Division Transit Project set to break ground this week

It would be really nice if Trimet would actually advocate for the best solution and then back down if the political will to do it couldn’t be found, rather than starting at the point of a deep compromise and then often it seems backsliding further from that. The best solution for transit users here is clearly a dedicated lane, but if the agency in charge of providing good solutions for transit users won’t even advocate for it then how can we ever expect to get there. I am very concerned that what we are going to get without dedicated ROW will be similar to what happens during rush hour to the 72, instead of a bus every 12-15 minutes we will see 3 buses showing up every 36-45 minutes, and that is not frequent service…

WW says almost all us dedicated bus riders are well satisfied, but we would like more lines and shorter intervals. Only those who rarely or never buses dislike them.

Also, WW says TriMet’s biggest problem for expansion of bus service is not money, but inability to hire drivers.

I haven’t dug into details but does anyone know if street lighting will be added? These streets out here are dark as hell. You’ve got parking, bike lane, travel lane, travel lane, middle lane, travel lane, travel lane, bike lane, parking. That’s wide. Having street lights on one side of the street isn’t sufficient. Also, it seems like there is more space between the lights we do have. Could be making that up but it often feels that way. Admittedly, as I get older my night eyes ain’t what they used to be.

Apologies if this info is staring me in the face…I’m on lunch at work and have limited goof off time.

Reminds me of the 95 Express bus line in Vancouver BC (runs downtown to SFU Burnaby). No dedicated lane, which means the bus constantly leap frogs out into traffic, around parallel parked cars, and back into the travel lane every time a bus departs from a stop. In the graphic above (122nd), are car parking space removed? If yes, the bus still appears to be forced into the shared travel lane. Is there a new traffic lighting system (for the whole route) that somehow gives the bus priority in every instance where the bus has to move back into a shared lane?

I first got involved in this project as a PSU MURP student in 2000, as a BRT to Damascus. Now they are doing it! Woohoo!

A central city higher capacity line on division will be useful. With all the solar, wind, and battery advancements the future will be larger vehicles with intelligent software. This can result in certain corridors getting increased capacity per unit. However, street size is limited and private cars will forever impede on a larger capacity public transit unit (unless limited). The decision is not larger buses but large buses that run on roads which are not subject to dramatic demand fluctuations.