Jeff Owen is the new bike guy at TriMet.(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland) There’s a new planning position within TriMet that deals solely with bicycling and walking and Jeff Owen is the man they’ve chosen for the job. This is great news. Jeff comes to the position with top qualifications and loads of experience. Prior to … Read more
Screen grab of the trip planner in action. After 10 months of testing, TriMet has officially moved their multimodal trip planner out of beta mode. Here’s more from their announcement: Now riders can combine transit with biking and walking using the newest version of the online trip planner. This open source trip planning tool is … Read more
Still from TriMet WES video. TriMet is trying to get the word out about safety when it comes to WES Commuter Rail trains and conflicts between buses and bikes. As part of a summer safety campaign that kicked off Monday, the agency has released five videos showing close calls between people crossing tracks in front … Read more
Biking becomes even more attractiveas TriMet gets more expensive and less convenient.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) As you might have already heard, TriMet made their 2013 budget final yesterday. In front of a crowd that observers said was historic and raucous, the TriMet Board finalized a slate of significant changes to fares and service aimed at … Read more
View of the bus and police vehicles at the scene a few minutes ago.(Photo © J. Maus) Portland Police say at about 4:00 pm today, a man riding a bike westbound on Burnside pedaled right into the back of a TriMet bus. The incident was first reported to me by a reader who called and … Read more
TriMet announced today that construction of their Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Transit Project will mean traffic detours beginning this month. Of particular interest is the closure of the SE Powell overcrossing and a detour near the south end of the Eastbank Esplanade. Beginning June 15th and continuing for “about a year” TriMet will be working on … Read more
Well known local rider, bike advocate, and lawyer Mark Ginsberg collided with a MAX train while crossing E. Burnside in January 2011.(Photo © J. Maus) The intersection of E Burnside, 97th Ave, and the I-205 multi-use path seems to have a worse safety record than I first realized. It’s more dangerous than I realized when … Read more
Location where MAX tracks cross E Burnside.Crosslin was traveling from the right side of the image to the left. This morning, the MAX tracks on East Burnside just east of I-205 (at SE 97th Ave) caused Portland resident Thomas Crosslin to crash his bike. Thomas crosses these tracks every day on his commute from East … Read more
Time to get in front of this TriMet mess.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) TriMet — and therefore transit as we know it in Portland — in trouble. The agency is under pressure to cut its budget, and so far, its seems to be leaning primarily toward service cutbacks and fare increases as the primary way to … Read more
Buses on Williams Ave. are a constant concern for people on bikes.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) In the coming weeks, the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the North Williams Traffic Operations Safety Project will hammer out a formal recommendation to PBOT on how to improve bike access on the street. One of the considerations they’ll take into … Read more
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) This morning, TriMet unveiled a proposal of service cuts and fare increases they plan to move forward with in order to make up for a $17 million budget shortfall. If you’re a fan of transit, and of making our city one that is less reliant on private automobiles, this is not … Read more
TriMet initially intended these railings on the downtown transit mall for people to lean on while waiting for buses and MAX trains; but now they say bikes can use them too. Yesterday morning I took the bus into work. When I got off at SW 6th and Stark I noticed two bikes parked on what … Read more
Comment of the Week: The public health angle should matter more