Warner Pacific's leafy campus on Division Street receives frequent service from TriMet's 4-Division buses. But more reliable transit connections could help the college better serve commuting students and augment its place in the region.
With about 500 undergraduates in its Christian-focused liberal arts programs, Warner Pacific College is one of the smallest accredited colleges in the Portland region. But it has been a steady presence in the educational life of the region for more than 70 years.
Its leafy main campus, tucked tight against the slopes of Mount Tabor, is a deceptively quiet place. The woods of the park slope down into 15 acres of modest instructional buildings and dormitories, set back from SE Division Street by quiet lawns and parking.
But this tranquility belies big changes ahead for this part of southeast Portland.
Among the changes: the Powell-Division Transit and Development Project, the region's first bus rapid transit line, which as soon as 2020 could pass the college's campus and will almost certainly pass one of its adult education facilities about 30 blocks east.
"Education Corridor"
This is the second story in an occasional series exploring the educational institutions along the potential alignment of the Powell-Division Transit and Development Project, the region's first bus rapid transit line.
The first story in this series describes major plans at Portland Community College's new Southeast Campus.
Wherever the Powell-Division line runs, it is just one example of a changing city and region that Warner Pacific sees as increasingly important to its mission.
"In recent years, the college has been intentional about making our address more than a physical location, but integrating our location into our curriculum and engaging the city as our classroom and place of service," said Dale Seipp, Warner Pacific's vice president of marketing.
The college recently adopted a master plan envisioning several new academic and housing buildings that would bring it closer to Division Street and make it more inviting to the surrounding neighborhood.
"We are a collaborative neighborhood partner," Seipp said. "As we think about potential growth of our campus, we want to continue to be a campus that's open and inviting to our neighborhood and seen as a vital part of that community."
And like other institutions in the corridor, the college is thinking about how its students and staff access its campuses.
A commuting school
Warner Pacific sees itself as a commuting school, Seipp said. Only about half of its undergraduates live on campus. Additionally, the college has more than 900 adult degree program students, many of whom take evening courses once a week at Centre 205, a building 20 blocks east on Division.
That adds up to an especially keen interest in the transportation options available to students.
Many students depend on cars, Seipp said. But the college keeps a keen eye on those who use other means: whether bicycling, walking or transit – particularly those for whom driving might be too expensive.
"A majority [of Warner Pacific's students] come from low-income families and public transit and good quality alternative transportation networks are important," Seipp said.
The 4-Division bus provides frequent service to the campus, with scheduled stops every 15 minutes or sooner every weekday. But anyone who rides the 4 line regularly knows it can be slow and unreliable, particularly during rush hour when it often gets caught up in Division Street traffic.
This is especially hard on students like Conner Smalling, a senior majoring in human development and family studies. Smalling used to commute by transit daily from Newberg to Warner Pacific, a two-hour commute – when the buses were on time.
Morning rides were generally reliable, but by the evening, schedules and delays made the commute challenging. "Sometimes I'd miss the bus and I'd be waiting for 20 to 30 minutes," Smalling said.
Such delays could add up to missing a crucial transfer downtown. "It was really rough, especially in cold weather," Smalling said.
Smalling now lives on campus, but still uses TriMet to get to the bank or shopping on 82nd Avenue. Although his trips are much shorter, he still finds much to be improved in the experience. "It can be frustrating sometimes because there's not a seat," he said. "You just have to stand and deal with it."
Ricki Ruiz, a junior majoring in social entrepreneurship, grew up taking TriMet in Portland and until recently rode the 4 from his home near SE 190th and Division in Gresham to Warner Pacific. Although he found the bus fairly easy for that trip, he learned to plan ahead for the traffic that could delay his bus and make him late for class. "I kind of got used to having to wake up earlier to get places," he said.
Now, Ruiz drives, finding that paying for parking at Warner Pacific is "worth the extra 30 minutes of sleep."
Warner Pacific is also interested in better serving the several hundred adult students who take evening courses at its Centre 205 building, just east of I-205 on Division.
Seeking reliable connections
The Powell-Division project could help. Although there are a lot of design questions left to answer, bus rapid transit lines can use techniques like exclusive lanes and signal priority at intersections to bypass traffic and get transit riders where they're going more quickly and reliably.
Learn more about bus rapid transit
Ruiz said more people might take the bus if they could count on it getting around traffic. "Having its own lane could be amazing," he said. "People would rely on TriMet more because they know they can get to a place faster than driving." He added that even he might give up driving to class if that were possible.
The project steering committee will decide later this year whether the bus rapid transit line will transition from Powell Boulevard to Division far enough west to pass Warner Pacific's main campus.
But it almost certainly will pass the Centre 205 building, where more than 300 adult education students currently take evening classes.
The timing of the Powell-Division project could impact Warner Pacific's decision about where to plan for possible future consolidation in its adult education programs on Portland's east side, which are currently split between Centre 205 and another campus at East Burnside Street and 91st Avenue.
"The philosophy we have with our [adult education] programs is we've tried to set our classrooms in strategic places. Places that provide convenient access on the way home for a lot of students," Seipp said, noting that classes are always in the evening and many adult education students have day jobs.
"If we can take advantage of public transit, that's certainly a benefit," Seipp added.
Undergraduates could also use the new line to access Portland State University, where several take additional courses, Seipp said.
Students who take courses at Portland Community College's Southeast Campus, just down Division Street, would probably continue walking or bicycling. A recent city of Portland project added bike lanes and reduced the number of car lanes on Division, but Seipp said the college would welcome more improvements to Division to make walking and bicycling safer and more comfortable.
Being an education corridor means connecting places where people learn, train for jobs and access opportunities. That is the hope for the Powell-Division project, project planners say. Warner Pacific is a small but nevertheless important presence in that corridor, with a strong interest in its future.
Visit the Powell-Division Transit and Development Project