Your thoughts on the shuttle situation for the steel bridge construction
Posted by Christian in Public Transportation Culture on Aug 6th, 2008 | 11 commentsAs you know, the steel bridge is currently closed due to MAX Green Line installation. That being said, now that TriMet has been shuttling MAX passengers from the Old Town stop to the Rose Quarter Transit Center for a couple of days, what are your thoughts on the process? TriMet has said to plan ahead to spend 15 extra minutes due to this process… is this right on target? Has it been quicker for you? Longer?
I’ve avoided riding the MAX altogether and just take the bus exclusively now. I usually do a 50 / 50 of riding the MAX to bussing it… but I haven’t wanted to hassle with the shuttle situation.
What are your thoughts?
11 Responses to “ “Your thoughts on the shuttle situation for the steel bridge construction”
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Oregonian is reporting about a 10 minute delay on average.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/08/steel_bridge_closure_adds_10_m.html
Uh- it is NOT a 15 minute delay. Yesterday, the 8 was so backed up coming down from Marquam Hill I got off and walked downtown and then over the Steel Bridge. I got out to my stop at NE 162nd no less than TWO HOURS after I started my trip. My usual commute time is more like an hour and fifteen minutes. Today? Same thing coming in. I waited at Gateway for half an hour for the 8. Grrrrr. I’m not as mad at Trimet as I am at myself for living in BFE. A four-hour daily commute is not good for my mental health, even for only a month.
i think trimet is trying to do the best they can, but it is a big hassle. i have been avoiding the max at all costs, even choosing to drive downtown rather than wait for the shuttle (sadly). the shuttle situation isnt bad if you are not it a hurry, but trying to make it to work or an appointment on time is just crazy.
I wish Trimet had express service to downtown and OHSU from Gateway Transit Center. I really really REALLY do.
My commute takes no less than an hour both ways.
I can tolerate the shuttle bus on the commute to work – If I take the shuttle downtown, transfer to max to the busmall, and MISS the #8 (that keeps arriving early, for some reason), then it takes as much time as getting off at Rose Quarter and waiting for the #8 Bus.
Coming home is a nightmare. I’m almost ready to camp downtown or just live at work for the next few weeks. First comes the cluster#@$^! that is the I405/26 onramp and interchange during rush hour that seems to never end. The congestion is unreal, causing a backup of cars all the way from the I405 onramp up to Campus Drive…
And then, if I’m lucky to get through downtown in an hour, I get to stand on the overly crowded MAX platform at Rose Quarter to have people run and shove past me to get a seat..
So tonight I tried taking the shuttle instead of #8 to Rose Quarter. Got a seat and had seamless transport to Rose Quarter. Shuttles ran frequently enough that the first bus, packed like a sardine can, didn’t notice the extra seating on arriving buses behind it. Not much free room on the Rose Quarter platform, though. Oncoming train kept honking at us to get off the white squares. And our train, while not as packed as the bus (Red Line arrived at same time as Blue Line) transported about one and one half dozen bicycle riders!
Oh, and tonight’s transport took me one hour to get through downtown too.
I’m going to take at least one week of vacation to avoid this mess!
and by bicycle riders, I mean they had their bicycles with them. The aisle was full of bikes, the bike racks were full of bikes.
I road from work to Goose Hollow around 6:00 pm. I had to wait for three trains till I could get on with my bike. The first one was so backed that people without bikes could not even get on.
At 6:00 pm I usually can get on the first train with my bike, no problem.
I guess this is motivation to get into better shape and ride over the West Hills.
Rail Rider said: “I wish Trimet had express service to downtown and OHSU from Gateway Transit Center. I really really REALLY do.”
You might want to take a look at the schedule for the #66 to OHSU from the Hollywood Transit Center. It only works if your schedule fits the times for the commuter run, but it could be an alternative that misses the whole Steel Bridge fiasco.
I wish Tri-met would have done this right. If this was going to be a week it would be one thing, but it is going to be a month…
What am I talking about? On the west side there is no Red, Blue or Yellow line while the bridge is out. It is all one line. But at every stop the automatic voice anounces incorrect information because Tri-Met was too lazy or didn’t plan properly.
“This is a east bound blue line, connect to the red line at the next stop”. If someone doesn’t know that the bridge is closed, they are going to get off and then they will have to wait for the next red line. Only making them mad when they find out that they didn’t need to get off.
I am sure to most this isn’t a big deal, but I am sure this is one of many details that they either felt was unimportant or forgot about. Add all of those details together and it becomes a big deal.
BryanK –
I have used #66 as an option to and from work – unfortunately, from my experiences, it does not offer significant benefit over staying on MAX and going through downtown. (Steel Bridge closure not included!
)
To my knowledge, TriMet doesn’t offer a express/limited service from OHSU to outer-east Portland or Gateway (or from downtown to Gateway). I would prefer a bus rapid transit with “limited” service rather than a MAX transfer at Hollywood where a train has arrived with everyone leaving work from Downtown and Beaverton.
I hate to suggest it, because it means you’ll be crowding my morning commute, but Line 19 makes a fairly quick and direct route from Gateway to downtown. It doesn’t go to OHSU, but it does avoid the hassles with MAX. Judging from last week’s loads, some people have already figured this out; summer is usually very light on the morning trips without the students, but there was definitely an increase in warm bodies.
Thanks, Jeff.