Transit has a responsibility to reinvent itself and transform its image if it is to live up to the being a partner to supporting transit oriented development. You can't ask transit to be the metaphorical vehicle to the future and be riding a system that has changed very little from its inception. America's landscape has changed and so must America's transit. Balancing transportation and and use is a cheaper and better way to grow. Compared to the current trend, the recommended 2040 alternative has more transit ridership with less service hours, less congestion and fewer lane miles.
Transit has to be more than a rhetorical alternative to the evils of the automobile.
Transit has to be a real alternative to the automobile. If Tri-Met can offer transit solutions tailored to the needs to local communities more and more people will use transit. And, local governments will know that they can count on transit service as a tool to re-enforce and support changes in land use patterns that rely on alternative to the automobile. That is the promise of Transit Choices for Livability. In the altered reality of regional planning models, the 2040 Recommended Alternative shows that it's both cheaper and better to grow right.