Op-Ed: Trimet Should Favor Equity Informed Coverage over Patronage

 Op-Ed: Trimet Should Favor Equity Informed Coverage over Patronage 

By Sam Galvan

Jarrett Walker’s “Purpose driven public transport” outlines two main categories of goals in operating transit systems: maximizing patronage and maximizing coverage. Patronage goals focus on getting as many people to ride transit as possible, typically by concentrating service on corridors with the most density to support ridership. Coverage goals seek to provide quality service to as many areas as possible. Coverage goals should be applied through an equity lens, aiming to ensure service needs are met in disadvantaged and often transit-dependent areas, regardless of whether or not these areas have the highest ridership potential. This framework of analysis is acutely valuable in Portland considering the city’s spatialized patterns of inequity. “Uneven Development of the Sustainable City” by Erin Goodling, Jamaal Green, and Nathan McClintock details the history of Portland’s spatialized inequity and provides a compelling case for why infrastructural investment in the region should prioritize the areas east of 82nd Avenue.

Most of East Portland was developed starting in the mid-20th century as unincorporated suburbs prior to annexation by the City in the 80s and 90s. As such, the area was built out without much of a cohesive vision and without coordinated utilities and infrastructure. While the city’s core has rebounded from the decay brought on by suburbanization, building itself into the environmentally conscious, highly-livable city Portland likes to brand itself as, East Portland has been largely neglected and left out of the realization of this vision. As costs of living have risen in the gentrifying core, poor people and people of color have been displaced to the east. Using all this as basis, Goodling et al argue that Portland’s reputation as a sustainable metropolis is unearned and undermined by its uneven development and associated equity failures.

When applying Walker’s two-track model for transit goals, it is crucial to take into account this ongoing history of uneven development. If patronage, that is highest ridership, is the priority, one might look at inner Portland corridors for increased investment. Areas like the Pearl, Hawthorne Boulevard, and the now gentrified Albina have much of the density, activity, grid connectivity, and residents with environmentally-conscious social dispositions that Walker associates with patronage goals. While these areas could very well benefit from increased transit service, they are already relatively well-served compared to much of East Portland and can boast a wide array of community assets. “Uneven Development” makes it clear that if equity is a value in Portland’s transportation future (as is stated on PBOT’s page on transportation justice), efforts must be concentrated first and foremost in East Portland.

As poorer (and more likely transit-dependent) residents are displaced from the core to the city’s infrastructurally deficient east side, they lose easy access to the city center. This history of displacement to East Portland, most notably from Albina, is well-chronicled in “Uneven Development” and provides a compelling case for prioritizing East Portland transportation projects as it is key to restore easy access to Downtown. Applying an equity lens further strengthens this case as East Portland is home to a higher concentration of the city’s most marginalized communities, among which Goodling et al list most poorer newcomers to the city in addition to those displaced by gentrification.

Prioritizing East Portland Transit projects does not have to mean failing to make improvements in inner Portland. This is particularly true for routes that connect the east side to the central city. The Division Transit project is a good example of this as its first and most vital function will be improving the speed and reliability of a key transit connection between Gresham, East Portland, and Downtown. While the project will bring improvements to transit in inner Portland as well, its benefits will be most strongly felt further east.

At the end of the day given the spatialized history of displacement and calculated equity priorities East Portland has to be a priority for transit. Within Walker’s dichotomous model of patronage versus coverage this falls more on the coverage side, nevertheless, quality of service is just as crucial. Prioritizing East Portland’s need for equitable transit means providing frequent, reliable, and well-networked transit options with wide coverage in an area that has historically lacked investment in infrastructure. While there are many corridors in inner Portland and other parts of the region that would benefit from and could support improved transit service, Portland’s history of inequity uneven development demands that leveling off this disparity for East Portland be at the top of the agenda.

References

Walker, J. (2008). Purpose-driven public transport: creating a clear conversation about public transport goals. Journal of Transport Geography, 16(6), 436-442.

Goodling, E., Green, J., & McClintock, N. (2015). Uneven development of the sustainable city: Shifting capital in Portland, Oregon. Urban Geography, 36(4), 504-527.

Portland Bureau of Transportation. (2019). Transportation Justice. PBOT Strategic Plan 2019-2022. https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/741201