In my city (Portland, Oregon, USA), consistent nagging finally got us improved bus service and frequency, road diets, and “express” buses that have signalling priority over cars. One of my friends’ father works for a local organisation that advocates against car infrastructure in favour of better public transportation and biking infrastructure. In the past ten years, we have had:
- Entirely new light rail line extending south into the suburbs
- Scrapped motorway expansion in exchange for improvements to a commuter rail line that runs parallel to it
- “Frequent service” bus routes that run every 15 minutes or better during peak hours
- Free public transportation for students during the school year and over the summer
- Tolls on a major motorway to offset maintenance and improvement costs
- “FX” express bus routes with nice bus shelters, signalling priority, and those long accordion busses
- Big pay rise for bus drivers, up to $25/hr now I think
- Road diet on a large arterial street in the southeast, adding bike lanes and a median
- Lowered speed limits across the city
- Designated “neighbourhood greenway” bike routes
- Major downtown arterial shrank to 2 lanes, with a segregated bike path installed in the freed space
- Improvements to the Springwater Corridor bike trail (use for commuting also)
Came here to comment about PDX, looks like you’ve got it covered :)
See you out there on these streets (and on a bike)
Over the school year I live in Corvallis, OR (attending Oregon State Univ) where it’s extremely walkable and likeable. Free public transit but only on weekdays, unfortunately. Regional buses connect with the train station in Albany.
Sadly, over the summer, I’m back at my parents’ place and they live on a very steep hill 20 minutes by foot from the nearest bus stop, and the bus only comes every 45 minutes so there’s really no option but to drive :(
I’m in a nearby city (moved out of Portland in 2006), and we are in serious need of modern transit here. Would you be willing to share the name of the org your friend’s father is with in Portland? I would like to see how they operate to help us start getting some improvements in our city.
We do have at least a couple of city council reps who are on board with railed transit and limiting parking, as well as a city planner who is a Strong Towns member, so there’s running room to get started. Having a group to help channel the public’s desire to have non-automobile transit (and related laws) would be a next huge step for us.
I looked it up and it turns out, he’s the president! The organisation is the Parking Reform Network. It seems they’re specifically against car parks but listening to him talk I though it was against all sorts of car infrastructure.
This is great! Thank you so much. I’ve been reading through their materials, and they’re definitely focusing in on the parking/wasted space problem that all too many cities have created for themselves.
As I keep pulling materials together for my city council & city planner discussions, I’ll be drawing on this work when I can.
Please thank your friend’s dad for me when you get a chance. It’s people like him that help to make our cities a better place to live.