Transit Center.
(Photo © J. Maus)
The Rose Quarter Transit Center has long been a barrier to bikes. But now TriMet, the City of Portland and the BTA are teaming up to test new options intended to “find a safe and reliable” way for bikes to get through the transit center.
According to TriMet’s communications manager Mary Fetsch, on June 11, TriMet will conduct two tests that will involve new bike lanes, a bike box, temporary bus stop locations in addition to cones and lane striping on the street.
The first test will be carried out from 7:00 – 9:00am and the second will happen from 3:00 – 5:00pm. The BTA has rounded up 25 cyclists to help with the test.
During the test, TriMet will move inbound bus stops to N. Multnomah Street (on the far side of Interstate). In the morning test, two-way bike lanes and a bike box will be put on Wheeler Street and the outbound bus stop will move about 50 feet south.
In the afternoon test, Fetsch says three outbound bus lines will reroute via Interstate, will go right at Multnomah, and will stop on Multnomah between Interstate and Wheeler.
During the tests, TriMet will collect feedback from bus operators and video cameras will record and observe the different scenarios.
Based on how the tests go, the tentative timeline is to come up with a recommendation in July, construct the preferred option this summer and officially open the new bike access facilities and bus re-routes in fall.
The saga of poor bike access through the Rose Quarter Transit Center pre-dates my involvement with the Portland bike scene, but suffice it to say that the issue has been a thorn in the side of advocates and riders for many years.
Currently, bikes are not allowed to ride through the Transit Center at any time. The route bikes are supposed to take is N. Multnomah Street, however, the reality is that many people on bikes simply can’t resist the shortcut and riding through NE Wheeler (off of N. Interstate) has become commonplace.
It is great to see this cooperation and movement forward. Hopefully a good solution that works for everyone can be realized.
________
Do you ride near this area? Are you one of the scofflaws who ride through the transit center (I’ve done it a few times myself)?
Thanks for reading.
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I almost followed someone in yesterday, but saw that sign again. I like to follow rules when I can, especially if safety is in mind. But it is pretty crappy having to go around, then have to sit at a light trying to make a left as two lanes of oncoming traffic are barreling down.
I ride through the quarter twice a day. Once north-bound onto williams and once south-bound onto the Esplanade.
I have no idea why bicycles aren\’t supposed to go through there. As long as the riders pay attention to the giant flashing lights that signal the Max, what\’s the problem?
I do this all the time. I didn\’t know it wasn\’t allowed. I guess i\’m just not paying enough attention.
I used to go through there when there was no legal way to get to the bike lane on Wheeler. (There were \”no turn except bus signs\” on Multnomah in each direction at the Wheeler intsection.)
But there were also \”no entry except bus, except bike\” signs at the Multnomah crossing on Wheeler if you went through the transit center on Wheeler. So you had a sign that said you could ride though the light on Wheeler at Multnomah, AND signs that said you couldn\’t enter that transit center part of Wheeler. It was like that for a long time. Tasty, tasty bike lane right there and lots of signs that said there was no legal way for you to ride to it.
Now that there exceptions for bike turns on to Wheeler from Multnomah, I go under the freeway to 1st, then down Multnomah to Wheeler.
The best routes through this transit center will be those that don\’t require cyclists to climb that damn hill twice.
BTW, riding on the sidewalk is legal on the east side, I usually ride through the transit center on the sidewalk, rather than the street, anyone know the particulars of the legality of doing this?
i try to be a good boy and ride around like we\’re supposed to, but i\’d really like to be able to ride through!
It\’s definitely tough not to cut through, but it\’s necessary. I\’m glad they\’re looking for a fix. I think the worst part is actually the inbound route and trying to get from the Rose Quarter over to the Steel Bridge in the mornings.
About time.
If you hang out there and watch the bike traffic, you\’ll see that the vast majority of riders going through there are breaking the law (cue Judas Priest) in some way. Now either there\’s something in the air there that magically makes otherwise law abiding people turn into scofflaws en masse, or the rules there are simply overly burdensome. Think prohibition.
Like encephalopath said, it used to be illegal to get onto Wheeler from Multnomah, and for a while they were running stings and ticketing bikers for doing it. They finally got with the program and realized that the reason that so many bikers were doing it was that it freakin\’ made sense to do it. So rather than continue their Quixotic stings, they just finally threw up their hands and made it legal. Go figure, the outlaws won one.
Glad to see that they\’re addressing the traffic flow in a way that acknowledges the reality of the situation.
Brot, great point. I forgot how much I have to be \”inventive\” to get from Multnomah onto Interstate to head to steel bridge. I remember my first day riding, thinking Oh I am sure they have it worked out and it will be obivous. With the huge bike lane coming off Vancouver, surely there are many riders needing to get from Vancouver to the Steele Bridge pedestrian crossing. Nope, you gotta be creative.
This is great news.
I would rather ride with professional drivers in the busmall than most civilian drivers.
I have to go through the rose quarter twice every day. I work on 7th and Holladay and live on the west side. So after work I bike down Holladay (on the sidewalk) all the way to Wheeler then zig zag all the way to crosswalk on the north side of the steel bridge. I\’m usually one of 5-10 other people doing the same zig zag motion. There has got to be a safer way that doesn\’t involve making it more difficult for cyclist.
Not to get off topic, but didn\’t Wheeler Ave through the transit center used to be called Occidental?
I ride through the Rose Quarter daily and just don\’t understand what the big deal-io is. I\’m safe and watch the buses and stop for the max light. How hard is that?
Also, this sounds like a lot of work that Tri-met is seeming to undertake just to change some rules. Did they do 2 or 3 different test runs when they switched the bus routes en masse off the bus mall? Or how about the new multi-million dollar Max track that weaves in and out of traffic and will contend with buses? They just did it.
I was shocked when I found out a year ago that cyclists were not supposed to ride through the Rose Quarter Transit Center. This seemed counter to everything we had been learning and heard preached at us about sharing the road.
The graphics on the signs are not consistent in this area. I had become accustomed to coming down Williams where the sign says only Buses and Bikes. There are also other places that say Do Not Enter, Except Buses and Bikes.
As I approached the transit center from the South I read the Do Not Enter and Saw the familiar Except B… down below and made the logical conclusion that buses and bicycles were acceptable.
I still occasionally ride through there. However, (like #5 BURR) since it is legal to ride on the sidewalks there, I generally ride on the sidewalk if it is busy with buses on the road—again, this is completely counter-intuitive to everything we are being told about cycling in downtown Portland.
Thank you to those that are seeking resolution to this issue.
FWIW, this was supposed to be addressed a few years ago but was postponed when BES started their east side big pipe work in the area.
It is not legal to ride on the sidewalks there, as there is an ordinance involving Tri Met property and sidewalk use. I do not know the ordinance number, but I do know it is posted at many areas around MAX.
Sadly, it is not legal to ride on the sidewalk anywhere there is Tri met equipment or a stop, even though it is not enforced at most areas.
I have been grabbed by \”Tri Met security\” (oxymoron as of late)and pulled off my bike in the CROSSWALK at the Rose Quarter. Riding slowly in the damn crosswalk!
I will fully admit that I ride through the Rose Quarter bus mall every time I need to. Knowing full well it is against the law. I really take Tri Met related ordinances with a grain of salt, as this is how Tri met takes the safety of pedestrians and cyclists alike.
Running a test here is ludicrous. Just open up the dammed bus mall to bike like it should have been all along.
By the way, it just snowed here at my house for a few minutes…While at the same time the sun was shining.
And there is some weather/phone service emergency alert going on here to.
Burr #5
It is completly legal to ride on the sidewalk from interstate to the first light which I think is Wheeler. At that point it becomes a \”Transit Mall\” and from there the rule is no riding on the sidewalk or the street. I got this info from none other than the PDX cops. while they were writing me a ticket.
Correction: I just looked @ John\’s map and I\’m really not sure what that intersection is. Mabey Wheeler and Holliday?
hmmm… well… according to Dabby\’s post, now I\’ve apparently ridden illegally both in the road and on the sidewalk. Both unbeknown to me.
However, I would like to comment that I tried out the route that http://tinyurl.com/57pfb5 mentioned above.
There is no Dabby. Only John Campbell.
encephalopath\’s route worked quite well and I avoided all of the traffic through the Transit area and I got a little bit of a downhill boost before I turned right again to head up by the NE Wheeler by the Rose Garden.
That would be an excellent connection to bike through there. I don\’t ride that way often, but like brewcaster said, it sucks to come off the scramble light, detour around that vacant street and sprint up the hill in the car lane to make a left turn across traffic to get back on the bike route. A couple of months ago, Trimet security yelled at me from across the tracks to get off my bike when I was on the sidewalk, dragging a foot and scooting along at about 2.5 mph. So this week, I walked my bike up the sidewalk to avoid the detour and avoid getting yelled at. The #4 was parked there otherwise the bus mall was empty. I haven\’t witnessed rush hour…
M8Adam:
there is no john campbell, only con jambell, or so the story goes. those who giveth nicknames also taketh away.
I understand\’s TriMet\’s concerns, but they in no way justify prohibiting bikes through the transit center, especially since it\’s a public street. It just means bus operators and bicyclists need to be extra vigilant. The fact that so many bicyclists (including myself) ride through this area regularly indicates that a safe bicycle crossing through the transit center is possible. While it would be easier if bikes and motorized vehicles never had to cross paths, it\’s simply unrealistic. Let\’s stop penalizing bicyclists for the desire to avoid unnecessary detours!
Luckily I am as good at taking it as I am at dishing it out……
Of course we are all perfect though, aren\’t we?
I was just there yesterday. I rode through the transit center because I couldn\’t figure out where else bikes were supposed to go. Two Trimet security guards saw me, neither said anything, and it wasn\’t til halfway through I saw the sign saying I wasn\’t supposed to ride there. Ooops. There\’s got to be a better way. It didn\’t even seem that dangerous to me, if you go slow and pay attention.
Oh, man.
By way of thumbpressing my -centrism, I\’ve been doing the two wheeled commute thing since my days at Jeff in the 80s.
A decade or so ago when I moved back into the neighborhood, got all mortgagized and started making my bread and butter run in from NoPo, I would tell the wife: I\’ll be fine, parenth, but if anything happens, it\’ll be at the coliseum.
What a fubar knot in an otherwise uneventful string of intersections.
Going, I shoot between the seemingly redundant civic structures, averaging over the brick and past the fountain an indicated three times the (assumingly tongue/cheek) suggested limit. Then, I astride my sloppy Raleigh Comp dripping with yellow rubber panniers, wallow for a second and drop in from the crosswalk to proceed to make an illegal left from Multnomah onto E-bound I-state. It\’s then down to the Steel and rock dove dodging on the Front. (A forum topic in the making, but I recently and involuntarily counted coup on three of the winged rats in one week.)
Coming, I huff it up to the amusing but dangerous (IMO) driver-challenging diag-crossride and then I have a decision to make: Tuck in with the scofflaws or do the elevation-change block-and-a-half-down-and-back shuffle just to be forced to trackstand while I at once try to signal my left intentions while I confront oncoming, wandering and clueless Blazer traffic. Or worse. Still, postionaly, I seem to be able to beat the scofflaws half the time.
Good enough. I\’m an Eagle Scout and proud of it. Laws is law.
But what really ticks me off is when I\’m coming off the aforementioned diagnacross with my fellow commutealetes and there\’s a bus (or two) parked, all corners flashing yellow, killing time NE-bound before the tracks on I-state. Yeah, at that point I break hard astarbord and jet up Wheeler. And there\’s little room in my spirit for community growth. I\’m cussing a storm and in no mood to get evil eye contact from hapless Ralph Cramdens. What? It\’s bad for me to ride these usually empty couple of blocks, but it\’s OK for Tri-Met to force me into an overused auto zone so their behemoths can waste petrol astraddle a bike lane? Man, I don\’t get peeved easily, but this stings me as institutional arrogance. (Don\’t get me wrong, please. I\’ve posted sentiment before as does another above: I\’ll take my chances with a pro any day over a teen with a carload.)
The aforementioned wife asked me just the other day about the best path to trailer the lads to the esplanade. I started to explain, complete with sound effects and pilot-like hand gestures, but after some lame attempts to make it sound safe, I just shrugged: It ain\’t happenin\’ yet, Honey.
For me, on a Platinum scale, this particular traffic debacle is the shits.
ok… slightly off topic, but the posts above have me wondering…
…what\’s with the besmirching of dabby / John Campbell / Con Jambell?
M8Adam and Joel?
It sounds like this is an inside joke that I am not privy too…
I only moved to Portland last year and I\’ve only had to commute near the Rose Quarter Transit Center for the past four months or so, and I always cut through the transit center, never realizing it was illegal until about a week ago when a bus driver grumpily told me it wasn\’t safe for me to ride through there, etc. I said okay and have avoided going through there since, but I keep wondering how it is safe for all those pedestrians running around in the transit center like schizophrenic squirrels on crack and it isn\’t safe for a bicyclist? And furthermore, what if you wanted to take your bike on the Max or a Bus, are you supposed to walk it from the edge of the \”no-ride\” zone? Just seems sort of silly to me.
Is it really that hard to go up Interstate to Multnomah?
Also, is this right:
\”move inbound bus stops to N. Multnomah Street (on the far side of Interstate)\”
It seems that that would be on the ramp to the (closed) Steel Bridge.
First let me say two things: 1. tonyt, loved reading your post man! Well written. 2. I am proud to live in a city where there are enough cyclists that this is even an issue, and being discussed. That said…
There are a lot of people saying, \”the law is the law\”. Maybe I am a total scofflaw; I\’ve been thus accused before, but I say that there is a spirit of the law which is essential, and the letter of the law, which is often ridiculous. If in doubt, one can usually judge the letter of the law to be ridiculous when most everyone else is breaking it.
I go through there all the time. I\’m always safe about it, but I really do not have an issue with breaking the letter of the law in these situations.
The spirit of the law, in this case, says don\’t hurt anyone, get hurt, or break anything (read as don\’t get hit by the big train); I always try to strictly adhere to it.
I figure the role of the authorities (i.e. PDX police, tri-met, lawmakers, etc..), in a situation like this, is to create the letter of the law to reduce their own liability (and keep safe the intellectually challenged and physically frail), enforce the spirit of the law, and utilize the letter of the law when an incident does occur.
The unspoken (I think we ought to just speak it, even if it hurts revenue generation from tickets and takes power from power-hungry pdx officers) suggestion seems to be: break the law, only if you are relatively certain you can avoid the consequences the law was created to eliminate. Oh, and don\’t get caught when the police get bored and decide to raise some funds for the city, or don\’t like the color of your skin, etc..
But I digress, I\’m glad to see that the authorities are doing something about a ridiculous law, but I wonder if the expenditure is worthwhile when the law has been, for the most part, successfully ignored for so long. How much does it cost to move bus stops, reroute busses, run tests and collect / compile test results? Isn\’t tri-met having a financial crisis and raising rider rates already? I question whether this is a valuable use of resources.
What d\’yall think?
Does anyone know; have bicyclists breaking this law, at this location, ever caused an incident (aside from the incident of an upstanding pdx police officer writing them a ticket)?
I know, I strayed from the subject to rant about PDX police officers again. I hope you will all forgive me 😉
Lastly, Ray Thomas, a bike lawyer, talks about riding on sidewalks at
http://www.stc-law.com/sidewalk.htm
apparently there is a discrepancy between the state law and Portland\’s Code.
Peace and safe, fun cycling y\’all!
This area is a mess & its been inexcusable that nothing has been done to adequately provide for a straight through way for cyclists to get from the ever popular east river bike path to the N/S Williams couplet.
I\’ve been commmuting since 1981. Generally out side of the restircted downtown area it\’s been said as long as one moved \”slowly\” i.e. the speed of a pedestrian ( 6mph or less) & gave audible warning when passing riding on the sidewalk is acceptable.
I\’ve avoided the area just because I\’ve never found a way to go southbond. I tried the other day to follow a cyclist who looked like they knew where to go & there really isn\’t any way to do it smoothly, safely nor any viable direction arrows. I was stunned at the number of cyclist coming up from the rive path so this situation is going to get worse as more people take to their bikes.
I have used the N way up Wheeler to get to Willams & never knew it was \”illegal\” or a shortcut. It\’s just a normal way to be from point A to B. Wheeler also has a Nbound striped lane so its easy to assume that one just uses the side walk from the bike signal to get to the stripped lane. At the intersection with the bike only signal having ridden on the sidewalk to get there & waiting on the sidewalk bike only light isn\’t going to think/know that its ok to be on the sidewalk at this spot & then its not ok to to on the side walk at the other side.
New cyclist of which there are now lots & lots of them especially using that intersection of them actually think being on the side walk is safer, do not know otherwise & are not out trying to or intent upon breaking laws.
Trimet shouldn\’t have been allowed to build that transit center nor any other to begin without having built resonable straight through a way for cyclists to begin with. Trimet should have a strong education & helpful attitude rather than just say \”get off, get out\” rely on some hidden ordinance that cyclist should just know.
It\’s a disappointment that they ignored it until & then see the cyclists as the problem to come down on with warings to get off the sidewalks as well as plan for a out of the way scenic route with more vehicle exposure and (stopped at) signals for anyone going to the NE towards Irvington or Rose City Park via Williams.
ok… did the picture at the top of this article change? …or did I just totally gloss over the spray painted portion, the first couple of times I saw it?
By the way, great comments, everyone!
Can\’t add anything new to all the good, informative reactions from everyone. I have been using Wheeler all this time while commuting, at all kinds of hours, and never saw that dinky little sign. Too busy watching for traffic and movement, I guess. On the whole, the bike passage from the Steel Br. to Williams is very impractical and confusing to a newcomer.
\”ok… did the picture at the top of this article change?\”
yes. it did. i found this spray-painted one in my archives and felt it was a bit more interesting.
RE Graham and Joe (#2 and #13)
The problem is that it is the law. What if a person driving a car said, \”I stopped at the red light, looked both ways, didn\’t see anyone coming, so I went through. What\’s the big deal?\” Laws are there for a reason and one cannot simply choose to break the law because they feel it is unfair or not reasonable. I am not saying that I support the no bike traffic through the transit center, but I do travel down to multnomah and ride up to the intersection to turn left.
I feel that it is more important to take the \”long\” route that takes about 30 seconds longer than to ride through the transit center, pissing off all of the bus drivers. Pissed off bus drivers may purposefully pull into a bike lane to get to a bus stop or do some other act because they see bicyclists as law breaking punks. If you don\’t like the law, attempt to change it, but until you do, obey the law. Once people start breaking laws they don\’t like, everything goes to hell.
I fully welcome a change to the transit center and it is unfortunate that bikes were not thought of in the original design.
More importantly, I think that something should be done about the cars that block the intersection trying to get on the freeway at Weidler. EVERYDAY when I am waiting for the green light, cars just block the entire intersection so I have to go around the back of them, hoping not to get clicpped by a bus that is trying to get around them as well.
edit: Not Weidler, but Williams, right past the Rose Quarter.
I take bike & max a lot. When I started doing this a couple of years ago, there were big \”no bike riding\” signs all over max stations and transit centers. More recently – last 6mos-yr – they have begun to disappear. Most notably at Lombard TC and Sunset TC. There\’s a sign at the bridge over Hwy 26 from Sunset that says no roller skating, skateboarding, etc. It used to say no bike riding, but it doesn\’t anymore. That square was just blocked out.
I don\’t know what the rules are! I have often ridden on the sidewalk around Rose Quarter TC and no one has ever said anything. The ONE time I rode up Wheeler I got yelled at by a bus driver. Go figure.
😉
When I have to go through Rose Quarter, which isn\’t often, from the steel bridge stoplight I cross lloyd, go under the ramp, make the next left, cross the max tracks and make a left on multnomah. It seems less scary and traffic-y to me than getting in the middle of all the buses and trains. I know there are cars getting off the freeway but I have not had any trouble with them. I have only once gone the other way, and I rode on the sidewalk – didn\’t know what I was doing anyway. 😉
Well we haven\’t quite achieved 25 cyclists to help with the test…so if you want to help out (and get a sneak peek at possible solutions) and are free either Thursday morning of afternoon, email me: michelle@bta4bikes.org.
Novice/timid cyclists particularly encouraged to apply.
You will have to wear a dorky safety vest, just FYI.
Michelle, thanks for the work. I wish I could make it, but I\’m swamped this week.
Speaking of swamped: As I rode inbound through there today, Bus traffic was all backed up and there were at least 4 buses, flashers going, sitting in the bike lane going nowhere.
If tri-met wants to use the bike lane as a parking spot, I have no reason to feel bad about using their lane to further my commute.
I\’m generally a rule-abiding kinda gal, but I go south on Wheeler toward the Esplanade as a matter of course. I find that I encounter less traffic (I have yet to see a bus take Wheeler south across the max tracks to the intersection with Interstate) and it feels safer than any of the other annoying and cock-a-mamie routes one has to take to get through the Rose Quarter.
That being said, when I\’m headed *north*, I always dismount and walk my bike along Wheeler on the sidewalk. There is a lot of northbound bus traffic on that street that makes it feel more dangerous to me.
Just my 2 cents.
ditto, Donald.
I was riding the 8 bus yesterday afternoon (out of downtown, toward the north)and, judging by the bus driver\’s behavior where Interstate meets Wheeler, bicyclists are required to turn right onto Wheeler. Our bus made a deliberate left turn onto Wheeler directly in front of three cyclists who had just come through the scramble signal – if any of them had gone straight, rather than an illegal right turn onto Wheeler, they would have run smack into the side of the bus.
When riding a bike, I guess I\’ll start using encephaloaf\’s path under the freeway, onto 1st, then to Multnomah, then Wheeler… although then I wouldn\’t be crossing diagonally at the scramble signal. And that\’s half the fun of the scramble signal..
As it is now, I take the legal route (I don\’t like getting frowns from cops and bus drivers), and I gotta say, doing so I usually beat the cyclists who cross the MAX tracks on Wheeler: the Interstate/Holladay signal is timed nicely with the Multnomah/Wheeler signal.
I ride through the mall northbound all the time. Even when the trimet folks or cops are there. I just ride through very slowly and prudently. If there are any buses on the mall, I use the sidewalk and ride at about walking speed. Not once have I been stopped or bothered (I probably just jinxed it).
Coming southbound is just too crazy and I opt for the Broadway bridge in the morning instead of the Steel.