Portland Transit | TriMet/Mass Transit News

[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...cials-say.html

E-scooters will return to Portland this spring, transportation officials say
Updated 9:02 AM; Posted 8:44 AM
By Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Portland took electric scooters for a whirl last year, and city transportation officials apparently largely liked what they saw.

Nearly three months after Lime, Skip and Bird scooters were whisked away from Portland streets following a four-month trial period, the city is recommending the transportation companies be allowed to return this spring.

A final date hasn’t been released. Portland said the scooters will be permitted for one-year.

The recommendation came in a 36-page report released by the city transportation bureau on Tuesday. Before the four-month trial even began, Portland pledged to evaluate the scooters based on whether the devices reduced congestion and reliance on private cars and trucks, how the companies addressed safety concerns, if they served low-income communities and if the scooters helped reduced air pollution.

The report says, while the city needs more data, scooters “have the potential to advance Portland’s transportation goals," like reducing car trips and give people a safe and reliable way to get around.

According to city stats, users logged more than 801,000 miles on scooters during the trial run. The average length of a trip was 1.2 miles, and the city’s supply hovered near 2,000 devices on the streets for much of the period.

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[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...versation.html

Commuter rail to Salem? Lawmaker introduces bill to start conversation
Updated 2:05 PM; Posted 2:05 PM
By Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try again.

For the fourth time since 2007, a Portland lawmaker is sponsoring a bill designed to kickstart serious talks about extending TriMet’s commuter rail line to Salem.

Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, said as he retires from the Legislature, he is giving one of his pet projects one more shot.

“It’s now or never,” the 83-year-old legislator said in an interview. “It makes so much sense to me.”

Greenlick wants to extend the Westside Express Service, TriMet’s beleaguered commuter rail line between Wilsonville and Beaverton, an estimated 29 miles south to Salem. His bill would create a 17-person task force of local leaders to study expanding the commuter rail to the state’s capital. He introduced identical legislation in 2007, 2013 and 2015.

Seperately, Oregon is studying ways to speed up Amtrak service between Portland and Eugene, part of a $1 billion plan to give commuters an option other than driving on Interstate 5.

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[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...us-colors.html

Orange is the new bus: TriMet goes retro with new bus colors
Updated 4 hrs ago; Posted 4 hrs ago
By Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Orange is the new bus.

TriMet is going old school with its brand-new crop of buses expected to hit city streets this year.

The tri-county transit agency’s next wave of buses features a deep blue color palette with three orange stripes near the rear of the vehicle, a nod to the agency’s color palette nearly 50 years ago.

It’s a stark contrast from the existing white and blue models.

Sixty-four Gillig 3900-series buses with the new colors will debut sometime in 2019 throughout the metro area.

Tia York, a TriMet spokeswoman, said five buses were ready to roll now, and would be based out of the Powell Garage on the east side.

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[downtownpdx]

Hmm think I like the current design better, even if going retro with the orange is a cool idea. Is this just happening on the new crop of buses?

[dubu]

so now the bus in clackamas drives a mile on the freeway getting over the clackamas river, the new line (its not really new because its detoured that way before for a few months)? a bus goes over the willamette river on that freeway also, that one is a half mile. bus 35 and now 79 are the worst in traffic, getting on the freeway is bad. the roads in clackamas county are only one lane except for that highway that 33 runs on, thats a good bus but it can be crowded like crazy. they really need bridges for buses and bus lanes.

[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...-weekends.html

TriMet considers keeping Skidmore Fountain MAX station open on weekends
Posted Feb 26, 12:12 PM
By Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

As TriMet considers closing four underutilized MAX stations in Portland’s core to speed up the light rail network, the transit agency said it now might be willing to keep one station open on weekends.

In response to vocal opposition from Portland Saturday Market leaders and its hundreds of vendors, TriMet said it was taking a closer look at whether it could keep the Skidmore Fountain MAX station open.

“TriMet is exploring options for opening the Skidmore Fountain Station on weekends when the market is open and closing it during the week when ridership is low,” Roberta Altstadt, a TriMet spokeswoman, said in an email Monday. The market runs 10 months per year and weekend MAX ridership at the station is 6,413, nearly three times the weekday figure.

The development comes as a couple dozen supporters were expected to hold a press conference at the Skidmore station Tuesday morning.

TriMet has not made any final decisions about whether it will move forward with a vote on a station closure plan – or close any stations altogether. The TriMet board meets Wednesday and the issue is not on the agenda.

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[urbanlife]

So basically TriMet finally realized the obvious option, have Skidmore Stop be active only on the weekends because that idea should have been the idea originally.

[MNTimberjack]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

So basically TriMet finally realized the obvious option, have Skidmore Stop be active only on the weekends because that idea should have been the idea originally.

Eh, if they would've proposed this initially, the criticism of this option probably would've led to the stop being open every day.

[RED_PDXer]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

So basically TriMet finally realized the obvious option, have Skidmore Stop be active only on the weekends because that idea should have been the idea originally.

Come on. The Burnside Bridge is literally 500 feet from the Old Town stop. That's not even the length of a train in most rail systems. If Skidmore Fountain wasn't such a disgusting and unwelcoming environment under the Burnside Bridge, it would've made more sense to propose closing the Old Town stop and keep Skidmore.

[jaxg8r1]

Originally Posted by RED_PDXer

Come on. The Burnside Bridge is literally 500 feet from the Old Town stop. That's not even the length of a train in most rail systems. If Skidmore Fountain wasn't such a disgusting and unwelcoming environment under the Burnside Bridge, it would've made more sense to propose closing the Old Town stop and keep Skidmore.

+1

I think about the Saturday market is an interesting angle but realized the market seems to be struggling because not nearly as many people go there as used to (anecdotally, is there a source for statistics?). IMO it has nothing to do with transit service but because the area is so sketchy. I'd be more upset if the stop were closing and the area was nice and market thriving, not the current conditions.

And I say that as someone who works not far from here and walks down pretty much every day (or close to it).

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by RED_PDXer

Come on. The Burnside Bridge is literally 500 feet from the Old Town stop. That's not even the length of a train in most rail systems. If Skidmore Fountain wasn't such a disgusting and unwelcoming environment under the Burnside Bridge, it would've made more sense to propose closing the Old Town stop and keep Skidmore.

The Skidmore stop would still be really close to the Oak St stop even if that were done. Spacing wise, it makes sense for the Skidmore stop to be closed on the weekdays between those two stops. Plus the pungent smell under the bridge didn't make it the best stop to wait for a train.

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by jaxg8r1

I think about the Saturday market is an interesting angle but realized the market seems to be struggling because not nearly as many people go there as used to (anecdotally, is there a source for statistics?). IMO it has nothing to do with transit service but because the area is so sketchy. I'd be more upset if the stop were closing and the area was nice and market thriving, not the current conditions.

And I say that as someone who works not far from here and walks down pretty much every day (or close to it).

I've been wondering this too. Are there stats for Saturday Market, before and after the move a decade ago?

[pdxtraveler]

The times I go in the summer are PACKED. Tons of people. And last weekend, opening weekend for the year, I waited for quite a while at the Ankeny Alley crosswalk while throngs of people crossed both ways.

[urbanlife]

Saturday Market has become a huge tourist trap, with that and Voodoo Donuts, it is really hard to drive through that area during the weekends. I am actually surprised with the amount of touristy things to do right that there it has been left to be so sketchy with homeless and tweakers. I would think the city would want to present a more polished image in that area of the city.

[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...ce-to-pdx.html

TriMet eyes $200 million plan to bring Red Line to Hillsboro, more reliable service to PDX
Updated Apr 25, 4:30 PM; Posted Apr 25, 4:10 PM
By Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

TriMet is moving forward with an estimated $200 million light-rail project to extend Red Line trains into Hillsboro and bring more reliable service to and from Portland International Airport.

By the end of April, TriMet will apply for funding through the Federal Transit Administration. If approved, the federal government would be expected to contribute $100 million toward the project.

The project is one of the most expensive currently being considered by the tri-county transit agency. But it’s overshadowed by the proposed more than $2.6 billion MAX extension to Bridgeport Village that is TriMet’s most expensive proposal on the books, and the $175 million high-capacity bus line on Division Street that’s been debated for years.

TriMet believes the Red Line project is critical for a number of reasons – it will bring more east-west service on the Red Line to 10 stations currently served only by Blue Line trains, and it converts tracks in Northeast Portland to make it possible for trains to come and go at the same time. The area between Gateway Transit Center and PDX currently has single tracks. Adding tracks addresses a key vulnerability in the tri-county system as even small delays on the section of Red Line track there can have a ripple effect across the Blue and Green lines.

The biggest share of the project costs includes buying eight new light-rail trains ($43.2 million), and changes made at the Gateway Transit Center ($44.5 million).

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[dubu]

a perfect path to the airport and maybe vancouver would be sandy blvd. that would be a better line then barber blvd line, it wouldn't be real hilly and next to a freeway.

[maccoinnich]

First of Portland projects designed to speed up buses arrives on Madison Street



This weekend, Portland will create a bus-and-bike-only lane on Southwest Madison Street on a five-block stretch approaching the Hawthorne Bridge.

The lane is the first of 18 projects in the so-called Central City in Motion plan, which officials say will speed up buses through downtown and inner eastside neighborhoods. The $36 million plan, which was approved by the City Council in November, will create transit-dedicated lanes, install protected bike lanes on key streets, and create safer pedestrian crossings on both sides of the Willamette River.

“We were serious when we promised a quick implementation of Central City in Motion,” Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who oversees the transportation department, said in a statement. “This first project on SW Madison will reverberate in the Central City and beyond. When buses move more efficiently, we all benefit.”

...continues at the Oregonian.

[urbanlife]

The new transit lane was great except for the idiot in a 4 Runner that I watched slow drive down it today.

[uncommon.name]

Check out the first take on how the project will look before the open house on March 27th.



Download the Conceptual Design Report.

... Continue reading.

[Derek]

RIP

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/...-projects.html

Voters reject Metro’s payroll tax to fund billions in transportation projects

Metro’s proposed payroll tax on employers, a plan that would generate billions of dollars for transportation projects across the Portland region, has failed.

As of 9:16 p.m., when The Oregonian/OregonLive called the race, the payroll tax plan known as Measure 26-218 was failing 57% to 43%.

Its failure officially ends a lengthy winning streak at the ballot box for the regional government, which easily passed in succession a $652.8 million affordable housing measure, a $475 million parks and nature bond and multiple taxes to fund homeless services.

The transportation package, funded by a payroll tax of up to 0.75% on private employers with 25 or more workers, was different from the outset. Now, its defeat poses huge questions for the region’s transportation network, a light rail project’s future and Metro’s relationship with some of the state’s largest employers.

The measure, which was centered around a roughly $3 billion light rail extension through Southwest Portland to Bridgeport Village and Tigard and hundreds of millions of safety and bus projects on three dangerous highways, never polled particularly well. It also was referred to voters during a global pandemic and attracted powerful adversaries.