A few new TriMet service surprises


TriMet has now announced all the details (i.e. detailed schedules) of its service changes which will take affect Sept 2. While most of the changes should be no surprise, given the intense debate over them back during the spring budget discussions, there are a few interesting surprises. Cameron Johnson has a good write-up over at Al’s blog.

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20 responses to “A few new TriMet service surprises”

  1. It is good to see that the 4 and 9 will have actual 15-minute service on weekdays, and nearly every 9 will run to Gresham.

  2. Thanks for posting both for me, ES. I’ll remember the thing about the Guest Author as well.

    I actually found out two more things, which instead of having to add another post, I tacked onto the followup. They are:

    “+Weekend service on the Broadway/Concordia corridor along line 17 will be bumped up from every 40 minutes to every 32-35.

    -However, TriMet will be cutting off a section from frequent service. Service between Tigard and King City, formerly 17-20 minutes with TriMet, will now be every 33 minutes, 7 days a week (although rush hour service will still be at the same levels of line 94 and then some, but the 12 will not serve that area any longer). It also, as stated, loses off-peak service to Portland without a transfer.”

  3. Looking at the new route of the 17, I have to wonder who they’re serving? Are people from SE really going to want to ride through downtown just to get to NE 33rd? It seems like eliminates the usefulness of the bus a lot just to quietly cut service to the smallest possible number of people at once so the plan doesn’t get shot down.

  4. Looking at the new route of the 17, I have to wonder who they’re serving? Are people from SE really going to want to ride through downtown just to get to NE 33rd?
    Actually, the 73 is being combined with the 70, which doesn’t go downtown. (Only a few years ago, service on 33rd Ave. was the 10-NE 33rd, which was interlined with the 10-Harold on weekdays and, IIRC, 58-Canyon Rd. on weekends.)

    If you’re referring to what’s now the 9-Broadway; I’ll probably get corrected, however I think the point was to continue providing a single-seat ride from that area of NE Portland into Downtown, and the 17-Holgate was probably the most suitable route to attach it to.

  5. The 17-Holgate and the 9-Broadway were very suitable for through-routing because they already had similar levels of service. The 9-Powell always had a lot of buses that turned around downtown because demand is higher on that corridor. The new arrangement should help reliability on the 9-Powell, plus it helps set up the idea of a future Powell BRT Line. Anyway, even if not a ton of people ride all the way through, some people probably will and you generally get efficiencies from through-routing anyway.

  6. Check out how long it takes to go from Jantzen Beach to Lombard and Interstate under the old and new schedules. You’ll get an unpleasant surprise.

  7. There are probably many examples of that, Nick, where trips that could previously be done with a one-seat ride now require a transfer. Any time a service reconfiguration is done (any change other than adding service), that will be true. Ideally, the transfer wait time will be short.

    When you reconfigure the system while CUTTING service, OTOH, you get lots of examples of journeys that get a lot more difficult.

  8. Check out how long it takes to go from Jantzen Beach to Lombard and Interstate

    Are you considering C-TRAN? If their bus matches up with MAX good, it shouldn’t be that bad. Of course, the TriMet Trip Planner doesn’t (yet) recognize C-TRAN.

  9. David, please refer to the numerous other times we’ve discussed your comment, including directly asking Neil McFarlane on camera, on your behalf, and providing a transcript of the discussion. Thanks.

  10. TriMet has really done a number on the 12 line in Tigard which will certainly reduce customer satisfaction and discourage ridership.

    So far, the rush hour transfer between riders in the south of Tigard, King City, western Tualatin and Sherwood with the 76 and 78 bus (and WES) is now broken. Riders who need to go to Tualatin or Beaverton will be required to transfer at 99W and Main/Greenburg, requiring an 800 foot walk and the closest stop requires crossing seven lanes of 99W, or a longer walk backtracking down Main Street. Neither of those 76/78 stops are what I would call “good” bus stops and are woefully inadequate for being a transfer location (no shelter, inadequate benches, no schedule information posted, inadequate lighting, etc.)

    Likewise for outbound trips, for five hours in the afternoon a 12 rider needing to transfer to the 94 will have to know to transfer at 74th Avenue (Tigard Cinemas Park and Ride) or face a very long walk from Tigard TC to 99W and Greenburg or 99W and Walnut. The 76/78 transfer northbound requires crossing Greenburg at one of two dangerous crosswalks; the 76/78 transfer southbound about a 480 foot walk. There will be no transfer to/from WES which is ironic given one would think TriMet would want to encourage trips on WES, but they have all but eliminated bus/WES transfers and will only encourage more single occupant motor vehicle trips to the “free” park-and-ride lot generously paid for by bus riders who do not benefit from it.

    On the weekday schedule, half of the northbound trips from the 94 to the 12 either miss the transfer, or are so close that one can count on missing the transfer. Many of the schedules are just within minutes, which is totally unnecessary and unacceptable. A rider should never arrive at a transfer point only to see their bus departing…the result is a long wait. Since TriMet is increasing the headways of buses on both the 12 and the 94 this route is not even considered “Frequent Service” anymore.

    Another brilliant decision by TriMet – the last outbound 94 of the day is at 11:40 PM, the previous arriving 12 is at 11:44 PM. So if you get that particular 12 bus and miss your transfer by four minutes, you’re calling a taxi.

    For most trips, the travel time will now increase anywhere from five minutes to nearly a half hour, just sitting and waiting at Tigard Transit Center. What used to be a quick 10 minute trip from King City to Fred Meyer will now be a 45 minute ordeal if you don’t plan your trip accordingly.

    I am not aware of anyone that continues on the 12 through downtown to Sandy Boulevard, so I am still agast as to how TriMet came up with this idea. I doubt it will save TriMet any money (which is the primary motivator) and it certainly will not help the on-time performance of the 12…but it will do everything to discourage ridership by forcing inconvenient transfers for no apparent reason and reducing service to the Southwest Corridor – where one would think TriMet would want to ENCOURAGE ridership in order to make a business case that MAX is necessary to accommodate the increasing demand for transit. Rather, TriMet is doing everything it can to discourage transit usage.

  11. I’m a little confused, Erik–are you saying the 12 will not stop at Tigard TC? Under the new schedule, it will terminate there, where riders can catch the 76/78.

    On the issue of the 12 through-routing from Tigard to Sandy–I suspect that was done because the line is FS between there, and non-frequent beyond those two stations. (Actually, the 12 was frequent out to King City, but not to Sherwood). I tend to agree that the through-routing isn’t useful, but shortening the line should improve reliability–the longer a bus line is, the more likely something will go wrong.

  12. During 94 express/peak hour operations the 94 will not serve Tigard TC, breaking the transfer between riders south of downtown Tigard, in King City, in west Tualatin and Sherwood and the bus lines that serve Tigard TC (45, 76, 78, WES).

    There is a considerable amount of transfer activity that will be eliminated, and the transfer between the 94 and the 76/78 at Main/Greenburg is, simply put, a safety hazard and a pedestrian fatality waiting to happen.

    On the issue of the 12 through-routing from Tigard to Sandy–I suspect that was done because the line is FS between there

    This seems more like “operational convenience” rather than “customer service”. Few riders continue on the 12 interline, but TriMet’s more concerned about what is easiest for it rather than what the riders need (roughly half the riders on a 12 passing through Tigard transfer, and the other half stay on the 12. Now it will be 100% transfer; while downtown will have next to 0% run-through.)

  13. Just to clarify, the express 94 buses will stop on Main St, just about one block from the TC. There are also buses running in the same time frame as a local 94 that go into the TC.

    In other words, there is no reason for passengers transferring from the 94 to 76/78 would need to make the transfer at Greenburg.

  14. I used to have a one-seat ride when I lived near Barbur and Terwilleger and commuted to Gresham with the 12. I was one of the few that rode it through downtown. Now that I live in Hollywood, about half the distance to work, I will have to transfer from the 12 to the 21 in Parkrose.

    One step forward, two steps back.

  15. Just to clarify, the express 94 buses will stop on Main St, just about one block from the TC.

    Not according to the TriMet rider alert posted today for outbound buses. Now a rider travelling southbound has the choices of 99W and Warner to get off the bus, walk 1,570 feet to the nearest 76/78 bus (including crossing Hall Boulevard), and a 76/78/WES rider wishing to travel southbound must either transfer by walking those 1,570 feet, or from Tigard TC 3,030 feet south to Walnut.

    In other words, there is no reason for passengers transferring from the 94 to 76/78 would need to make the transfer at Greenburg.

    And which buses are you talking about, the 12 bus? The one that won’t run south of Tigard TC? So besides the 94, are you suggesting that riders from a 94 transfer to a 45? Where, by stopping at Walnut and then walking across 99W 650 feet north to Grant to the nearest 45 stop? (The 45 makes no stops on 99W outbound to Tigard TC.)

  16. The express 94 buses headed to Portland stop at Main & Commercial; the buses headed to Sherwood stop at Main & Tigard St.

    A few of the very early inbound 94 buses interline with Line 12.

    I have no control over messaging in rider alerts, nor do my comments and opinions reflect the official viewpoint of my employer.

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