How are we all liking the new Portland Transit Mall?

I was surprised by how often the yellow/green max is running. Maybe that’s just testing, but it seems to be every couple minutes. I like that, but still don’t like that I have to walk 4-5 blocks to catch a bus that used to be every other block.

With all the extra “Not In Service” trains they are running it is definitely taking the buses longer to get through the mall. Otherwise it seems okay although I agree about not liking that bus stops are at least four blocks apart now.

The spacing of the bus stops is fine, except that I wish most or all had stops closer to the Blue/Red MAX lines at Pioneer Square. Though even then, we’re only talking a two block walk to the station so it isn’t *that* big of a deal.

I’m amazed, looking back, at how smooth it all looks. It’s been so long since we had the bus mall in service and things changed so gradually, it’s hard to remember the absolute mad chaos the old mall was. I was always amazed that buses never hit each other or people down there on a regular basis. Honestly, the old mall was a thrill ride at times. The new one seems so tame by comparison. As for speed, the reduced stops do make it faster to transit on bus, or at least it feels so. No more stopped at almost every other block to stop and wait and board and deboard and wait and try and pull out…………

*sound of fingernails on a chalkboard*

Are there downsides? Yes. The biggest is that they have yet to perfect the timing of the lights with the MAX progress through downtown. For while the buses seem faster to me, the MAX seems slow by comparison. From outside, they seem to really clip, but from on board it feels lethargic. Correctable, but annoying for the moment.

Otherwise, it’s not too bad. It’s too early for a real verdict though. Once the shelters are done, and the debris cleared, and it’s truly open for good and has weathered a winter, then the new design will be best evaluated.

It’ll be a little slower when the Green line opens, I’m guessing, since a Not in Service train doesn’t have to worry about people holding the doors and missing its signal So they’re moving a bit faster than they probably will be once it opens!

I actually had just asked a similar question over on LiveJournal (http://community.livejournal.com/damnportlanders/15435547.html) since yesterday was the first day I went out to the mall, but I went just for kicks, so I was curious what the people who actually used the Yellow Line thought. People seem to mostly like it, though there are a few people who still hate the design. Personally I’m still a little confused about the bus stops - they’re just not intuitive to me, but that’s just a learning curve thing.

Oops, I didn’t mean to submit that last comment before it was finished.

Just wanted to say that the increased stop spacing makes sense, even if I’ve had some trouble adjusting to it. I think that TriMet should increase bus stop spacing over the entire system (Jarrett Walked has some good general discussion on this, http://www.humantransit.org/2009/06/mundane-things-that-really-matter-stop-spacing.html). Routes like Line 15 have stops every two blocks, and I think this density really slows down service.

Thought I’d point out that TriMet has a nice map that shows the grouping and location of bus stops on the new mall: http://trimet.org/portlandmall/may24.htm

Do they have this map posted at any of the stops?

Someone at Tri-Met really goofed on the new MAX maps as they show the yellow line on it’s old route instead of passing through the mall.

The new shelter design doesn’t make much sense as the glass roof is almost flat which makes it easier for debris to accumulate. It also has a much smaller coverage area which means the cold & wet winter rains will blow right in.

The yellow line was somewhat slow to begin with. Now it seems super slow. With the new route change, it takes a good thirty minutes to get from the Kenton Max Station to Pioneer Place; a six mile trip. This equates to about 12 miles an hour…, painfully slow for such a seemingly cuspy and sometimes hypersonic like(along the Banfield or in the tunnel around the Zoo)system.

The jury is still out on this one. Although, I will say that I really do miss the bus stops at Jackson St., PSU Bookstore, and right in front of where PCAT used to be.

The mall looks good- I hope to see the efforts to bring life to each block bear fruit. The trains velocity, for lack of a better word seems slow. I would be curious to see actual times (averaged, not scheduled) between the Steel Bridge split and Pioneer Courthouse Square on each alignment for the Yellow Line. It feels longer on the Yellow Line, even though there are less stops. But it might be the same, with more time standing still, on the new line.

I cant help but wonder if a simplified system, with buses loaded to the right, and light rail to the left, would have have allowed faster speeds for both. The addition of automobile traffic to the mall made this impossible, something businesses along the mall really wanted.

In the end, adding automobile traffic to the mix was a short sighted (but perhaps necessary compromise). Access for automobiles to the mall without sufficient parking helps no one, and there isn’t enough parking to make any difference to local business. After observing autos on the transit mall in every lane no matter how much signage, I have doubts that, barring painting each lane different colors, drivers will ever get it right. For all sorts of reasons, cars should have been left out of the plan, not so much for pragmatic rather than ideological reasons.

Still, its nothing that can’t be fixed. As more light rail lines open, I think the transit mall will mature into into a more effective corridor for moving people in and out of Portland.