emerald
Vol .53, No 11
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, July 28, 1981
Photo by Bill Wack
Orient Express driver Jeanne Allen takes son Nick on a ride through the downtown mall.
Bike-taxis debut in city
Calling themselves innovators of future tran
sportation two Eugene men unveiled a new
"bike taxi" service last week — a business
alternative to gas-powered transportation
And Brent Duering and Dave Cox, the owners
of the "Orient Express" taxi service, say they
plan to shut down Eugene s conventional taxi
system in the coming years
We ll actually be replacing the current taxi
service, Duering claims
He says the new service offers an economical,
non-polluting ride
And our prices are way lower "
Duering is immodest if a little defensive, in his
challenges His taxis will beat a "regular taxi"
from the mall to the Valley River Center, he
boasts
"We can go anywhere in town in a 30-minute
span "
Although city riding in a bike taxi is more
pleasant than in a car, the owners say rides
along Eugene's bike paths will be their most
popular service They offer specialty rides such
as the "Bridge-to-bridge" route or Mall-to
mall" route for special rates
Both rides run through the parks bordering
the Willamette River
Duering first encountered bike taxis in the
military while stationed in Thailand
"This was the way I got around all the time I
was there," he says "I got used to it and I liked
it "
Many cities in the United States and Europe
have had bike taxis for years, Duering says After
returning to Eugene and seeing how
bike-oriented it had become, he decided to
introduce his pedal-powered taxis
Since the bikes were put out on the street July
20, interest has been high and Duering says he
foresees even greater interest
The first time people see them, they think
they look kind of funny As gas goes up over two
dollars a gallon I think a lot more people will be
switching over Soon you II be seeing a lot more
of these bikes around "
How does it feel to actually push a fully loaded
bike around9 Driver Larry LaMotte says it's not
much different from a normal bike The taxi, he
explains, is geared for hills and loads up to 1500
pounds
"It's something you've got to get used to, but
all in all it handles pretty well "
The passenger carriage is built with safety and
comfort in mind All the taxis are equipped with a
full signal system, roll protecters and a full
canopy for rainy weather
Orient Express bike taxi stations will be locat
ed at 8th and Olive, Valley River Center, the 5th
Street Public Market and Saturday Market
Passengers can also call the Orient Express at
343-1532 and have a taxi meet them anyplace in
Eugene at a half-hour's notice
The cost of a ride is determined by a zone
system $3 00 for the first zone and $2 00 for
every zone thereafter Specialty rides are
available for $5 00 and up. depending on the
route
The whole idea behind this type of bike is to
make a non-polluting family vehicle,' Duering
says
"You can add another carriage onto the first
one. add canopies the possibilities are end
less "
LTD reduces fares
to bolster ridership
By HEIDI SWILLINGER
(X Vw Em*ratd
The Lane Transit District
Board implemented a refresh
ing change in the rising
cost-of-living trend when
it voted last Tuesday to reduce
bus fares from 60 cents to 50
cents
Paul Shinn, director of ad
ministrative services for LTD,
says he hopes the dime reduc
tion will re-establish ridership
that began a dramatic decline
last June when LTD raised fares
from 35 cents to 60 cents
He says that although LTD
gained 18 percent in fare
revenues, ridership dropped by
more than 1 million passengers
Shinn puts most of the blame
for the drop on last year's fare
increase
But he says the rest can be
attributed to more stable gas
prices and the high unem
ployment rate in Lane County
Our best ridership comes
when gas prices go up,” he
says However, fuel prices
leveled off during 1980 and
1981 In addition, he says that
fewer people working resulted
in fewer people riding the bus to
get to work
But the new fare, which goes
into effect Sept 27, may be
raised back up to 60 cents in
June of 1982
"We think by that time we will
have re-established most of the
ridership we lost." Shinn says,
adding that LTD will probably
continue to raise fare prices a
little at a time over the next few
years
Shinn says the vote to reduce
fares was not unanimous
“There were three board
members who basically don’t
feel the fare increase was re
sponsible for the (ridership)
drop," he says
Board member Bob Loomis,
who cast one of the three dis
senting votes, says he believes
the primary reason for the drop
is inflation
“I see no evidence that a
decrease will do anything but
decrease revenue,” Loomis
says He calls the reduction a
“ploy" to get more riders, and
he says it ultimately will result in
service cuts
"It's a never-ending circle
downwards," he says.
Shinn disagrees
"The ridership drop started
the day we raised the fares," he
says
"I can't prove the fares did it,
but I feel I can disprove any
non-fare reasons "
Shinn doesn’t foresee any
service cuts in the near future
but he says that in September,
LTD will begin a route change
that will serve 5 percent fewer
miles
Loomis says the fare reduc
tion will cause a gap between
LTD’s revenues and operating
costs — a gap he says the busi
ness community will have to fill.
Local payroll taxes, currently
at an all-time low because of
unemployment, would have to
supply 70 percent of LTD's
budget after the reduction, he
says
"The tax is not keeping up
with LTD," he says
"You just can’t run a give
away program and expect only a
portion of the community to
support it."
Computer science
gains PhD program
A doctoral program in com
puter and information science
cleared its final hurdle Friday,
and University computer
science professors are breath
ing a little easier
The Oregon Educational
Coordinating Commission vot
ed unanimously to approve the
program, putting an end to
months of lobbying by computer
science faculty
"We held our breath," says
computer science professor
George Struble
Doctoral computer science
students will be recruited for fall
term, Struble says, and the
department expects to accept
three students for the upcoming
school year Within five years,
the department hopes to have
15 doctoral students, he says
The State Board of Higher
Education rejected the doctoral
degree proposal at a March
meeting because it hesitated to
approve what might be con
sidered a duplicate program
Oregon State University also
has a doctoral computer
science program
But the board later recon
sidered the proposal at the
request of computer science
department head Steve Hedet
niemi, approving the proposal in
April without discussion.
The commission wasn't wor
ried about duplicate programs,
says OECC assistant director
Barbara Mitchell Even with the
University program and another
one approved Friday for the
Oregon Graduate Center in
Portland, demand will far ex
ceed the number of graduates,
she says
Only 200 doctoral graduates
are available nationwide each
year to fill 400 industrial and
academic positions, Strubel
says
The new doctoral degree will
attract better Master’s degree
students and faculty, he says,
because both tend to go to
schools with PhD programs