If you had a budget, a marker in hand, and a map of the region before you, where would you draw transit lines, and how often would you want them to run?
At a community planning forum in Tigard last week, TriMet and Metro asked community members this question, putting them into a transportation planner's world through a participatory planning exercise.
While high capacity transit is a topic that's been vocally discussed lately, it was not part of the exercise. All transit lines drawn by participants represented local bus service.
In his introduction to the forum, Tigard Mayor John Cook acknowledged the attention large-scale transportation projects draw, but underscored the importance of smaller, supporting transit lines.
"Improvements to local bus service are the biggest part of the equation," Cook said.
The exercise was simple. Each table was provided with a map of existing transit lines and color-coded markers representing different levels of service frequency – from commute-only service to every fifteen minutes. Each level came with a corresponding price tag per mile.
Participants were given a budget cap and asked to draw service in where they'd like to see it.
"We wanted to give people an interactive way to give input that would also provide some constraints, so they would focus on their priorities," said Tom Mills, a senior planner at TriMet.
A few tables used less than $10 of their allocated $100 budget. Instead, they spent the entirety of the exercise simply discussing the pros and cons of different service lines.
The top three recommendations from the exercise, compiled by TriMet staff based on input received, were local bus service between Murray Scholls/Progress Ridge and downtown Tigard, local bus service between King City and Bridgeport Village and local bus service between Sherwood and Tualatin. Other recommendations were also noted.
Christopher Ouellette, who recently moved to Tigard from Beaverton to be closer to work, appreciated the accessibility of the exercise.
"It was something I could contribute to, even though I'm newer to the area," Ouellette said.
The forum, hosted by TriMet and Metro's Southwest Corridor project team, was one of a series of events kicking off TriMet's Service Enhancement Plans in the southwest part of the region.
Service Enhancement Plans are a multi-year effort to plan for new and improved transit service. TriMet planners are looking at growth and engaging local communities to determine where new service should be located and how to improve existing transit lines.
"Communities, particularly outside of Portland and in the suburbs, have been asking for transit service improvements for some time," Mills said. "I couldn't tell you the last time there was an effort this widespread and comprehensive from TriMet to fully evaluate the service we're providing."
Some forum attendees expressed confusion about the nature of the event, suggesting it was misrepresented in its advertising.
"This was billed as a Southwest Corridor event," said a Tualatin resident after being called upon by Mills during the event's closing remarks.
Other participants shared in her confusion, saying they had attended hoping to talk about potential high capacity transit plans.
While the connection between the Southwest Corridor Plan and TriMet's Service Enhancement Plan was unclear to some, the two efforts are coordinated. In the first phase of the Southwest Corridor Plan, a top recommendation was for TriMet to conduct a review of service in the southwest part of the region.
The Southwest Corridor Plan is a comprehensive planning effort to realize land-use visions of communities in the corridor through investments in priority projects.
The plan includes potential high capacity transit design options, but also encompasses local transit service improvements, as well as plans for supporting multimodal projects.
Upcoming events
For individuals who would like to try their hand at transportation planning, TriMet will be hosting another series of forums in January during which they will conduct the same exercise. Attendees will get the chance to literally put their ideas about transit service on paper.
- Thursday, Jan. 9: Lake Oswego, West End Bldg., Santiam Room, 4101 SW Kruse Way
- Wednesday, Jan. 15: West Linn, Bolton Fire Station #58, 6050 SW Failing St.
- Thursday, Jan. 16: Sherwood, City Council Chambers, 22560 SW Pine St.
- Thursday, Jan 23: Portland, Multnomah Arts Center Auditorium, 7688 SW Capitol Hwy.