Here at OurPDX, we are all TriMet, all the time. (Kidding. It just looks that way today.)

Coming May 24, downtown bus service will undergo massive changes. For the last two years, construction of the MAX Green Line and transit mall remodeling have had buses running along SW 3rd and 4th Avenue. In a couple of weeks the buses will return to 5th and 6th, and light rail trains will begin cross-cutting downtown.

Full MAX service won’t start until September, but there will be lots of practice runs. A train will be dedicated to downtown only, running back and forth between PSU and Union Station. The Green Line will travel from PSU to Clackamas Town Center. The Yellow Line will remain the same on the northeast side of town, switching to north-south on 5th and 6th after arriving downtown.

Some bus lines will change. Buses from Southeast, the #10 Harold and #14 Hawthorne specifically, will no longer cross downtown. They will travel up SW Main to SW Broadway, loop around on SW Madison and return across the bridge. Felony Flat-foots will now have to either walk or take a connecting bus/train.

I took a walk along SW 4th last night. Green-suited information officers walked about, handing pamphlets to commuters and answering questions. This week will focus on information; next week will feature safety, along with some pricy sanctions for transit misbehaviors. Police will be along 5th and 6th in full force, citing people for right turns, jaywalking, obstructing trains. The warnings of a few weeks ago will be replaced with substantial fines. Get ‘em where it hurts; in the wallet.

Businesses along 4th are mixed regarding the change. Chad, the bookie at The Rialto, thinks it will refocus the crime element back to 4th. (Dealers usually make contact near the bus stops, then wander to less populated areas to consummate the deal. It’s all fun and games until someone tries to smoke a macadamia nut, then all hell breaks loose.) With the bus stops removed, the dealers will have one less excuse for hanging out, but expect to see a lot more funny hand-shaking going on in the coming months.

Richard, manager of Peterson’s on 4th, fears the move will cause a downtick in business. No longer positioned across the street from two major bus stops, his captive audience will be diminished. He has noticed an upswing in lottery sales. Instead of coffee, people are throwing their last buck at a dream.

I spoke with Wackenhut officers, they of the neon green outfits. When I asked officer Philip Chan if he thought the move would bring significant changes? “No.” I asked if I could get a picture? “No.” Could I quote him? “No.”

Sorry Chan, I did anyway. Your protests were duly noted.

Clean & Safe officers I spoke with were of the same opinion. General consensus? The bad-guy faces will stay the same. Locations may vary.

I must admit, the wide expanse of 5th and 6th looks nice. I visualize it packed with commuters and people in a hurry to go everywhere, just like a big city. I don’t want to be one of those guys who resists change ‘just because.’ I will give it every chance to woo me before I praise or condemn. I’m kinda looking forward to it.

For more in-depth details, visit TriMet.org or check out this guy. He’s up on the transit scene.

Related Posts

• May 13, 2009 -- No Rollerskating on the new bus mall (3)
• December 7, 2009 -- Portland Police: The Problem is Perception (3)
• September 28, 2009 -- A Green Line Redux (2)
• September 1, 2009 -- Irritation to the MAX (1)
• August 24, 2009 -- Sleek, Sexy… and Inconvenient (12)

I know I’m about to cause record gridlock in the Portland Metro area by saying this (jinx!), but I have to say, traffic has been a little light lately.

I should know, I commute 15.6 miles from my home NE Portland to work in Beaverton every day. When I get home at night, I check the handy dandy trip timer on my car to see how long it took me. Tonight was a record at 22 minutes. Last Friday (normally one of the worst days): 28 minutes.

In the last few weeks, less than 30 minutes is becoming more common than the hour it normally takes me.

Is the nearly 11% unemployment to blame? Is traffic lighter because less people are working and on the road?

Frankly, I’d rather wait in traffic than have 1 in 10 people out of work. I like my 30 minutes a day, but I’d gladly give it back.

I never thought I’d say this, but if it means more people are working, here’s to gridlock.

Related Posts

• May 13, 2009 -- Pains, Trains and Automobiles (3)
• March 5, 2009 -- Portland Police citing for jaywalking downtown (1)
• October 8, 2008 -- Wandering Wondering Wednesday (6)
• September 8, 2008 -- Sometimes We’re Too Nice with the Driving? (2)
• July 7, 2008 -- OK, OK – I get it (3)

In a follow up to Cosmic Charlie’s post, I wanted to comment on Bojack’s blog about jaywalking ticket enforcement downtown. Earlier in the week, a coworker had stated that he’d heard they were going to do targeted enforcement in front of our building on 5th, so be careful. I have yet to see a single officer or citation anywhere along my 5th avenue route to and from the food carts, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Bojack pointed out that just a few blocks away at City Hall, a pedestrian received a $97 ticket for the J.

Jack’s argument is that it may be to bump up the budget. While that may be the case, I would rather think it is a safety step. In the next 6 months, downtown will see a significant change in traffic patterns with the introduction of Green line MAX and the re-introduction of TriMet buses on 5th and 6th. This grand experiment allowing cars, buses and the trains all on the same street could pose challenges to both moving vehicles, bikes and pedestrians. Over the past couple of years, I have chosen to exclusively walk along 5th and 6th because it has been quiet and safe. If you venture down to 3rd or 4th, you run the risk of being tagged by a rogue bus driver who wants to catch that last microsecond of the yellow light. This enforcement may be a subtle way of letting people know that these changes are coming and MAX can’t stop on a dime. (Even though at the speeds they run downtown, I have seen them stop pretty quick in emergencies.)

Keep your eyes and ears open and look around before crossing the street in the next few months. Not only to learn about the changes, but also to save yourself some much needed cash.

Related Posts

• October 8, 2009 -- PDX in Your Pictures: Silver Dude on the Bus (1)
• July 22, 2009 -- Stepping Into the Slow Lane (1)
• May 13, 2009 -- Pains, Trains and Automobiles (3)
• May 13, 2009 -- No Rollerskating on the new bus mall (3)
• March 5, 2009 -- I’m walking here!! (2)

As I wander the city, occasionally I pass by something without understanding.

My afternoon commute usually involves a walk along Northeast Holladay street towards the 7th Avenue MAX station. I’ve walked past this location probably a couple hundred times, and now I wonder what’s up with this circular concrete structure as seen in the photo.

It’s a circular concrete object, placed in the middle of the intersection of Northeast 7th and Holladay. Perhaps it’s a traffic calming device? Seems to be more of a traffic confusing device. Left turns are permitted, so in order to make a turn one must veer around this object.

My favorite theory: this area is actually part of a miniature golf course for the gods, and this is but one obstacle (Insert Mt. Tabor / volcano joke here).

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SE Morrison Street is a bit of a trial right now between about 12th and 6th. Two of the three lanes are closed for a while (months? I think?) while the sewer is dug up and replaced. In attempt to ease the snarl, the city has placed a big ol’ sign up on the sidewalk that says:

“USE BUS LANE”

Except that, the three times I’ve gone through there (I live nearby), no one is. Thus I feel like a big ol’ jerk as I use the bus lane and pass a stationary line of cars a block and a half long. Am I being a jerk here? Is it necessary in Portland to be so nice as to not even use the bus lane when we’re told to do so? Is the sign too small or otherwise suffering from low visibility? Is this just a crisis of the over-polite?

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Portland is absolutely, positively, without a doubt a mecca for bicycle transportation. I wholly and completely support this.

I also believe that bikes and cars can co-exist – it’s why I signed my young daughter up for bicycle safety camp at the Community Cycling Center later this month.

But (and I say this taking my life in my hands, as any one of my bicycle commuting co-workers may throttle me tomorrow for daring to utter the following heresy) – must bikes really ride everywhere? Really? Or are there just streets (or sidewalks) that bikers ought to leave well enough alone?

You see, I regularly commute using NE/SE 21st. The roads are fairly narrow, and lined with parked cars. Some cyclists do well on this stretch of road. Some cars can manage to squeeze over to let those cyclists co-exist.

However, I’d assert that most cyclists (not to mention most cars) don’t do well on 21st. It doesn’t stop them from trying, though. And it makes me very very nervous to see them – bareheaded, flip-flop wearing wobblers, speed demons willing to skate thisclose to my car to zoom by when traffic’s backed up, or otherwise safe cyclists who assume that I should cross the center line to give them enough space on the right (or else hang out behind them while they earnestly pedal along.)

Cars don’t get a free pass either – I’ve watched them not even bother to move aside when there’s room to do so. Watched cars cut off cyclists without even signaling a right turn first. And then there’s those big behemoth cars that can’t move over, even if they wanted to. Yep, there’s clearly blame on both sides.

But wouldn’t it just be easier if we found alternate north/south routes for cyclists? (I already know that SE Salmon is a much-preferred east/west route, for example.) Or routed bikes on 21st long enough to cross the Banfield (side note – yep, Lyza, I use it too)? Or something – anything – other than forcing us all to co-exist on a road that’s clearly not meant for both?

I do know this – my own kid won’t be allowed to ride on 21st once she’s able to bike safely in the street. And I’m quite sure we’ll be establishing bike-safe routes wherever possible.

In the meantime, though – what can we reasonably and sanely do to make sure we’re all safe out there? (Other than give me Valium for my twice-daily commute, that is…)

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• February 22, 2010 -- “I Thought Of That While Riding My Bike”* (2)
• October 13, 2009 -- Portland Pedal Power (2)
• June 19, 2009 -- Father’s Day on a bike – Sunday Parkways (0)
• May 13, 2009 -- Pains, Trains and Automobiles (3)

Portland took a big stride (so to speak) yesterday and closed six miles of city streets to car traffic, enabling bicyclists and pedestrians to stroll freely down the middle of the road with little fear of vehicular homicide or road rage. The event, named Sunday Parkways, lasted from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. –a mere six hours of freedom from automotive dominance on a small portion of the city’s vast street network. It is my hope that Sunday Parkways will help Portlanders understand that the pain created by $4.50/gallon gasoline does not have to be so severe. Yes, we all experience this pain indirectly through food and other transportation hikes, but a large portion of personal trips taken via automobile simply don’t require that we burn petroleum. In fact, 50 percent of all car trips are less than two miles in total distance. I love traffic stats.

Regardless of its scale, Sunday Parkways was six hours of immense joy and immediately brought to mind my experience strolling down the streets of Amsterdam this past March, mixing rather effortlessly with streetcars, bicycles, pedestrians and the occasional automobile. Yes, we Americans have a way to go before we can get some folks to shed all the unnecessary spandex (what is this, the Giro?) and over-engineered bicycles (carbon Rolf wheels on a bike that rarely leaves the garage?), but hey, one Sunday for six hours is far more than I ever imagined we’d ever take away from the petroleum lifestyle that touches us all.

For me, Sunday Parkways was experienced in a far different fashion than I originally planned. I was going to take advantage of the opportunity to show Yuba Mundo utility bikes, extolling the virtues of living with the biking industry’s answer to the Ford Super Duty. Instead, I made an 11th hour decision to simply spend the time with my family as a pedestrian. With family in town from Idaho, I thought it a far better use of my time to show them that Portland is much more than a bicycle town; it’s a town that often thinks well beyond the gas pump, considering all modes of transportation, including the most basic of all: feet. Armed with three out-of-town guests, my wife, two daughters, a stroller and a book of Tri-Met tickets, we hopped from the red line MAX to the yellow line, then hoofed it across I-5 to Peninsula Park. From this point we were able to see just what is possible when the city takes the gloves off and let’s people just exist in their daily environment without the fear of automobiles. It also let us experience what it’s like when you let people have open access to hula-hoops and pumping techno.

I don’t hate automobiles. Heck, I logged 12 miles in a Zipcar later the same afternoon. Sunday Parkways isn’t about the like or dislike of automobiles; it’s far more important than something so visceral. Sunday Parkways represents a community’s attempt at envisioning something more for their home than that which every other city has. Sunday Parkways represents an acknowledgment that communities exist at street-level and at human-speed. Sunday Parkways represents a step towards communities that embrace a life that doesn’t rely so heavily on an unsustainable, environmentally irresponsible way of living –a way of living that we have fostered for far too long.

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• October 13, 2009 -- Portland Pedal Power (2)
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• May 13, 2009 -- Pains, Trains and Automobiles (3)
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