires local buses to transfer passengers from the “arterial” BRT routes to local neighborhoods. Perhaps it would work best like the transfer systems on the BART heavy rail in the Bay Area. During times of reduced service (weeknights and weekends), only certain routes cross the Bay into San Francisco. But the BART schedules ensure that the transfers from the east bay route to the San Francisco bound line are almost always without delay (both trains arrive on the platform simultaneously). A Eugene - Springfield BRT system would work best with a similar approach: the BRT bus arrives at a major transit stop, and local buses are waiting to take passengers to neighborhood destinations.
The main transit bus stops in downtown Portland (near Pioneer Square) have monitors that display when the next bus is scheduled to arrive. This would be a good addition to LTD transit centers.
Seattle system

“the WEP will also help serve the needs of the transportation disadvantaged by facilitating efficient regional transit service along route 93 serving county residents and regional recreational destination access.” (10/1999, p. 26)

The SDEIS only discusses how existing bus service would interact with WEP intersections and whether certain routes would be shifted to use the WEP as opposed to other roads. It claims that West 11th bus routes might see “some improvement in service as a result of decreased congestion as through traffic moves to the WEP.” (SDEIS p. 4-19) However, the SDEIS predicts that West 11th would still have greater traffic flows in 2015 than present levels at nearly every location, that West 11th intersections with Belt Line, Bertelsen, Bailey Hill and Seneca would be unacceptably congested, that the eastern terminus (6th / 7th / Garfield) would see nearly a doubling of traffic (already overloaded at Garfield and Chambers Streets) and service cuts and fare increases are likely to reduce the service, whether on congested streets or empty ones.
The new DEIS should analyze a WETLANDS type scenario that includes a serious increase in bus service and transit-oriented nodal development (not Wal-Mart and Bi-Mart shopping plazas designated as “nodal development” even though they have pedestrian-hostile giant parking lots).
One way WEP would wreck transit -- it would gobble up transportation dollars by this one project and the WEP’s fueling of car-dependent sprawl that is difficult to serve well with any type of public transportation. The WEP’s induced traffic (“build it and they will come”) needs to be considered in estimates of how much the WEP would reduce transit ridership.
The 10/1999 report contains boilerplate text that TransPlan would “reduce reliance on the automobile, including Bus Rapid Transit, transportation demand management, and encouragement of travel by foot and bicycle.” (p. 27) However, the construction of a new Expressway would generate induced demand by automobiles, take funds that could be transferred to BRT in west Eugene (and the Eugene City Council recently recommended against a BRT route to the new suburb of Bethel / Barger), and would construct large intersections that would make foot and bicycle travel difficult.
“the region is undertaking other transportation and land use efforts to reduce reliance on the automobile, including land use, demand management and system improvements.” (10/1999, p. 29) This claim is not supported by Eugene’s facilitation of Wal-Mart and Target at the 11th / Belt Line intersection, the use of “nodal development” for big-box retail with giant parking lots, and car-oriented sprawl in west Eugene that lacks adequate public transportation.
The proposal to cut (again) service on numerous routes violates the promise of TransPlan that public transit will be supported as a viable alternative to the automobile, to enable transportation choices for the community to reduce air pollution and congestion. These transit cuts make it unlikely that “total per capita VMT” would be reduced “by nearly 10 percent.” (10/1999, p. 30)
“increases in investment in Public Transportation and changes in land use will have an effect on improving transportation operations. The marginal improvement is not significant enough to negate the need for the WEP.” (“Alternatives Considered – WEP,” October 4, 1999, p. 11)
Even though ODOT considerd LUTRAQ a reasonable alternative to the Western Bypass, they have not yet examined a similar alternative for the WEP.
2/20, p. 56 – The “TransPlan Costs & Revenues & Strategies” table falsely claims that LTD transit operations and improvements do not have any “shortfalls.” LTD is in fact holding a public hearing February 20 at (the same time as this hearing) to discuss additional route cuts due to funding shortfalls. TransPlan is intended to improve public transit service - a goal that cannot be achieved if bus routes are cut further. This is yet another case of building something new and shiny (Bus Rapid Transit initial route between downtown Eugene and Springfield) without funding maintenance of existing facilities (keeping all of the other bus routes). The new DEIS and revised TransPlan amendments should discuss how cutting bus routes would impact transit availability.