Riding EmX to class probably seems better for the environment than driving. But opponents of the new EmX route — which is finally in the early stages of construction — say the big green bus is actually less eco-friendly than other forms of transportation, including standard buses.
Hundreds of signs in West Eugene opposing the new route are signs reading, “EmX carbon footprint stamps out business!”
EmX — Emerald Express — is a Bus Rapid Transit system, which is less expensive than light rail but still offers faster, more efficient service. The West Eugene EmX Extension has been the cause of much conflict in Eugene. Once completed, the West EmX will run from Eugene Station north on Charnelton Street, west on 6th Avenue, south on Garfield Street and then out West 11th Avenue to stores like Fred Meyer, Target and Walmart.
Our Money Our Transit is a local group that has been protesting the project for seven years, claiming that EmX is not needed on this route and that it is too expensive.
After years of planning, construction crews broke ground last week. Lanes will be closed along the route all summer, mainly after 7:30 p.m.
Bob Macherione, spokesperson of Our Money Our Transit, owns a car repair shop along the new EmX route. He thinks that EmX will make traffic and carbon emissions worse.
“LTD will spend $100 million, and it won’t relieve congestion (because the road will lose a lane to EmX),” Macherione said. “And you’re not going to save greenhouse gases if you’re not going to drive any faster.”
But LTD’s projections show that the West Eugene EmX will be fast and frequent enough that more people will ride it, thus reducing emissions by 95 percent.
“An empty bus is the most costly and one of the highest in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, and a full bus is the least,” said Tom Schwetz, planning and development manager for LTD.
Macherione agrees that a full bus reduces carbon emissions, but he is convinced LTD has outright fabricated that data to justify unneeded transit, and that EmX is simply an “ego trip” for overpaid city administrators. In addition to increasing congestion, running an “empty bus” every 10 minutes is wasteful, increasing carbon emissions.
Joshua Skov, an environmental analyst and professor at UO’s Center for Sustainable Business Practices, helped LTD figure out the environmental impact of EmX.
Skov differentiated between measuring carbon emissions per person versus per bus. Macherione was assuming the bus would be empty and thus wasting carbon. Skov assumed the bus would be full, based on LTD models, so the extra carbon from the bigger bus would be used more efficiently.
“These big buses use more fuel and emit more carbon dioxide, because they can carry more people,” Skov said. “It’s not like on a per passenger basis they do worse.”
Schwetz said that out of 400-some transit operators in the country, LTD is rated number 23 in terms of productivity, which measures the cost of the system per rider. He argues that when people like Macherione say they see empty buses on West 11th Avenue, it’s because the bus is at the end of the line.
“I just think that people don’t know how transit works,” Schwetz said.