2 the clackamas print
Wednesday, April 21; 2010
Pay more, ride less
Scholarship deadline
closes in on applican
Time is almost up for
free college funding!
The
Clackamas
Community
College
Foundation
scholarship
application deadline is
April 30. Applications are
available in the Roger Rook
building and online. A list
of Foundation scholarships
is available on the CCC
Web site.
Some
scholarships
require more than just the
basic personal statement
essay and two letters of
recommendation.
Essay
requirements and applica
tion tips are posted on the
CCC Web site.
Scholarship Coordinator
Darcie Iven is available in
the Roger Rook building
to advise students seek
ing information. There are
scholarships available for
all kinds of students; a high
grade point average is not
always necessary for quali
fication, according to I
More than $600
worth of scholarship m
is available to student!
Several scholarship]
available to students si
ing industrial sciences]
as welding and -autoni
technology.
Letters of reconw
dation and a perl
statement essay are t
included with the sei
ship application. Ifstil
bring an outline of|
essay to the Writing Ci
the instructors there]
help students finalize!
drafts.
Students can bringl
cations to the office I
Roger Rook building
they can mail them ini
Foundation scholfl
apllications will nA
accepted again until]
through April 30 on
year.
-Jaime Dunkle
Brad Heineke Clackamas Print
TriMet passengers board bus 32 in downtown Oregon City. Route 32 may undergo significant
schedule changes such as a plan to start the routes over 40 minutes later and less frequent.
By John Hurlburt
Co-Editor in Chief
Exactly one year and one
week ago today, U.S. Secretary of
Transportation Ray LaHood lauded
Portland’s public transportation sys
tem as one of the nations’ best, call
ing it a model for the nation.
Since last year, however, TriMet
has seen a decline in both ridership
and revenue. Now, instead of being
able to build on the city’s reputation
for being what LaHood referred
to as, “die transportation capital of
America,” TriMet is increasing fare
prices again as well as reducing
service.
Among the 17 possible lines
up for reduction are the 32 and
33 buses which run to Clackamas
Community College. In order to
gather public sentiment towards the
forecasted reductions, TriMet held
a series of three open forums con
cerning the cuts and will continue to
accept comments from the general
public until Friday of this week.
On April 6, one of these meet
ings was held at the college, letting
those in the community with opin
ions, and knowledge of the event,
come forth with how they think the
changes will affect users.
Standing in the back of
McLoughlin Auditorium as a stan
dard procedure, two security guards
watched over the meeting, which
ended up being peaceful, with many
speaking carrying the somber tone
of unwanted understanding.
Hany Wise, a self-proclaimed
veteran TriMet uset, was one of
the few citizens who came out in
order to speak his opinion and carry
the message of those who couldn’t
make it out.
staff
the clackamas
print
He expressed that many people
with whom he had spoken to need
ed the continuous unaltered services
of the 32 bus and in fact many had
requested increases.
“I’ve taken off half a day to be
here, it’s so important,” Wise said
to a room filled mostly with TriMet
personnel.
The current plan would cause
the 32 to come to Clackamas at
7:01 a.m. instead of 6:19 when
it currently arrives. It would also
cause the frequency of bus arrivals
to decrease from coming every 20
minutes to every 30 between 4 and
5 p.m.
Changes to foe 33 bus route
would mean that foe bus would start
its first trip from foe college at 4:30
a.m. instead of its current departure
time of 4:20 The bus will also run
every 17 minutes instead of every
15 minutes from 6 to 9 a.m. and
4 to 5 p.m. Between 6 to 8 p.m.,
it will reduce service from every
30 minutes to every 20 minutes.
On weekends, the bus will reduce
services from every 17 minutes to
every 20.
Jason Barbour, a student from
Portland Community College, came
to foe meeting with hopes to change
TriMet officials’ minds and to get
them to seek out alternative forms
of gaining revenue. He was espe
cially concerned that bus routes to
both CCC and PCC were being
reduced.
“We should really look for
those dollars and cents elsewhere,”
Barbour said. “It’s really necessary
that we keep 15 minute services
running to community colleges on
weekdays.”
According to Fred Hansen,
TriMet’s general manager, foe
changes are only coming after
Co-Editors in Chief:
Ad Manager;
SHUTTLE: Free ri
Continued from SHUTTLE, Page 1
The route is expected to run
for 10 weeks when it will then
go through review to see if
people are taking advantage of
its direct route from the Town
Center to CCC. After the 10
week trial run the county, col
lege, and CTMA will determine
whether to keep it or scrap it.
Although a slow first week,
Thursday’s shuttle driver, Kent
Devault said, “This week it’s at
least three times the ridership
we had last week.”
Devault, along with foe other
drivers, carries a chart where he
tallies the number of riders each
day. Uncertain to how many
riders the shuttle will have to
carry in order to keep it as a
permanent route, it’s hard to
determine if it will meet its
minimum amount. Riders of the
free shuttle on the other hand
have already started a peti
tion to have the route continue
through Friday.
“One of our very first passen
gers in the morning that catches
the first shuttle, a 75-year-old
lady that works at foe county
office; she does a lot filing and
clerk work. She told me in the
morning it saves her an hour
and in the afternoon it saves her
an hour and a half saving her
two and a half hours a day in
ride time,” said Devault.
Because the shuttle mainly
goes from foe Town Center to
Clackamas, saving money on
public transportation seems
limited to those who live near
in the area but “time” may be a
different matter.
Steven Weldon
Arts & Culture Editor:
Web Editor:
Annemarie Schulte
Brian Steele
News Editor:
* Erik Andersen
Associate News Editor:
Sports Editor:
Mark Foster
Associate Sports Editor:
Stephen Forbes, I
dent at CCC and al
the Towncenter Xpresfl
explains that foe 10 to]
ute ride from the shut«
CTC to CCC saves hfl
time because of the difl
as appose to the loop fl
would normally have«
with the TriMet bufl
also said, “From evefl
I have heard that has!
here said that it cut tifl
anywhere from 45 ni|
hours of their time.” I
u
Staff Writers/ Photographers Production Assistants
Joshua Baird, Brian Baldwin,
Michael Bonn, Hillary Cole,
Copy Editor:
Alexandria Coover, George
Kayla Calloway
Associate Copy Editor: Craig, James Duncan, Cody
Ferdinand, Travis Hardin, Brad
John Simmons
Heineke, Neil Lundin, Javierh
Design Editor:
Montero, Robert Morrison, Ste
Kelsey Schneider
ven Riley, Mark Sunderland,
Photo Editor:
Kitty Suydam
John Shufelt
Kayla,Berge, John Hurlburt Meredith James
Jaime Duhkle
19600 S. Molalla Ave.
Oregon City, OR 97045
503-594-6266
nearly every other option has been
exhausted.
“We look at service reductions
as foe last place we want to go,”
Hansen said.
Last year TriMet had to fill in a
$31 million budget gap, which they
sealed with loose-sticking putty
consisting of a hiring freeze, execu
tive furloughs and staff reductions
of 120 employees.
This year a decrease in money
made from payroll taxes, 55 percent
of TriMet’s operating budget, and
lower than expected ridership are
all expected to cause a financial
shortfall of $27 million.
Raised fairs could possibly add
foe money needed in order to main
tain foe status quo but this time
around the transportation company
has chosen to increase fairs only
minimally, increasing them by 5
cents.
TriMet’s last fair increase took
place in September 2008 after
fuel prices caused foe company to
increase ticket prices by a quarter.
Carolyn Young, foe executive
director of communications from
TriMet, pointed out that a dramatic
raise in fair would further foe bud
get problems, considering foe com
pany has already lost $8 million to
not having enough people taking
advantage of their service.
According to Young, 84 percent
of transit agencies across foe coun
try have to either raise prices or
reduce services. She also went on to
admit that foe reductions wouldn’t
help retain riders.
“When you decrease quality, rid
ership will go down,” Young said.
In order to view all service
changes and to voice opinions about
foe future reductions to TriMet, visit
Trimet.org.
For me, it’s wj
more convenient
Deborah Bell
I
Student
Another student fl
Deborah Bell said, “Fol
way more convenient.’]
Bell, who shows grfl
est in the convenient!
pilot shuttle route, sal
wasn’t for this, I’d fl
four busses; cuts two]
transportation.”
For more informal
schedules of run time]
web site at www.crc-tifl
Goals
I
Karlie Gilliam, Bethany The Clackamas I
Jackson,
Tyler
Kern, aims to report thfl
Tiffany Myers, Wesley in an honest, unfl
nfl
Northcutt, Tom Redick, professional
Content published™
Corey Romick
Print is not screeffl
Journalism Adviser:
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Melissa Jones
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