TriMet’s draft Bike Plan will be unveiled next week

TriMet's new Bike Plan website.
Screen grab of TriMet’s new Bike Plan website.

The TriMet Bike Plan has been in the works since last July and now the agency is ready to share the first draft. TriMet has announced four open houses and a new online comment system that will give you the chance to share your feedback.

Here’s how TriMet describes the plan:

TriMet is creating a Bike Plan to serve as a roadmap to help guide future investments in biking infrastructure and amenities. The plan is focused on making bike and transit trips easier, safer and more convenient for more people. As biking extends the reach of transit, improving bike access to transit stops and stations, expanding parking options, and accommodating bikes on board buses and trains helps keep our region moving, reduce congestion and helps keep our air clean. The goal of the plan is to make bike+transit trips easier, safer and more convenient for more people.

And here are the details on all four open houses:

Portland
Monday, May 2
5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
Oregon Rail Heritage Center
2250 SE Water Ave.

Beaverton
Tuesday, May 3
5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
PCC Willow Creek Great Room
241 SW Edgeway Dr.

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Gresham
Wednesday, May 4
5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
East County Health Center Blue Lake Room
600 NE 8th St.

NE Portland
Thursday, May 5
5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
Velo Cult
1969 NE 42nd Ave.

The plan is scheduled to be finalized in June of this year. The draft plan will be available for public comment on TriMet’s website on Monday May 2nd.

TriMet says the new bike plan is part of their comprehensive “Making Transit Better” initiative.

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

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Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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Spiffy
7 years ago

who holds an important policy meeting on the evening of Cinco de Mayo?

Kat
Kat
7 years ago

I’d love to have them increase the bike capacity of buses. Nothing like biking several miles to a bus stop only to have to wait a half an hour for the next bus because, surprise, there’s two bikes on there.

Doug
Doug
7 years ago
Reply to  Kat

Wait a half hour? Are you serious? How far could you have ridden in 1/2 hour? Lose the bus schedule and just ride in that scenario.

Kat
Kat
7 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Usually I do. I’m not the healthiest person, though, and some people aren’t able to ride 20+ miles.

Max
Max
7 years ago
Reply to  Kat

Spoiler alert: TriMet will never do that. TriMet’s plan has always been “let’s figure out how to get you to leave your bike at the station and *NOT* bring it on board.”

Gary Indiana
Gary Indiana
7 years ago

Man! I can’t wait to see the new plan! This is going to be good and well worth the nearly 1 year investment by gawd only knows how many bureaucrats. I am sure this will make cycling safe once and for all, arent’ you? I’m so excited!!!!!! Go TriMet Go! Go TriMet Go! Go TriMet Go!

They should be sued for stealing the slogan from The Donald.

Ovid Boyd
Ovid Boyd
7 years ago
Reply to  Gary Indiana

I really am excited… Maybe cause I combine TriMet with bike trips almost everyday? I had a bunch of feedback earlier, and I want to see what it is going to turn into.

Making getting to and from transit DOES improve biking overall.

Active
Active
7 years ago
Reply to  Gary Indiana

Do you have a job, Gary? If so, look around you. Great companies spend a lot of time and thought on planning. They don’t just launch into new products or services without a lot of strategic thinking. So how about waiting to see the results of the draft and final plans before dismissing it?

nrevrac
nrevrac
7 years ago
Reply to  Active

that is not the Portland way…

Spiffy
7 years ago

“Help us make biking to and from transit stops easier and safer for everyone.”

they’re not looking to make bikes on buses/trains better, they’re looking to make the trip to and from the buses/trains better…

the only thing that would convince me to leave my bike at a bus/train stop is a free-use completely enclosed locker to store the bike in… oh, and being able to get to my destination on the other side within 15 minutes…

what TriMet really needs to do is get more bikes ON the buses and trains…

as far as their stated goal, I hope they learned a lot of what not to do from the Tillicum Crossing…

q`Tzal
q`Tzal
7 years ago
Reply to  Spiffy

I just have this funny feeling that TriMet’s idea of a “better bike ride” is for us to GTFO of the way of the buses and stay off the trains.

As if to subtly say “we are not going to accommodate bicycles so your ride will be safer and more pleasant if you go away never come back.”

CaptainKarma
7 years ago
Reply to  q`Tzal

Exactly my suspicions.

wsbob
wsbob
7 years ago
Reply to  Spiffy

Because it’s not ‘free’,may be one of the reasons not many people seem to use the covered, card locked bike type shelter such as the Beaverton Transit Center is equipped with. Even with the level of security that type facility offers people that need to park their bikes, I’m uneasy, wondering how secure from thieves it actually is.

I really wonder what number of bikes Trimet could reasonably provide for on its buses and rail. If any one of its vehicles could reasonably carry ten times the number they do…what would that be? 20 bikes? 30 bikes?…I think Trimet would do it, because each additional bike would be an additional customer/fare…and revenue.

More use of folding bikes may be an increasingly logical option for many people…more compact, far easier to load more of them onto mass transit. Folding e-bikes might be the thing.

gutterbunnybikes
7 years ago

With their track record of victim blaming, I suspect hi-viz inflatable hamster balls for everyone not in an automobile is on the agenda. (on second thought that might be kinda fun).

Franklin Tennessee
Franklin Tennessee
7 years ago

I didn’t even know hamsters had hi-viz inflatable balls! Learn something new every day!

Beth H
Beth H
7 years ago

While I appreciate Trimet’s accommodation of bicycles on transit, I am also mindful that this is not the norm in most US cities. So when I go multi-modal I don’t take it for granted.
Portland is growing. If we want to persuade more people to use transit, then we have to make sure there’s room for them to get on the train. Blocking the aisles with your bicycle because someone else got the hooks first– or otherwise acting as though it’s your god-given right to take up the space of four seated passengers with your bicycle — will not boost ridership. Nor will it win us any love at Trimet, Metro or City Hall.
There are limits to when and where bikes make sense.
When the train is crowded, I wait for the next one or I ride.
I seldom try to squeeze my bike on a crowded train in rush hour. I plan my trips carefully so I either don’t need the train or I use it in off-peak hours.
Let’s be adults about this, okay?
Happy riding —

Adam
7 years ago
Reply to  Beth H

Bikes on trains don’t scale. We need more secure bike parking at popular stations instead.

Hayden
Hayden
7 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Nah, remove some seats, design for standing and bike capacity.

Adam
7 years ago
Reply to  Hayden

Even Dutch Railways has very little on-board capacity for bikes. They do, however, have storage capacity for thousands of bikes at all major railway stations.

Beth
7 years ago
Reply to  Hayden

Philadelphia allows bikes on their trains but only during off-peak hours and in non-peak traffic direction. Portland’s growing fast and transit may very well be head in that direction — or we could see bicycles ejected from the trains altogether. Why would we remove seats, when elderly and disabled depend on transit to such a high degree?

wsbob
wsbob
7 years ago
Reply to  Beth H

“…I seldom try to squeeze my bike on a crowded train in rush hour. …” beth h

Even during hours outside of 9-5 rush hours, it’s debatable whether mass transit buses or trains can offer very realistic potential for transporting people and their bikes; bikes take up huge amounts of room on trains and buses.

If the train or bus is at say 30 percent capacity, maybe 50, of non-biking passengers, an additional five or six passengers with non-folding bikes looks like movement on the train for people needing to get on an off at stops, can work out ok. Much beyond that number of bikes, I’m not sure how service for all passengers can work well.

q`Tzal
q`Tzal
7 years ago
Reply to  Beth H

I agree in principle but in practice banning bicycles while allowing those big azz single or double strollers to remain uncollapsed, or allowed on AT ALL, is hypocritical.

Sure, bicycles take up more room but if you want to pack people in like a Taiwanese subway car you’ll have to ban a lot more than bicycles.

lop
lop
7 years ago
Reply to  q`Tzal

One bike isn’t a problem. One stroller isn’t a problem. A couple dozen bikes during rush hour can be a problem. If there’s ever a possibility of a couple dozen parents trying to bring large strollers on the MAX during rush hour I’ll expect trimet to do something about that too. The city is working on encouraging cycling – even if progress is slower than you might want – so without some change a couple dozen bikes could be typical peak load demand on MAX.

Banning isn’t ideal, and I don’t see it being considered right now. Trimet isn’t even banning bikes for those couple weeks in May when system capacity will be significantly reduced. I’d expect to see a lot of work to reduce bike demand on MAX before bikes are banned. More secure station parking, integrated into trimet’s fare card to reduce barriers to entry. Bike share in inner Portland launched, expanded, and possible satellite bike share systems setup. If someone works on NW 23rd and lives in Gresham they might take the MAX to Lloyd and ride the rest of the way. If you let them bike the last couple miles on a bike share bike, and have a bike share bike to get them to and from the Gresham station they can leave their bike at home. But if you let people bike from Gresham to NW 23rd on those bikes you might run into rebalancing issues. ‘Satellite’ bike share systems wouldn’t necessarily have bikes that you bring from one zone to another. I’d also expect to see ‘bike tickets’/extra fare for bringing a bike on board, at least during peak hours to encourage more to use these other options, before bikes are actually banned.

Putting together options for people to not take their bike on board wouldn’t preclude Trimet from also taking out a few seats so that a MAX car can hold a handful more bikes. But there is a limit to how far that would ever be taken – what transit system makes everybody stand for their ride to make room for a minority of riders that are bringing their bicycles on board?

Peejay
Peejay
7 years ago

Trimet should be focusing on changing out all their bus stops to provide proper bus islands and no more forcing bikes into car traffic every time a bus stops. That’s my number one priority for Trimet. That, and actually testing any of their proposed bike facilities with, you know, bicycle riders. Someone could have easily told them that none of their bike wheel gutters work, or that a bike lane running alongside a train track need not be an obstacle course.

Sio
Sio
7 years ago

A little miffed this coincides with the kick off party for the Bike More Challenge.

CaptainKarma
7 years ago

If I can’t bring my bike, I will probably just give up entirely on Trimet, hook the bike on my car rack, and proceed that way. Such a loss, but there it is. I will no leave my bike at the station.

Jamie Jones
Jamie Jones
7 years ago

TRI-Met in case you haven’t noticed, the trains are filled to capacity each day. There is not enough room for more bikes. You Need to make the storage for bikes FREE! You Need to add more room on trains for all.

Tyler Texas
Tyler Texas
7 years ago

Why is it that with 97% of scientists claiming that human caused global warming is settled science; and with 97% of liberals agreeing; and with cheap bicycles and public transportation readily available for any who want it, that only 6% commute to work on bikes in the nations #1 biking town?

Why is it, given all of that, that 97% of liberals who commute by car do so in a single occupancy vehicle?

Do liberals not think AGW is important? Do they think the president is wrong when he claims that AGW is our biggest threat?

Why is it that 97% of scientists studying AGW commute to work via single occupancy vehicle?

I’m going to guess that the answer to these questions is that people don’t really think it’s a big deal and that whatever they do will make little difference if any. I’m going to guess that many believe AGW is being pushed to further getting grant money to study AGW, and to get subsidies for ethanol and renewable energy, and to make megabucks (like Inconvenient Truth Al does) on carbon tax schemes and that sort of thing.

Mark smith
Mark smith
7 years ago

In other news sound transit banned the cargo bike with zero public input.