Members of the Southwest Corridor Steering Committee met Monday to discuss high capacity transit options for that part of the region. The committee is scheduled to decide this summer what transit options to study in more detail.
Steering committee members from the southwest part of the region got a look Monday at the decisions they'll have to make in July as a transit study moves forward.
The Southwest Corridor plan is studying land use, transportation and community investments in the southwestern wedge of the region, from downtown Portland out to Beaverton in the northwest and Tualatin in the southeast. While the project includes looks at housing, economic development and parks, the transit element will likely receive the most study from regional policymakers.
How much study, though, is a decision that elected officials from cities like Sherwood, Tualatin and Tigard, as well as agencies like TriMet, Metro and ODOT, are scheduled to make this July.
Staff from Metro, which is managing the broad study of the corridor, gave the 14-member steering committee a matrix of transit-related decisions they might make this summer, mostly along two tracks: What to study in the light rail realm, and what to study in the bus rapid transit realm.
Both options are still alive as the corridor study moves on. That may not be the case later, as planners study the construction costs of transit options in the Southwest Corridor.
Metro staff, essentially, is asking policymakers to cast aside options they don't think their communities will ultimately support, so that they don't have to spend money studying options that will never be developed.
Policymakers could also ultimately decide not to improve transit, a so-called no-build alternative.
Eggs in a basket
Some committee members questioned whether they'd have enough information by July to make decisions about what to carry forward in the project's refinement phase. That's when a more detailed analysis of the project will help policymakers decide what to study in the formal project evaluation, called the Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS.
Tigard Mayor John Cook, who took office in January, said he's not sure he's ready to make a decision.
"Are we comfortable standing up there, being able to say … to our citizens, that we're comfortable moving forward with any of these?" Cook asked. "I don't think we've had time to digest it."
He suggested putting off the decision until autumn.
Tualatin Mayor Lou Ogden said he and his city's staff needed time to digest the preliminary analysis presented by Metro. He compared it to an airline pilot of a flight scheduled to leave at 10 a.m. The pilot comes on the public address system, Ogden said, and says the plane has a hydraulic fluid problem.
"I've got to leave at 10 a.m.," Ogden said, "but I sure as heck want to land alive."
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, though, pointed out that the decision in July is not a final decision – it's just choosing what gets studied further. He questioned whether more time would lead to a better decision.
"Two years won't get us much more (information) than two or three months, in my experience," Hales said. "It's a sorting based on your understanding."
But Ogden was unconvinced.
"I'm not sure we have enough eggs in the basket to serve breakfast," he said.
What decisions do committee members have to make?
Points on a map
It's pretty much a given that any high-capacity transit line, if built, will connect to downtown Portland on the north end. But where in the corridor would a bus rapid transit or light rail line start? Beaverton? Sherwood? Tualatin?
All of the above?
Metro planner Matt Bihn, presenting to the Southwest Corridor Steering Committee on Monday morning in Tualatin, pointed out the costs of operating the options for bus rapid transit.
A bus rapid transit line to Tigard would cost roughly $1.38 per boarding to operate. Extend that line to Sherwood, Bihn said, and the cost goes up to $1.95 per boarding. Light rail to Tigard would cost $1.23 per boarding to operate.
A hub-and-spoke model, which would operate bus rapid transit on a spine along Barbur Boulevard between Tigard and Portland, and have express buses veer off into Lake Oswego, Sherwood and Beaverton, would cost $1.90 per boarding. In the no-build scenario, buses would cost $1.65 per boarding to operate.
Those costs don't include construction costs, just operation.
One of the high-capacity transit options for the Southwest Corridor is a hub-and-spoke model of bus rapid transit, which would connect express buses to many parts of that part of the region. That option would get a lot of riders – but have a higher cost. The Southwest Corridor study area is shown in lighter grey.
The cost difference, Bihn said, is in part because of the lack of capacity on buses. During rush hour, more buses have to run to meet demand, because buses can only carry half as many passengers as light rail.
Transit ridership in the southwest region would roughly double if high-capacity transit was built, Bihn said. Under a no-build scenario, the area would have 12,400 transit riders in 2035; light rail would have 22,500 riders, bus rapid transit to Tigard 20,100, bus rapid transit to Tualatin 26,900, and bus rapid transit to Sherwood 28,900.
By comparison, about 25,000 people ride the MAX Red Line daily; 20,500 use the Green Line.
Is the hub-and-spoke model, with its higher operating cost, worth studying further? Is a study of connecting Sherwood to bus rapid transit worthwhile when that is preliminarily projected to increase ridership by 10 percent? Those are decisions steering committee members are scheduled address this summer.
Lines on a map
It's not just about where the lines start and end; the study will look at what route a potential high capacity transit line could take between Portland and the ultimate destination.
Steering committee members are slated to decide whether to pull some routes from consideration for further study. Key among them are Inner Southwest Portland, southern Tigard and west of Portland Community College's Sylvania campus.
In Inner Southwest Portland, a study could include whether to run bus rapid transit along Barbur or on Naito Parkway, and the costs and benefits associated with each. Policymakers will also decide whether it's worth it to study tunneling a potential MAX line under OHSU and Hillsdale, or if such a line should just run up Barbur on the surface.
Bihn's preliminary analysis showed that a MAX stop underneath OHSU would have 2,210 more daily riders than stops in the South Waterfront; the analysis didn't include the a look at the affects of transit ridership in Hillsdale.
Policymakers could decide the potential construction costs of tunneling under Marquam Hill aren't worth the potential extra riders. Or they could they decide connecting OHSU and Hillsdale directly are enough of a priority to justify pulling Barbur from further consideration.
Committee members could just decide to have a study look at both.
Further out, Bihn gave steering committee members a glimpse of options in the area of Portland Community College. Should a second phase of the study look at bus rapid transit on Haines Street, making an easy, quick connection for transit riders but disrupting a residential neighborhood? Or should it look at existing transit routes?
If committee members decide to study transit to Tualatin, should they look at the Hall Boulevard corridor, the 72nd Avenue corridor, or both? A route along Hall could attract more suburban residents, but a route along 72nd would get riders closer to their jobs.
Gold, silver or lead transit
Metro Councilor Craig Dirksen, one of the steering committee's co-chairs, pointed out the range of options that go along with bus rapid transit service. Gold-standard bus rapid transit, Dirksen said, is in its own transitway, like a light rail with rubber wheels. It doesn't interact much with other traffic, increasing speeds – and construction costs.
On the other end, the "lead" bus rapid transit Dirksen referred to costs the least to build, but wouldn't have as many riders because it wouldn't be much of an improvement over the existing bus service. Buses would stop at red lights, ride in mixed traffic and use vehicles similar to the buses already in service.
Planners want policymakers to give them an indication of what levels of service to study for a potential bus rapid transit line – and what options to leave behind.
Note: An earlier version of this story misidentified the projected operating cost of bus rapid transit to Tigard. That cost, estimated at $1.38 per boarding, has been updated in this story.
An earlier version of this story misidentified the current costs of operating buses to TriMet. The numbers listed were based on a computer model for an apples-to-apples comparison of transit options and their operating costs. This version has been updated.