Transit Sleuth

One of the things that happens over and over again. Check this out below…

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Did you see it? Yeah, no “automobile” directions! Seriously, drivers can figure it out themselves, the country spends enough money on em’ and GPS makes that brainlessly simple. However Portland loves to point out the awesome transit capabilities – the nearby Amtrak Union Station, Light Rail MAX to the Airport, etc. Either way you come, the conference looks to be pretty sweet. Check it out here:  http://www.zeromq.org/event:pdxconf2012

Ok, so currently I’m staying with family in Vancouver, which provides a nightmare of a commute. I’m however determined to make it an adventure though. Today I’m heading downtown (Portland, not downtown Vancouver). The trip is a multi-transfer and long walking distance trip.

Segment One

The first part of the trip is about a half mile up and down hills. There is a sidewalk, which seems odd in Vancouver, as it seems nobody actually walks here. I see someone maybe every 1000ft. But then of course Vancouver has focused on car happiness and not people happiness, so it all makes sense.

Segment Two

I arrive at fourth plain after this walk/ride/bike up and down a 1/2 mile of hills to board the #4 to Delta Park. The #4 route is pleasant, at least so far. In the morning the bus appears to be clean with a well below half load of people. I counted 14 this morning. Strangely, there was also no traffic to cause delays crossing the great I-5 Bridge bottleneck either. So maybe it is a slow day?

Segment Three

Once I transferred to the Yellow Line MAX at Delta Park things immediately bumped up a notch. By the Rosa Parks Station Stop the MAX has no less than 82 people for the two car light rail train. By the next stop it had 106, which is a little low for a Monday, but sure beats the capacity a bus line could handle.

The day remained gorgeous with the sun shining and even slightly warm compared to previous days. Most were silent on the way in, which isn’t abnormal for the morning rush hours.

The Return Trip

The reverse trip was about the same thing. Easy, super quick transfer to the #4 C-Tran, and overall about 45 minutes between downtown and where I got off the bus in Vancouver.

Observations

• 95% of the riders of the #4 C-Tran are all going to the Yellow Line. Obviously there is significant ridership demand.
• Considering ridership in a particular are usually goes up about a 1/3rd past equivalent bus service when light rail is put into place, the Vancouver Ridership would be that or more. Matter of fact, I’d bet a fifty on it.
• If the #4 was BRT, and connected with light rail in downtown Vancouver (ya know, if they actually build the bridge monstrosity across the river), that would see at least a 5-10% increase in ridership over the current bus operations. It would have to be at least 10 minute frequencies. Having this 15 minute headway during peak hours isn’t going to help all that much even if reconfigured to BRT. Yes, I’d also put a 50 spot bet on this too.

Portland is putting the finishing touches on the Eastside Streetcar for an opening this Fall. I was checking out the Portland Streetcar Site and found some cool images that show future streetcar stop glass designs. These are pretty sweet pieces of art. With the etchings it makes the glass more resilient to tampering, etc, also. Hats off Portland Streetcar Team, good job.

Lloyd District

Central Eastside

With that, a couple more parting shot of my own from a recent Portland Trip.

Streetcar From On High at Night

Streetcar, Juxtaposed Against High Gas Prices

So on February 7th I’m speaking at the PADNUG – Portland Area .NET/Developers User Group. The location of the meeting is in the Intel Campus here:

5200 NE Elam Young Pkwy Hillsboro, OR 97124

I’ll be starting my trip out to this location from downtown Portland right around this lat and long:

45.519370, -122.675155

That gets me this flawless ride out on Portland’s TriMet Blue Line MAX. So if you’re in the area, we can surely ride together, it may be a bit packed being rush hour and all. At least however it is light rail, so it isn’t exactly “delayed” because of traffic.  :)  Gotta love those dedicated ROWs (Right of Ways).

I boarded the train this morning at 10:30am with a scheduled arrival of 12:00. That, overall is not a bad commute compared to the nightmare of those that currently commute in from Olympia. Currently the various bus trip, which includes a transfer to either a second bus or to the Sounder, is a very long trip. I’m also not one to encourage long commutes, I think they are inherently bad for society and for the mental health of individuals attempting to make these trips.

However, if the trip must be made, which a lot of people do, the train should be a viable option. There is demand, there are tracks, and soon there will be an even shorter route that will take about an hour and 15 minutes instead of an hour and a half. The problem is that Sound Transit hasn’t mustered up the strength or money to extend as far as Olympia yet, and Amtrak Cascades (which would be a perfect candidate) can’t seem to organize their trains to run along this route.

But if I were to dream nice things for the commuters of Olympia that come into Seattle, here’s a viable (and net operationally profitable option!).

1. Take one of the train sets, which there WILL BE SPARES soon based on the arrival of two new train sets that Oregon/Amtrak has purchased. Put this single train set on an Olympia to Bellingham route for an early morning commute. Leave Olympia at 6:50 or 7am for a 8:15 or 8:30 arrival in downtown King Street Station Seattle.
2. Take that same train that arrives at 8:30 and add another train that goes to Bellingham – at least during the College School Year – and have it depart for Bellingham around 9:00am.
3. Have that train turn in Bellingham for the southern trip back toward Seattle, departing at 3:30pm for Seattle, arriving and departing from Seattle at or around 5:30pm.
4. Arrive back in Olympia at around 7:00pm.

This is just one thought. With two new train sets coming online, it is absurd to keep them unused. There are routes that will garner and build ridership. Not using them is an absolutely waste of taxpayer money. They’re paid for, the Cascades are easily operationally profitable (at least between Portland and Seattle) and could easily be used and become a net asset to the route.

In a later entry I might dream up another route that would be a good idea. One of the most obvious I may outline is a new schedule for Portland to Seattle. There are a ton of flyers in the morning (that leave PDX at around 5:00am) that would happily take the train instead of flying. I don’t want to wish Alask Airlines ill will, but environmentally, economically, and mentally it would be better to shift this short route to passenger rail travel instead of having people fly.

So what’s your thoughts? Any route ideas? Maybe Spokane, somewhere else, or even Bend?