more about how you get around.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Metro has launched a survey to learn more about how Portlanders get around without a car.
The survey is part of a multi-year effort to create a Regional Active Transportation Plan (ATP), a first for Metro. The survey went out to the nearly 6,500 people who have signed up for Metro’s Opt In Panel.
The manager of Metro’s active transportation efforts, Lake McTighe, says the survey is the first step in “gaining some background that will help inform the planning process.” McTighe acknowledges the limitations of the Opt In panel (whose members are mostly white and from Multnomah County) and says the data will be just one source among many.
“We’re trying to get a sense of who’s walking, biking, and taking transit.”
McTighe says they’re working with the non-profit OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon to capture information about non-car travel from other parts of the region and from communities that aren’t represented by the Opt In Panel.
The Regional Active Transportation Plan is a noteworthy project. Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) has vast influence on policies and projects, and, despite attempts to have it reflect multi-modal regional goals, it still tends to favor the auto-centric status quo. McTighe says once the ATP is completed (June 2013), it will be formally adopted into the RTP and it will also inform policies in local Transportation System Plans (TSPs, which every city has on file).
If you’re already signed up for the Opt In Panel, you should have gotten the survey via email. If not, sign up here, and you’ll get it right away. This is an important opportunity to help Metro create a well-informed plan that could have far-reaching implications for the future of biking, walking, and transit in our region.