To close a $14 million budget shortfall, TriMet may scale back aspects of the planned bus line.
"A proposal to run a high-capacity express line bus along Southeast Division Street between Gresham and Portland faces a $14 million shortfall, and resolving it could delay the project by a year," reports Elliot Njus for Oregon Live. The line's new opening date would be in 2022.
The Division Transit Project—described by transit writer Jarrett Walker as not-quite-a-BRT—would run between Downtown Portland and the Cleveland Park & Ride in Gresham, a route that sees more than 10,000 rides every day. The new line is expected to cut travel times by 20 percent.
The cost of new, larger buses, as well as infrastructure improvements along the route, have brought the project's budget from $175 million to $189 million, potentially making it ineligible for federal funding this year. The project has already been scaled down to cut costs, and further reductions are on the table:
Some possible cost-cutting options include redesigning certain intersections to minimize the need to buy roadside real-estate and reducing the height of boarding platforms at stops, which would require riders to step up to the bus. The rapid line buses would have ramps.
FULL STORY: Division transit project likely delayed due to budget shortfall
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