Tram to Graveyard?

History is littered with 'great' public works projects aimed at either building away some horror or evil or at building tomorrow's utopia today. While few would claim such for Portland's tram between the North Macadam district and OHSU, it becomes clearer every day that the project has much in common with these big plans that rarely get built.

I find myself wondering today if all the neighbor's consternation and anger was really worth it. The Tram rarely seemed realistic or needed, therefore, in hindsight, it seems better to let time do the honors of burying the whole thing. I wonder if all the pain, hand-wringing, and gnashing of teeth was really worth it or do those who fought this project so fiercely early on wish they would have done something else with their energies? No, they are probably to busy crowing "We told you so!" to think about such bigger ideas.

I don't fault them as much as wonder when is worth putting effort into fighting something, especially something that will collapse under the weight of its own hubris. How much energy has been put into fighting Geo Bush's war and socially regressive policies and yet where do we get?

Clearly, the key element in success is the power behind the idea. While some fear(ed) present (and past) government officials of Portland, their power is substantially limited when compared with those pulling George's chain. Is it really just about the money that can be put behind the idea? It seems sad that too often we have to wait for money to run out for the ideas to actually die.

So, has anyone created a website listing the great projects that have never materialized? Someone should be cataloguing these follies and the amount of money that is spent on these 'trams to nowhere.'

TriMet Updating Webpage

TriMet is getting ready to unveil a newly retooled website and has asked for us to view it and provide feedback by Tuesday, January 24.

1. PREVIEW THE NEW HOMEPAGE: http://trimet.org/index_new.htm

2. SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=983511309256

Please note: Some features are not yet fully functional. The final design will include a continually updating clock that displays the current time. And the Trip Planner will automatically show the current date and time when the page is loaded. Eventually, all pages on the site will be updated to match the new homepage design.

Yawn.

Well, there really isn't much to see other than a huge new graphic that takes up most of the page and makes the page quite slow on dialup. The most interesting thing is probably bug that allows those who respond to the survey to view the results. Sadly the majority seems to be leaning towards calling the new webpage a 'vast improvement' even though it is slower and only marginally clearer (in terms of navigation). Truly, it seems people always prefer style over substance, and only one respondent seemed to hit the nail on the head with the response "is this why you are raising fares?!?"

Google Transit Beta Tests With Portland Data

Want to get from Point A to Point B and NOT drive? Well, finally, someone is offering directions that use public transit rather than the automobile. Check out Google Transit (Beta).

Currently the only city up and running is Portland, Oregon but the FAQs hint others may be added in the future depending on this and that. While local transit provider TriMet offers a competing transit planner on it's website, there are distinct differences:

• TriMet Transit Planner offers more options.
• Google Transit's interface is simpler - rather than dealing with 9 separate form inputs, one can type a fairly 'plain text' request and get directions, however, trip plans don't clearly illustrate that a given route is only available on certain days (weekdays vs weekends).
  
• Google Transit includes (and is based on) maps providing visual, in addition to, verbal directions.
• Google Transit's result are simpler and show start, stop, and total travel time. It is easier to look at the options though one can't really compare them side-by-side.
  
• TriMet Transit Planner has links to it's robust online mapping system, schedules and other information to make getting there easier.
  
• Actual results will vary but depend on when and where.
• Neither is clearly superior at this point.
  

Bottom line: as it stands now, neither is truly better than the other but TriMet would do well to look at Google Transit's offering and consider providing simpler results (aka trip plans) while still offering different trip preferences (travel time vs number of transfers vs walking distance). Some will prefer one and some will like the other, but this will largely depend on the which system one is used to and the complexity of one's travel planning needs.

For more information, see TriMet's News Release and Google Transit's FAQs. Additionally, Google Transit is asking for feedback on the system - email labs-transit_feedback@google.com.