June 19, 2013
Building Biker's Paradise - and the Rest of Portland
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Last week, my intuition got validated by some data. Roger Geller, bicycle coordinator at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, has been analyzing data from the Oregon Household Activity Survey. He's been looking at how cycling has grown from 1994 to 2011 and how it will need to grow to hit a 25% mode share by 2035. The answer varies quite a bit by geography.
You can find Roger's white paper and the slides he presented at Metro last week online.
The graphic above shows Roger's estimate of the mode split in different parts of town to meet the Portland Plan goal of getting single-occupancy vehicle trips down to about 40% of all trips.
A note on how to read the graphic - it refers to the trips generated by households in the area of town. So if I drive to 82nd Ave from my home in NW, that trip is assigned to "West PDX" where I live.
"Inner East", the area I intuitively suggested was "going to get even more awesome" has a lot going for it on the path to becoming "Biker's Paradise". First, the majority of Portland's population lives in this area, and therefore it generates more than half the trips. But densities are consistently moderately high, there are lots of services available as destinations, and it's proximate to the jobs center in Portland's central city.
That's a perfect mix for leveraging the Portland Plan goals of making walking the preferred mode for trips under one mile and cycling the preferred mode for trips under 3 miles. There are a LOT of trips of this distance by folks living in this area. That's why Roger can project more than one-third of trips by bicycle in 2035 for households in this area.
But what about the rest of the city? Outer East is challenged by lower average densities, a lack of destinations and a long distance to employment areas (downtown and various industrial districts).
Southwest is challenged by hills and the lack of a grid system.
I'm actually hopeful that we can outperform some of Roger's numbers for cycling in these areas, but equity is going to demand that if cycling can't perform as well, then we need to disproportionately invest in transit in these area.
I'm hopeful that electric bikes may boost the cycling numbers, conquering the hills in Southwest and the longer distances in Outer East. But here's my recipe for how to optimize the results in each area:
Outer East:
- Build sidewalks!
- Improve frequent transit network with more frequency and addition of north/south lines
- Encourage more mixed used development and commercial centers (we've already started this with zoning on 122nd)
- Encourage development of jobs centers in Gateway and Lents so there are employment opportunities closer to the population
Southwest:
- Build sidewalks!
- Develop the neighborhood centers contemplated in the Barbur Concept plan
- Continue planning and development of the Southwest Corridor Plan for multi-modal transportation improvements
Posted by Chris Smith at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
June 18, 2013
New PBOT Director Coming from Chicago
Looks like Leah Treat worked with Gabe Klein in both DC and Chicago.
Posted by Chris Smith at 10:51 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Roundabouts: Good for What Ails You
An alert reader sent us this literature review page from WSDOT, touting the benefits of roundabouts:
- 37 percent reduction in overall collisions
- 75 percent reduction in injury collisions
- 90 percent reduction in fatality collisions
- 40 percent reduction in pedestrian collisions
Posted by Chris Smith at 10:49 AM | Comments (5) | Permalink
June 17, 2013
Multi-modality in the Netherlands
OTREC at PSU is pleased to host an informal, post-term, welcome-summer seminar... Eva Heinen, Ph.D. Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Cycling in the Netherlands and Multi-Modality Public transport as well as walking and cycling offer an...
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Posted by Chris Smith at 11:09 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
The Equity Implications of the TriMet Fare App
The beta test for the TriMet fare app is winding down, and Joe Rose at the Oregonian has published a review of it. I think the review is fair and pretty much reflects my experience as a beta tester as...
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Posted by Chris Smith at 9:48 AM | Comments (43) | Permalink
June 12, 2013
Southwest Corridor takes one more step forward
At a Metro Council work session on Tuesday, June 11, the project steering committee presented some draft recommendations to the Metro Council. The recommendations are still in draft at this point, and the Council took no action, but here's what...
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Posted by EngineerScotty at 12:00 AM | Comments (10) | Permalink
June 10, 2013
Updated: Who Shall We Discriminate Against?
Update 6/10/13: An interesting hybrid of my 'vest the current residents' notion and the 'auction' notion from Matt Yglesias on Slate: distribute permits to current residents (one time) and then let them trade on a market. Original post 5/10/13: In...
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Posted by Chris Smith at 2:45 PM | Comments (19) | Permalink
June 6, 2013
Oregon Legislators calling for TriMet audit
Joseph Rose of The Oregonian is reporting that several members of the Oregon Legislature are now calling for Secretary of State Kate Brown's office to conduct an independent "emergency" audit of TriMet, and have amended HB3316, originally introduced to change...
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Posted by EngineerScotty at 1:29 PM | Comments (16) | Permalink
Inaccessible Accessibility: low-income households and barriers to the "new American dream"
Speaker: Arlie Adkins, PhD Candidate in Urban Studies, PSU Topic: Inaccessible Accessibility: Low-Income Households and Barriers to the "New American Dream" In many ways, the resurgence in demand for housing in highly accessible and walkable neighborhoods can be viewed as...
Posted by Chris Smith at 7:41 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink
KBOO Bike Show: Pedalpalooza, City Club Study, Dishwasher Pete
Listen to the show (mp3, 25.8MB) Michelle and Steph review Pedalpalooza rides, speak with Craig Beebe of the City Club Bicycle Study Committee and interview "Dishwasher Pete" Jordan about cycling in Amsterdam....
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Posted by Chris Smith at 7:21 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Portland BRT: How open should it be?
Bus Rapid Transit has been getting a lot of attention in the Portland metro area recently. North of the Columbia, C-TRAN has been planning its Fourth Plain BRT project. Here in Oregon, the Powell/Division Transit Project, widely expected to be...
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Posted by EngineerScotty at 12:00 AM | Comments (12) | Permalink
