Skip to content
This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by TriMet
rosecitytransit.org: transit in the rose city...maybe even Rose City Transit

Improving the Line 89 schedule

showing that it actually operates as a loop

BACKGROUND

TriMet Line 89 used to run between Sunset TC and Tanasbourne along Cornell and Bronson Roads and 185th Avenue. As seen on the map, the western portion of Line 89 was split into two halves, a northern "via Bronson" one and a southern "via Cornell" one. Buses alternated between the two, and the line operated hourly on the weekends.

The real problem with Line 89
View full size on Flickr; view original page

PROBLEMS

It was not evident that the buses actually switched between the Bronson and Cornell halves at the western end of the route and continued on the other one back to Sunset TC. Moreover, given the low frequency on the route, this was very useful--many times taking a bus that's currently headed towards Tanasbourne (the opposite direction) would get you towards Sunset TC earlier. On weekends, as the highlighted column in the image above shows, buses only traveled each direction of each half (e.g. east on Cornell) every two hours.

In addition, making this clear would have also helped people trying to get between the two halves of the route.

SOLUTION

Instead of dividing each direction into two halves, describe the route as a loop, with buses alternating directions around it:

TriMet Line 89 schedule idea
View on Flickr; view as PDF

ALSO:

89 Sunset TC via Tanasbourne?
View on Flickr
Top shows a sample trip planner trip and the bottom shows "service at a location" output;
note the "89 Sunset TC via Tanasbourne" which is not used elsewhere

Trip planner knows that Line 89 is a loop
View on Flickr
I don't think the "89 Sunset TC" is correct, but note the "which continues as"

Line 89 schedule vs. the trip planner
View on Flickr
The "To Sunset" schedule (top) sounds like all trips start at the same stop, when half of them actually start at the stop across the street. The trip planner (bottom) correctly shows that only the "B" trips actually stop there--that there really is no 6:31am, 8:31am, 10:31am, etc Line 89 buses at Stop ID 10039.


By Jason McHuff, rctmail@jasonmchuff.net