When I moved to the Kenton neighborhood, I was thrilled that not only was I smack dab in the middle of two Max stops, but that one of the stops was a "Transit Center" meaning a number of bus routes converged at that point. I was in public transit heaven. I could take the yellow line downtown. Or I could take the #4 to George Middle School where I volunteered for two years. I could also take the #4 back toward downtown taking me through Mississippi's hip neighborhood. I could take the #75 to the St. John's Movie theater or the other way to a variety of places: Trader Joe's in Hollywood, Laurelhurst Park, Hawthorne Blvd. I could also take the #6 to Jantzen Beach and once they cut the amount of service on Sundays, the #6 was my quickest route to church, depositing me a short three blocks away. Living near a transit center is awesome.
I still have the Yellow Line, #4 and #75 at my service. But beginning September 1, the #6 route changed "to eliminate duplicate service."
I understand that Trimet is stretched to capacity, but as someone who doesn't own a car, some of those duplicate services are important. Now if I want to go to Jantzen Beach I have to take the #75 to MLK and transfer to the #6. If I want to go to church I get there way too early or way too late. I'm disappointed to lose the #6 route through Kenton and I hope service will be restored someday.
How frustrating. They have been doing some redundancy checks around here too and I always worry about my morning bus (that I only take on occasion now as I carpool with a new teacher (4th grade!) who lives 3 blocks from me). Thankfully my 75 got more hours of service instead of less. Sorry that wasn't the case with your 6.
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