Portland is a city that takes smart transportation seriously. Our light rail system is decades ahead of other west coast cities, our bus system is ridden by downtown business people and low-income Eastsiders alike, transit is key both to our tourism and our identity as a city.
So why doesn't Portland have a single public transit advocacy group?
New York has Transportation Alternatives, Chicago has the Active Transportation Alliance, Seattle has Transportation Choices, but in Portland, the biggest alternative transportation group, the BTA, focuses exclusively on bikes. There's AORTA, but they're not very active anymore (the "about" section of their website, for example, just reads, "..."). Numerous attempts to start grassroots transit riders' unions have wound up with with depressing protests that look like this:
Wednesday's city hall rally against bus cuts brought out about 100 people (a bigger crowd than I've seen for any public transit activism in... forever) but it was organized by a dozen nonprofits that focus on social justice and equity issues, with transit as just a piece of their mission.
If public transit is so crucial both to Portland's function and ethos, shouldn't some group be able to organize thousands of people to holler at politicians and TriMet about the fourth service cut in 16 months?
Below the cut: I talk to smart people about this question. And get a couple good answers.