VanPortlander Aaron Hockley got caught up in yesterday's gas leak downtown. He was trying to head east on the red line, but the leak shut down the MAX downtown, making huge problems during the rush hour commute.

With fixed-rail transit such as light rail, you're screwed in situations such as these. Where buses can be easily diverted around a problem, light rail trains stack up, full of stuck passengers. The gas leak was notable, but light rail service disruptions are common... And the fix is usually a bus bridge. (Link)

My take: It comes down to flexibility vs. capacity. As an off-hour commuter who lives on the other side of the west hills, a MAX/bike commute is my only feasible non-car option for getting home at midnight. (I'm just not hard core enough to climb the west hills every night.) Unless Trimet ran buses as frequently as MAX at night, I'd be driving 5 days a week.

Your turn, straphangers: Should we "get past the sex appeal of light rail," as Hockley says, or are you a committed MAXer?