TriMet begins study of westside transit

TriMet planner Tom Mills visited CPO 1 on June 5 to share information about a new initiative that the regional transit agency is undertaking to study ways to improve transit service for west side residents and businesses. Acknowledging that TriMet still faces a $12-17 million deficit in Fiscal Year 2012, he said this effort is part of TriMet’s five-year plan to develop new and better service for the region, with implementation occurring once the economy rebounds.

According to the information sheet passed out at the meeting, “The Westside Service Enhancements Project will look at new data, review plans for residential and commercial growth, consider infrastructure improvements, understand demographic changes and equity needs, and hold a series of conversations with jurisdictions, employers, and neighborhood and community groups. Additional opportunities to provide input will occur at outreach meetings and via online channels.”

An invitation to take a survey was distributed to a random sample of 20,000 addresses, but everyone is invited to participate—there’s even a chance to win a one-month transit pass. Access the survey at trimet.org/wtb/survey.

They are currently talking to a variety of stakeholder groups including CPOs, employers, community agencies and government agencies to gather data and suggestions. Public meetings will be held in the fall, and a new plan will be presented in early 2013.

Transit planners face challenges in our area that they don’t see in the downtown and east side of the metro area. There's the chicken-egg aspect—people who rely on public transit don't move to this area, so there's not a strong movement to demand it. There's the terrain—in some areas there are many ridges and valleys that make it a challenge to walk or ride a bike up and down to reach a transit stop.

Our suburbs used to be built around the assumption that everyone would always want to use cars, so streets weren't planned to provide easy access to transit stops. No sidewalks, either. The grid pattern that makes it easy to connect to transit on the east side is lacking, for the most part, in our road system that was built, in many cases, around farm roads and even native trails.

Requirements for developers to provide transit access for new developments are absent in Washington County's codes, and TriMet has not been as inclined to require such amenities as part of its approvals of development applications.

Mills indicated that TriMet has been working with Washington County land use director Andrew Singelakis to address this issue and others. We look forward to a successful outcome for this process.

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