Portland’s Rose Lanes Project seeks to establish “transit route[s] where buses and streetcars have priority on the road in congested areas.” The theoretical framework of this project is that over time “as transit moves faster and more reliably on these lines, service will increase, helping move more people.” The ultimate goal is that “transit service will be 12-minute frequency or better all day and 10-minute frequency or better during peak hours.” The project requires a collaboration between the Portland Bureau of Transportation and TriMet, “a public agency that operates mass transit in a region that spans most of the Portland metropolitan area,” for adequate implementation of the project.
According to Paul Sorenson, “Implement[ing] deep-discount transit passes … Expand[ing] bus rapid transit (BRT) with bus-only lanes … [and] Improv[ing] signal timing and control where deficient” were three of the 10 complementary measures recommended for Los Angeles to seek to alleviate its congestion problem. These measures are not exclusive to just this city, and establishing them elsewhere in other growing cities will have commensurate results. As examples most relevant to Portland, TriMet already offers reduced-fare passes for low-income riders; and the Division Transit Project, a quasi-BRT project currently in the construction phase with upcoming service seeking to better connect Downtown Portland and Downtown Gresham, has a similar focus as actual BRT such that bus transit signal priority and station locations minimizing travel times are primary concerns.
Put simply, the main elements that the Division Transit Project is missing in order to be considered a full-fledged BRT service is (1) total separation from traffic during the whole duration through the service area and (2) at-station and/or off-board transit fare purchasing and redeeming ability. This is besides the point, but it is still worth mentioning. The main point is that Portland is already seeking to make strides in alleviating congestion by improving transit access and mobility in line with Sorenson’s three aforementioned measures. Furthermore, Portland’s Rose Lanes Project has the potential to better achieve these strides.
In theory, the project will expand bus-only lanes that are shared just with the Portland Streetcar, partially giving all buses serving the routes associated with this project the BRT quality of having an exclusive lane. Also theoretically, the bus-only lane expansions as a part of the project would not only reduce bus travel times, it would also reduce streetcar travel times. This is because cars and other motorized vehicles, along with cyclists and micro-mobility users, would all be prohibited from accessing this lane, whereas currently bus and streetcar services are having to compete with other travel modes for access and right-of-way to the streetcar lanes where the project has not yet been implemented. Moreover, this issue of travel modes competing for access and right-of-way for streetcar lanes was much worse before any implementation of the Rose Lanes Project. The streetcar in theory would then achieve quasi-light-rail operations. And, the potential travel time reductions for both bus and streetcar services would theoretically shift drivers and other users of motorized vehicles to these public transit modes.
Furthermore in theoretical terms, the Rose Lanes Project would further boost transit signal priority for both bus and streetcar services given simultaneity of operations, therefore reducing stop-light probabilities and in turn reducing stop-light waiting times. To visualize this theory, consider the circumstance in which a bus service and a streetcar service both share a Rose Lane at the same time, moving in the same direction, and approaching the same red light, where either service is immediately in front of or behind the other while in motion. The traffic signal priority technology in the bus and streetcar services would both communicate with the traffic signal, either simultaneously or sequentially depending on which service is in front of the other.
But theoretically nonetheless, the traffic signal would ultimately register this circumstance and turn green more quickly in this circumstance than it would if there was just one transit service operating in this lane. Now, consider this circumstance again, but this time with more than two transit services sharing the Rose Lane at the same time, moving in the same direction, and approaching the same red light, where all services are in motion yet immediately lined up. The traffic signal theoretically would turn green more quickly than in the circumstance where there are only two services sharing operations in the Rose Lane. And in both of these circumstances, the traffic signal would theoretically turn green much more quickly than it would if there was no transit service operating in this lane, where only drivers and other users of motorized vehicles, along with cyclists and micro-mobility users, were operating in it by out-competing transit for access and right-of-way.
The benefits of BRT are well established (Cervero 2013). It is a cost-effective substitute for light-rail transit (LRT) investments that are much more expensive in capital costs. Also, BRT is able to better serve existing low-density areas and Portland-sized cities, since, for example, LRT is not nearly as flexible in, and is oftentimes incapable of, transitioning among line-haul, collector, and distributor service types. Portland’s Rose Lanes Project has the potential to progress the quality of service of existing bus and streetcar services, enhancing them to operate more similarly like BRT and LRT services, respectively. Bus and streetcar travel times have the potential to be reduced due to the expansion of bus- and streetcar-only lanes and the de facto improvement of traffic signal priority timing and control. The temporary transit platforms as a part of the Rose Lanes Project also have the potential to reduce travel times due to quicker boarding and alighting, a subject not covered by this article.
By Asif Haque
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr. Aaron Golub for his comprehensive teaching of public transportation planning, from which I had learned so much.
Peer-review literature source
Cervero, Robert (2013) : Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): An efficient and competitive mode of public transport, Working Paper, No. 2013-01, University of California, Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD), Berkeley, CA
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