Guest Article: Let’s teach high schoolers how to take transit
A Grant High School student needs help turning an idea into reality.
Transit
What a Eugene City Council recall says about hopes for transportation reform in Oregon
— Before joining BikePortland, author Taylor Griggs lived in Eugene for six years and covered the city for Eugene Weekly. Eugene, Oregon: 100 miles south of Portland by way of the Willamette River; famous for its population of college students, track and football jocks, pot-smoking hippies, and… NIMBYs intent on overthrowing the city’s democracy because … Read more
TriMet Draft Service Concept shows potential for 30% more bus service
TriMet has released its Forward Together Draft Service Concept (DSC) based in part on community responses to a survey they released back in March. TriMet says people want the transit agency to “focus on ridership and improving connections to destinations for people with low and limited incomes.” While the Forward Together service concept includes changes … Read more
PBOT bans eastbound drivers at tricky 57th and Sandy intersection
This week the City of Portland made a change to a complex, 5-way intersection by prohibiting drivers from going eastbound on NE Alameda at 56th. As we reported in April 2021, the move comes as part of a larger effort to speed up bus service on TriMet lines 12 and 71. By removing the traffic … Read more
TriMet opens new FX line on Division to much fanfare
TriMet’s long-awaited Frequent Express (FX) line on SE Division Street is finally here. On Saturday, the transit agency celebrated the occasion with multiple events along the bus line, and eager transit lovers showed up in droves to ride the new “bendy buses” and mark the historic opening. We took a more in-depth look at the … Read more
Mass family transit dreams, and our first multimodal adventure
It is with a touch of envy that I read Shawne Martinez’s account of an epic carfree multimodal adventure to Seattle with his kid. How exciting! And yet for me – a mother of five – how impossible! As Shawne recounts, part of his trip was dependent on getting a bus with an empty bike … Read more
Taking a ride on TriMet’s new FX line
TriMet has spent six years and about $175 million to establish a new kind of bus service on Southeast Division between downtown and Gresham. Now it’s finally time to see what this thing can do. The Division corridor has been the poster child for our region’s struggles with climate killing car dependency, traffic deaths and … Read more
How to take your bike on the new TriMet FX buses
Believe it or not we are now less than one month away from the debut of TriMet’s long-awaited new “Frequent Express” (FX) bus service along Southeast Division Avenue. TriMet says the new $175 million line — which they promise will go from downtown Portland to Gresham 20% faster than today — is set to open … Read more
Why public transit is part of our family life
Disclaimer: Before I share our family transit adventures let me acknowledge my privilege: taking public transit is a choice for us. We have enough money to fund our old minivan and a typical driving life (or at least we did, before gas and food prices took a jump.) Many people don’t have a choice. They … Read more
First Look: NE Couch bus/bike only ‘Rose Lane’ (Video)
The red paint is still fresh on NE Couch where the Portland Bureau of Transportation has installed their latest ‘Rose Lane’. It’s all part of their ongoing effort to speed up bus service and re-allocate road space away from drivers and toward bike and bus riders. PBOT’s Rose Lane project began in 2019 and the … Read more
City beefs up bike lanes, seeks input on SW Alder Street Rose Lane project
A new addition to downtown Portland’s emerging slate of bike and transit infrastructure opened late last month when the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and TriMet debuted the first phase of their SW Alder Street Rose Lane Project. This project is part of the larger Central City in Motion plan to improve active transportation infrastructure … Read more
Despite some pushback, PBOT presses on with ‘Rose Lane’ bus project in Hillsdale
If all goes according to plan, the Hillsdale neighborhood will have a Rose Lane by the fall. In a presentation to the City of Portland Pedestrian Advisory Committee on Tuesday, Portland Bureau of Transportation Senior Transportation Planner Nick Falbo shared that the planned “bus and turn” (BAT) lane will be the only Rose Lane in … Read more