END TRANSIT MALL NEGLECT!

Image courtesy of Neal Berlin

Deke's Note: For well over a decade, I have advocated for a total redesign of the Portland City Center Transit Mall. My pleas have been ignored. "Keep Portland Weird" seems to include ignoring traffic safety. Meanwhile, it keeps getting weirder driving a bus downtown.

WAKE UP PORTLAND! Transit operators have waited decades for you to upgrade the downtown transit mall. It is outdated, increasingly treacherous. Improvements remain low priority, likely far below the radar of city planners and transit management.

Even before COVID-19's devastation of the once-thriving downtown business district, Portland's lack of traffic enforcement created a culture where motorists compete for Stupidest Moves Ever awards. A city employee once told me enforcing code on the mall is discouraged because it "could effectively reduce tourism dollars." I don't recall that Denton, TX cop caring about my tourism dollars when a long-haired 17-year-old me rolled through that stop sign.

Governments are responsible for promoting public safety. We're being ripped off. If they're not going to fix this crap, we deserve a kicker in the thousands.

The cities of Portland and its suburbs, METRO and our transit agency encourage lawlessness. Fully and without apology for decades. Downtown streets are neglected regardless of the endless taxes we pay. Some streets have been "under construction" for years without reasonable end-dates. Fourth Avenue is one example. Several others seem perpetually torn to shreds, squeezing traffic like Dolly Parton's bra. Harrison Street, which I travel down several times daily, evidently hasn't been fully repaved since Eisenhower was president. Potholes roughly patched every so often, but it's still the bumpiest part of my route except for maybe Everett or northbound Macadam between Hamilton Court and First Avenue.

Transit management is equally guilty for not improving this vital transportation zone. Given that dozens of buses, streetcar and ALL MAX lines utilize this hub, it should be a priority. Evidently, it doesn't even reach their radar. Yet another example of oxygen thinning the higher you climb. Perhaps transit's budget should include oxygen tanks for the upper tiers of management, because its lack of foresight is pretty obvious here at ground zero.

WHAT are my main complaints, you ask? Here are several.

A) The painted/marked lanes on the mall haven't been retouched in several years. They should clearly state which lanes are legal for all vehicles. Stop lines on streets intersecting 5th and 6th Avenues have worn away from years of neglect. Suggestion: paint lines on westbound Harrison at 4th Avenue solidly/broadly, with the words STOP HERE! That way, streetcars northbound at 4th are given ample space. Today these lines are barely visible, totally worn away in many areas. Even what motorists can see, they often ignore when their convenience is challenged. Still, a touch of instruction laced with the threat of enforcement would greatly improve safety throughout the mall. Additionally, the lines on Harrison at 5th should also read STOP HERE so buses turning onto Harrison have room to navigate a narrow street without other vehicles making their jobs even more difficult.

B) Signage instructing motorists their legal movements is small and largely unnoticed. Instructions need to be presented BOLDLY, especially "NO RIGHT TURNS." The signs should be MUCH larger and flashing neon to force attention upward and away from that illegal handheld distraction no longer policed.

C) Portland's traffic signal department is asleep on the job. The traffic signals on the transit mall should be priority. I've seen much smaller cities with more efficiently functioning traffic signals than Portland's system. It's reportedly dedicated to an algorithm adopted over 100 years ago. When a Swiss "foreigner" dared challenge Oregon's outdated system a few years back, he was charged with impersonating an engineer. Given this, I expect to be charged with failure to adhere to Oregon's institutional ridiculousness. Daring to challenge stupidity is a trait inherited from my Irish mother, RIP.

D) Buses need to be given priority over rail again. We're both trying to maintain a schedule, and the mall was once the place for bus operators to make up time when we arrived late downtown. A few years back, management decided to give precedence to rail vehicles over buses. Even though buses can move more quickly and efficiently than the lumbering trains, we've been forced to wait two-or-more signals while trains arrive behind us yet still have precedence. Instead of pulling (or better yet, pushing) us through an intersection, we're often treated to a red light in their wake. So much for "efficiency in transit". Even though we're five-plus minutes late, arrived at the stop long before MAX rolled up, we are required to wait as they pass, then wait an extra light sequence because they can't hold the signal for us to follow as the mall was originally designed.

E) PDOT is woefully inefficient. The signal at 5/Montgomery has been malfunctioning the decade-plus I've been an operator. Buses share this intersection with MAX and Streetcar. After the MAX rolls, the traffic light for the transit lane changes from red-to-yellow-to-red. Incredibly, frustratingly, FUBAR. Thanks, PDOT. You'll rat on us if we screw up, but you fail to fix your own problems. "PORTLAND: The City that doesn't work." That's our slogan for its ineptness.

For several weeks, the signal at 5/Ankeny, a quarter-block south of Burnside, goes red as soon as we get a green through that very busy intersection. Instead of green flowing us to our stop at 5/Pine as it has for decades, it causes buses to back up. If an operator turning left off Burnside onto 5th encounters a line of buses stopped at 5/Ankeny when their green arrow comes up, they have to wait another cycle because theirs is only five seconds long. Ankeny was previously green as we rolled through to that multi-line stop at Pine. I have complained about this recent anomaly for weeks to Dispatch, which gives me a basically hands-up "nothing we can do about it, PDOT has been informed." Bus Operator response: dramatic sigh.

F) Traffic signs are woefully small and misplaced for motorists to see. Especially at 5/Pine where they illegally turn right into the Big Pink parking garage from the left lane, as THREE signs strictly prohibit such maneuvers (again, small and poorly situated). Portland's wimpy refusal to enforce traffic code creates a playground for motorists who routinely thumb their noses at traffic laws. Signs should be larger, neon-lit and better-placed for maximum effect. At least when Portland was more effectively policed, people were more apt to behave. Portland has no interest in enforcing safety code. Do what you want....  Portland no longer cares.

G) Our transit agency needs to add painting street lines on the mall to its budget. The paint does wear off after a few years. After a half-decade or more they've faded to obscurity. Some words remain, but "US ON Y" is NOT acceptable. The budget needs to be increased to go along with a major redesign, including bolder lines indicating EXACTLY where motorists are allowed to be on the transit mall. (I would gather volunteers to paint them on our own time, by hand with a fucking paintbrush, just to get 'er done.) 

"People constantly walk out in front of us downtown," one operator said. "When they thank us for saving their ass, it's usually a one-finger salute."

H) Vital pedestrian signals stopped working long ago. Bus Operators preparing to leave a stop downtown depend on these timers. If there's a good six-to-eight seconds of a green light remaining, we have time to roll through the intersection. At 5/Alder, a time point for my bus line, the far side timer works but is not visible from the first position of that stop zone. A seasoned operator will count down the seconds once the red hand shows, but this is not advisable because it's dangerous and we're fallible. Many people disregard rational thought cross a street without looking to see an approaching bus or train. Being hit by either Beastie at 14-20mph would render them unrecognizable in a casket. It's up to us to protect them from an early funeral. Properly functioning crosswalk signals would be a great help though.

I) Bicyclists mistakenly believe they can roll down ANY right-hand lane. Sorry guys, not on the Downtown Portland Transit Mall. The cyclists who understand the danger are not a problem; they ride safely. It's those who don't care about rules who are playing Portland Roulette with their lives and our blood pressure. Those annoying scooter shooters are even worse. I don't know what can be done about this, but maybe bikeportland.org has some ideas.

J) Driving tests in Oregon should cover How to Drive in Downtown Portland, and perhaps other cities. Private taxi or food delivery drivers need to know, and follow, the rules. NO, stopping in a bus zone with your 4-way flashers on is NOT okay. It's difficult to guide our vehicles around yours.

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All this from the lowly mind of a bus operator. Portland transit workers have collectively scratched our heads for decades, while ignorance remains dominant.

"Safety First" should be the vision of management, but they seem blind to it. They pour billions into capital improvements without consulting the minds of those who move millions of passengers every month.

Hey Portland, our tax dollars keep increasing while those who spend them insist they know what they're doing. Now, they're begging you to say "YES" to an increase in the transit tax they forced down our collective throat years ago. They mis-managed the funds they already squeezed out of your paychecks, and now they want MORE? You've been duped. Look UP from your phone and JUST SAY NO.

At the very least, demand they do something better.