non-car transportation modes.
Tonight is Blazers Bike Night and it’s also part of a larger effort by the National Basketball Association and the Portland Trail Blazers organization to be more aware about of their impact on the environment.
All season long the Blazers have used special “Green Games” to highlight areas where they want to reduce their environmental footprint. So far they’ve focused on energy, waste, food, and water conservation. Tonight’s focus area is transportation and Bike Night is the centerpiece of the campaign.
According to the team about 6 percent of Blazer fans walk or bike to the Moda Center. Add the 5 percent who take the bus and 25 percent who take light rail and you’ve got 36 percent of the 19,980 Moda Center fans who get to the game without a car.
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To grow that number, the Blazers will promote a transportation-themed Item of the Game tonight. It’s a cool water bottle that’s got an illustration of the MAX, a bus and a big sasquatch riding a bike. Other promotions are the discounted tickets being sold through the Bike Night ticket page and a free reflective pinwheel sticker and chance to win a Damian Lillard-autographed helmet with each ticket purchased. While inside the arena tonight look for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance table in the main concourse.
The weather’s perfect for biking to the game and we’re hoping to fill the main bike parking area near the box office. I’ll be there before the game with my Blazers flag so come over and introduce yourself. Go Blazers!
— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org
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According to Tri-Met figures, something like 70% of the people who went to Timbers games last year used transit, mostly Max. With the construction disruptions on Max scheduled for a two week period in May, the Timbers should be encouraging using the streetcar loop via the Tilicum Crossing and a walk from the downtown streetcar corridor for games due to be played during that period. Bike commutes to and from matches should also be encouraged!
It’s amazing what a lack of parking coupled with good public transport can do for reducing driving!
Or we should encourage people to stay home and not attend Timbers “matches” at all. Less people on the road, less people acting like soccer is a sport worth watching. Or even a sport. I only see positives from all this.
You’ll find many people who disagree with you. Soccer (Football) is the most popular sport in the world. 😉
One thing I love about Timbers matches is the efficient dispersal of fans after the match is over. Almost everyone is walking, so the neighborhood can easily handle the foot traffic. If all those people drove instead, the streets would be clogged with traffic for hours. This is a massive benefit of the stadium being integrated within a real urban neighborhood instead of on the outskirts of town along a highway surrounded by parking lots, as most stadiums in America are.
IIRC there is a reduced limit on how long people can park on the street during matches and it is supposed to prevent fans from taking up all the free street parking. I live in this neighborhood, though, and it seems like a lot fans still drive and park on the street. But since parking is disbursed over several square miles there isn’t a terrible bottleneck (the freeway entrances may get crowded, but I don’t bike on freeways so I don’t notice). A lot more paid parking has been put in around the stadium recently so it will be interesting to see the effect that has.
Go Timbers! Go Thorns!
Yes to that! Now, Moda Center (how long will this be the name?) is on a transit line and close to the center of the city, and increasingly in a neighborhood—or next to one—as the Lloyd gets built out. But the mode share is much more conventionally American, almost entirely because the arena is surrounded by parking lots and garages. This is a clear case of induced demand, and the effect is remarkable. While capacity for both the MC and PP is roughly comparable, the traffic and congestion outside after a Blazer game is always worse than after a Timbers game. It shouldn’t be. The Trailblazers organization should commit to reducing parking capacity slowly year by year, until most of that space is used for something better. And they need to correspondingly ramp up the bike facilities.
I like the graphics. I hope it all goes well!
I’m curious as to why the Blazers don’t do more to encourage bicycling as an option for the workers at the Moda Center. The bike parking for employees is woefully inadequate. I’ll send a pic tonight from the designated bike parking area nearest to the employee entrances. You’d think the supposedly Platimum LEED facility would want more of its employees to bike to work which would eliminate the need for employee auto parking.
LEED generally only addresses the facility itself and not how people access the facility.
This is a serious oversight of LEED.
Hmm… The teams fly around the country how many times a week?
And where does all their merchandise come from? I assume China.
The Chicago MLB teams (Cubs & White Sox) have been known to use the Antrak trains between Chicago and Milwaukee occasionally. Cubs/Sox series always result in lots of subway use. Ditto for Yankees/Mets series every year. A’s and Giants could be taking Amtrak to Dodgers, Angels and San Diego Padres games if the right advance arrangements could be made. Many take Amtrak from Portland to Seattle for Seahawks, Sounders and Mariners games, because the ballparks in Seattle are a 10 minute walk from Seattle King St. Station downtown. Better than I-5 or flying!
Just a note…the bottle was made by Liberty Bottleworks. Made in Union Gap (Yakima) WA, from recycled aluminum. Their factory is a zero waste facility. The only recycled metal bottle made in the USA.