More hope in Bus Mall battle

As the March 15th deadline approaches for the new bus mall plan to be “set in stone” everyone it seems has decided to look at this plan realistically, that is, “Ah! That won’t work!” Organizations, boards, developers, bus drivers, and old folk alike all agree this plan is a disaster that is going to happen. Traffic jams on every intersection, people in danger, businesses losing profit and all of downtown being put out of business causing riots in the streets and the city of Portland to be swallowed whole and vanish into the darkness. Well, not quite like that but you get the idea, BAD. I wonder why it is though that it seems it’s taken so long for them to figure it out. I can understand the businesses not acting; they have been lied to and told the plan “was set in stone.” But developers and organizations with better resources than I should have seen this coming and put it in it’s tracks fast. Now rather than try to develop a new plan that works before March 15th, most groups are pushing for a new date to be set. Ron Buel, former owner of Willamette Weekly, will unveil a better plan supposedly today. I’ve looked but I just can’t seem to find a link to the new plan Buel purposed.

Image credited to The Tribune

My reasoning for disliking the bus malls new design is simple. The bus mall is just that, a place where the buses come in, drop people off and pick people up, and then leave again. The current bus mall is easily backed up and has just enough buses running on it to cause problems but none too sever. The new plan however, adds cars into the mix, which simply do not belong there in the first place (I mean geez like there’s no where else to go?) and has the train and bus lanes weaving for no real reason. Why do they have to weave? Put the train on the left and the buses on the right and everything works just fine, why add time and energy to making them weave? I mention also that currently there is just enough room for large sidewalks and two lanes for buses. The new plan shows just as large of sidewalks, a lane for the bus, a lane for the train, and a lane for the cars. There are more buses than that people! No way will all those buses be able to fit comfortably in one lane.

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