[cityscapes]

I know this thread isn't about busses but while we're all on the topic I'll throw in my two cents.

When I first moved to Portland in 2009 I rarely took the bus because I lived near the MAX and Streetcar. Now I live on bus line 15 which is "frequent service". I do not consider 15 minute frequencies to be frequent at all having lived in London where the bus line near my flat came every 3-5 minutes during peak times. The 15 comes early pretty often and I don't think TriMet busses pause to regulate the service like TFL busses did in London. If you miss one having to wait another 15 minutes or more is pretty awful.

When done right I don't think busses are harder to figure out than rail. With good signage and well designed apps anyone can find their way through a complex bus system.

A lot of the non-downtown bus stops here don't even have real time bus arrival screens which I think makes things pretty difficult. I also don't like how the stops aren't announced on board unless it's a transfer stop. It makes it hard especially at night to figure out when you need to request a stop if you aren't familiar with the area. Cashless boarding would also speed things up if we had a smart card system in place. Most importantly though they need to increase frequencies even to every 10 minutes if they want to grow ridership. It really makes me want to buy a car and I hate driving.