One Car Family

Several years ago, my husband had to quit a job in Portland because he was not able to consistently make it there on time. We are a one car family, we do not have the budget for a second vehicle. I needed to keep our car during the day to get my daughter to daycare and back, so my husband was dependent on the bus to make it to Portland. But the bus didn't start running early enough in the morning, and took too long, to get him to Portland on time for his early morning shift. Vancouver/PDX transit does not take into account swing shift workers who need to get to work. He tried biking - a hard ride in the wind and rain across the 205 bridge, that was not sustainable. He tried uber but was spending too much of his earnings just getting to work. He quit his job, and it took several months before he could find a replacement in Vancouver. There needs to be more transit options, such as a ferry, bus rapid, and light rail. Ideally these would run for longer hours as well.

We like to spend time downtown, but it's a pain having to constantly travel by car and find parking. If there was a trolley that went around the new waterfront, past Esther Short park, and up and back Main St/Broadway, this would allow day trippers to experience the best of downtown and patronize more Vancouver businesses, without worrying about the parking.