Category: Modes

  • Digging Into TriMet’s Proposed Service Changes: Washington County Edition

    Last month, Zef covered in detail TriMet’s proposed service changes to both NE and NW Portland. (He also had some additional thoughts on the cuts as a whole over at Portland Afoot, see also here). Zef is unfamiliar with Washington County, so we agreed that I would do the article about the proposed changes affecting…

  • Is Parking (or Avoiding it) the Killer App for car2go?

    Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of the car2go car-sharing system that debuted in Portland last week is one-way rentals. One-way trips imply a very different parking model than the incumbent Zipcar. Zipcars have reserved spaces (for which Zipcar pays the City – at least for those in on-street meter zones). You have to end each…

  • Generating some bus savings

    Last week, Portland Transport hosted an article on the subject of potential savings which could be realized by closing MAX stations and making the MAX line(s) more efficient. This article was prompted by GM Neil McFarlane’s comments in our recent interview series, particularly the first part which discussed the recent service cuts. Chris, who conducted…

  • Young People Driving Less

    We’ve talked about this phenomenon before, but last week, while I was busy with other distractions (like the City budget), the Frontier Group released a report documenting the trends. Sightline has already done a thorough story, so I’ll direct you there.

  • Improving service to Swan Island?

    Longtime and frequent commenter Lenny Anderson pens an op-ed in the Oregonian on how riders can improve transit service. (Hint: Find more riders). Which brings me to a few thoughts on how best to serve Swan Island. A big problem with serving it is that it’s essentially a dead end. More accurately, it’s two dead…