TriMet TV Episode 16 · May 16, 2008 · 3:01 · Download (30MB M4V)

Planning Transit: Behind the Scenes

Ever wonder why the bus or MAX goes one place, but not another? Or why some lines run more frequently than others? Find out how TriMet's transportation planners decide what service goes where, when.

Text transcript of this episode

Ever wonder why the bus or MAX goes one place, but not another? Or why some lines run more frequently than others?

TriMet's transportation planners are the ones who come up with those routes and schedules and they try to make them both convenient and cost-effective, by working together with riders, communities and local governments.

Tom Mills: "Our primary goals in transportation planning are to increase ridership, making the service more cost effective, to serve the communities in need of transit with regular and dependable fixed-route bus and MAX service, and to limit our operational impact on the community."

For a bus or MAX line to be cost-effective, it needs to carry a certain number of riders every hour.

Mills: "As a public entity that collects taxpayer money, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that we are getting the most rides for every dollar that we spend."

If there aren't enough riders, the service can be put to better use somewhere else in the system.

Mills: "A line is not feasible if it can't generate more than 15 riders per hour. We engage those riders and that community into a long discussion about how to improve the service. Often times we make adjustments to the service to improve it, that might be changing the hours, it might be changing the frequency."

TriMet' Frequent Service bus lines, which run every 15 minutes or better every day, carry more than 40 riders per hour. One of the less obvious factors we have to consider is operational impact. In other words, how will the service actually work out on the street?

Mills: "We're going to be able to turn the bus around at the end of the line, we can make all the turns that we need to make, we are going to have an appropriate place to layover at the end of the line."

Not only that, how does the community feel about running a bus through their neighborhood?

Mills: "We typically don't like to run bus service down quiet residential streets. We like to keep them on busier streets that are used to a lot of traffic."

And just like you and me, operators need a place to pull over and take a break.

Mills: "You wouldn't believe how much time we spend trying to find bathrooms for operators."

When it comes to planning transit service, ridership, cost and operational impact all play an important role. The final piece of this puzzle is you!

Each year, we have open houses where you can get involved and tell us what kind of transit system you want now and in the future. You can also learn more about the planning process in our Transit Investment Plan, which helps us decide where to invest in service.

To get your copy or to share your comments, visit us online at trimet.org/tip.

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