Category: Bus

  • I’m a Proud CTU

    Via @LitmanVPI: That would be a Cycle-Transit User, someone who combines cycling and transit to accomplish a trip. A new study out of the Mineta Transportation Institute (PDF) looks at this behavior in Philadelphia and San Francisco. A few top line conclusions: Cycling and transit act as access for each other, it’s not a one-way relationship…

  • TriMet to start bus service planning/outreach in SE and around Milwaukie MAX

    Title says it all.  TriMet is now starting its planning and public outreach activities in preparation of the opening of Portland-Milwaukie MAX next year, and is looking for public input, particularly on the question of how bus service should be reorganized around PMLR.  A set of guidelines for the process can be found here.  The…

  • Completing the outer ring of suburban transit

    If you look at the TriMet route map, it tends to resemble an amoeba. There are several arms, of various lengths, and lots of connectivity to the core–but in many cases, no connectivity between arms without travelling into downtown, or routes involving multiple transfers. Starting with the St. Helens Road and heading counter-clockwise; there’s a…

  • How Do We Get an Antifragile Transit System?

    It would appear that the failure of a single surge protector effectively disrupted most MAX trips during the morning rush hour yesterday. That would seem to be the definition of “fragile” – a small failure has a non-linear (and much amplified) effect on the whole system. I could draw a similar analogy with a car…

  • Breaking down the economics of bus vs MAX

    There’s been a bunch of stuff in the comments of the SW Corridor: Transportation Bundles article about the relative (operational) efficiencies of bus versus light rail. The discussion mirrors a debate that occurs in the wider community. Two dueling theories are commonly articulated: That MAX is more efficient, operationally, than bus–that in busy corridors, it…