#ridetrimet

[becoming-woke]

Late Fall #nomakeupselfie #portlandia #portlandoregon #urbantravel #ridetrimet #lifeisart #catestar (at Southeast Bybee Boulevard MAX Station) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrO2hJggv3g/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=145pp0e5rk2cf

[mastereridax]

Me. . . . #wednesday #humpday #sotired #sendcoffee #alsosendnudes #andcigarettes #me #mylife #trimet #ridetrimet #instagay #gaystagram #gaysofinstagram #dogs (at Hollywood, Portland)

[ravenwolf11-blog]

#trimet #trimetmax #pdx #pdxtransit #ridetrimet @ridetrimet #tram #train #max #lightrail #transportation #tilikum #tilikumbridge #tilikumcrossing #railbridge #portland #oregon #pnw #pnwonderland #portlandtraffic #alternativetransportation #willamette #willametteriver #portlandoregon #portlandia #exploreoregon (at Tilikum Crossing)

[jgspdx]

Still wish they'd go back to the old @ridetrimet logo.

[jimhair]

If I’d known, I would have taken the Max Train to the Womxn’s March @caesarthenodramallama @jewell40289493 @trimet @ridetrimet @womensmarch #whyimarch #whyimarchpdx #sunday #morning #strategy #digital #documentary #portrait #photography #america @canonusa #canon60d #photograph #pdx #portland #photographer #nw #northwest #oregon https://www.instagram.com/p/BukkEB7At4a/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11h77dg6u83x0

[photohunting]

Thanks @ridetrimet @trimet for getting me home in the snow! Thanks to the driver of the first bus 14 I got on after learning I had no ride from this stop, thanks to the guys who tried to move that bus when it got stuck on a hill on Hawthorne, and thanks to driver of the second 14 I rode closer to home! #pdxsnow #portlandoregon (at Tilikum Crossing)

[hellermusic]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Matthew Heller (@matthewhellerpdx)

Late night summer piano playing! Can’t ask for much more than that. Accompanied by the beautiful sound of the @ridetrimet #maxtrain 🚈🚈🚈 Filmed by: @novostiofficial 🎥🎥🎥on a wonderful piano by @pianopushplay 🎹🎹🎹 (at Pioneer Courthouse Square) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx-uA3cBjOl/?igshid=vfb284cfu4dc

[methos3h]

#mylifeiscontent an example from my daily trip home ~ I #commute from #vancouverwa @vancouverus (my home) into #portlandor @portlandstate (school & projects) most days. ~ I take @ridetrimet busess and Max and @ctranvancouver busses an 1 1/2 hour trip in and hopefully no longer back home ~ Yesterday [the 6th March of 12019 #humanera ] it was #snowing pretty good on the way back to home so happy for c-tran's 65 nicely heated and pretty comfy seating I wish most my bus looked like this ~ #psustudent #filmstudent #filmmakerlife #PacificNorthwest #pdx #dailytravel #travel #journey (at Portland, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuuMVhHB_Cc/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=rzod8q8g2gko

[televisedbirdwatching]

Affordable Building and Design: Needs Well Met

Last week in the research for my article on Bus Rapid Transit, I came across an interesting article about the design of BRT stations. The article argued that the design of BRT stations is critical to their success as a transit option. If a BRT line can’t attract riders, it won’t survive city budget cuts. And, if a BRT line doesn’t have properly designed stations, it won’t attract riders. Articles with headlines like “Nicer Transit Stations Attract More Riders” elicit a “yes, and?” response, and they should: It’s a basic hypothesis.

With bus stops like these, who can complain. Photo from @ridetrimet on instagram.

But, I’m guilty of a particular bias that sees design as something higher up on a hierarchy of needs. As though I’ve learned nothing from behavioral economics podcasts, I assume people make decisions in transit and in housing based on strict logical considerations: maximizing utility, minimizing costs. This is wrong. Economist Richard Thaler (author of Nudge) won a nobel prize for helping clarify the distinction between Homo Economicus and Homo Sapiens. Homo Economicus are the perfect rational agents of classical economists’ dreams. Homo Sapiens are, of course, real people; bounded by biases, broken heuristics, and insufficient knowledge.

Transit riders are Homo Sapiens. For example, a study conducted by the University of Minnesota found that transit riders in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area had shorter perceived (v. actual) wait times at transit stops if there was some sort of shelter present. They write: “The presence of some type of shelter does appear to reduce perceptions of waiting time for actual waits of 10 minutes or less. At a no-shelter stop, riders perceived a 5-minute wait to feel longer than that—about 6 minutes, on average. But riders at the other types of stops, either shelters or full stations, had the opposite experience: a 5-minute wait felt closer to 3 minutes.”

Compared to the first option, who would want to wait at this bus stop? At night? In the rain?

A different article suggested that the most cost effective way to make a city more satisfied with their transit system was to pay for upgrades to stops and stations, even if no change was made to transit frequency or amount of service provided. They write: “Overall, our results indicate that attitudes and perceptions of the built environment and transit system attributes appear to play a significant role in transit use that is independent of objectively measured attributes such as level of service, employment accessibility, or security.” What matters is that people feel safe at a transit stop; or that they feel as though the bus arrived on time. In fact, cities may be wasting their time and money increasing transit frequency if riders feel unsafe waiting at bus stops in the first place.

Other research shows that transit tracking systems like this one from TriMet encourage use- even if the bus is late, people report more positive user experiences if they know exactly where it is.

Design is a powerful tool in influencing perceptions. This is especially true in the case of transit, where systems can live or die by ridership. What use would it be creating a BRT line on Division Street if it wouldn’t attract the ridership necessary to justify its continued operation? Transit station design is a Nudge that encourages riders to choose the bus. Increased ridership generates funds for transit agencies, which they can then spend on system improvements. System improvements attract more riders still, creating a positive feedback loop that solidifies transit’s role in a city.

I’m beginning to think that there may be similar considerations in housing. A few weeks ago, I asked readers to consider a plan to increase the supply of affordable housing by creating temporary trailer parks in the parking lots of un-used big box stores. I have been operating in a sort of crisis mindset, assuming that providing basic housing for the otherwise houseless was something basic and foundational. What business do we have talking about design while basic needs for shelter go unmet? Can we justify our actions to the 12,000 un-housed people of Seattle if we spend a little upfront cash on aesthetic concerns?

Cabrini Green, Chicago. Photo by Curbed Chicago.

In the history of housing affordability, large-scale housing projects like Pruitt-Igoe and Cabrini Green, are generally considered failures because they were truly terrible places to live. Cabrini Green used a sort of chain-link fencing on the front of one of the buildings, which could only have made its residents feel like prisoners. The locations of stairwells and elevators inside Cabrini Green ensured that the stairwells enjoyed none of the “eyes-on-the-street” necessary to make public spaces safe, effectively providing safe haven for gang members and drug users.

Lumine in Boulder, CO. An affordable housing complex by Thistle Communities.

I’m revising my own attitude about design. It is important to me not just that we provide access to housing, but that we provide access to housing worth living in. Previously, I assumed that merely increasing supply of housing would be enough to begin alleviating the crisis of affordability. I felt that meeting basic needs for shelter was something primary and foundational, where design was something extravagant. If we can learn anything from transit systems, it is that design is essential to creating durable and working solutions. What good is housing that nobody wants to live in?

[yourstorydiscovered-blog]

Portland writers beware!! #trimet @ridetrimet #max #train #lightrail #yourstorydiscovered #pdx #downtown #downtownportland #writer #author (at Portland, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnbcI3HhIao/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1h6t6nclm5s87

[becoming-woke]

#catestar #amongthestarsconsulting #empoweringwomen #ridetrimet #bossbabe #sociallyconscious (at Target Store Washington-Square) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpNry0fhaQA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=w230c7135cmg

[mastereridax]

Trainy mornings. . . . #ridetrimet #trimet #max #Saturday #rainyday #rain #pdx #Portland #saturdayvibes #fall #autumn #🍁 #pdxliving #gaystagram #instagay (at Hollywood/Northeast 42nd Avenue Transit Center)

[ursapantera-blog]

Second half of a series of 12in x 18in graphite speed-sketches, 20-40min each, drawn on the @ridetrimet MAX Green Line. This post includes closeups of drawings 8-14. 2018.03.12 @Ursa_Pantera (at Portland State University School of Art + Design)

[ja-nel]

T O D A Y' S 🚆 C O M M U T E 🚥 🚥 @ridetrimet #transit #maxorangeline #unionstation #tillikum #rail #gobytrain #gobybike #gobyfoot #morning #dusk #commuter #pdxtransit #nwpdx #sepdx #pdxppl #pdxlife #backpack #agencylife @liquidagency #workit 👣 (at TriMet Union Station/NW 5th & Glisan St MAX Station)

[dklimke]

First Choochoo puppy of 2018 @ridetrimet #307a (at Elmonica/Southwest 170th Avenue MAX Station)

[sincanvas]

Thanks @ridetrimet for this great shot of the Mural I painted on the Analog Cafe and Theater, Portland Or.!!!!!!#portlandartist#portlandart#muralartist#mixedmediaartist #muralart#sincanvas #theanalogcafe #analogcafeandtheater#portland#pdx#keepportlandweird #stencilartist #tcf#thechosenfew #iconic#trimet#pdxart#pdxartist#artsyfartsy#darkart#occult#goat#3rdeye#pentagram#thearts (at The Analog - Theater & Cafe)