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When working on a recent story about transportation system development charge overlay zones, I had an interesting conversation with , an associate professor of real estate finance at Portland State University.

On the topic of light rail, Mildner informed me that constructing and maintaining a light rail in Portland is ten times more expensive than buying, operating and maintaining a bus.

“The thing that is sad is that has put so much money into light rail it is taking away from bus service,” Mildner said.

In addition to the Blue, Green, Red and Yellow lines, the city of Portland and TriMet have been planning the since 2008. The line will run from the Portland State University loop on Lincoln Street in downtown, through Macadam Avenue, over the river by OMSI and south to Milwaukie.

In order to fund the project the city has dipped into several different sources. The city will use $10 million from the North Macadam SDC overlay zone, a combined $10 million from the University and Central Eastside overlay zones, $10 million from the North Macadam Urban Renewal Area and $5 million from the City of Milwaukie.

In order to receive the substantial amount of funds it takes to construct a light rail from URAs and SDC overlay zones, the lines have to be redirected through the areas. So the city has to weigh taking the most efficient route with saving money.

In the case of the Portland to Milwaukie light rail it would seem more beneficial to cross more northward and service more inner-Southeast neighborhoods. But to get the $20 million from the various North Macadam programs, the line had to go through it. Then again it will service the South Waterfront, an up-and-coming neighborhood.

In the end Mildner said public transportation is all about value compared to cost. You always want to use transit dollars to add value service on a bang-for-buck basis, and light rail don’t really do that, he said.