Bicyclist Wins in Commuting Race with Car!

And broke every traffic law in the book. Tell the truth Sam.

Well, it's a known fact that if I take my TriMet #12 Barbur Blvd. bus that it can take me anywhere from 25 to over 60 minutes (!!) to commute from my Far Southwest home to my work on the PSU campus.

So, under the logic implied by the start of this thread, I guess we should congratulate anyone that drives a car and saves time over TriMet. Each time that I drive my car to/from work, I find that my commute is between 15 and 20 minutes long.

Commissioner Sam, will you stand in front of my building and congratulate me???????

Of course not, because I'm don't subscribe to your SPECIAL INTERESTS. I thought Portland "belongs to all of us".

“As Transportation Commissioner, Sam is continually seeking new ways to provide transportation options to his constituents” – in other words spending the public’s money on pet projects rather than maintaining the infrastructure already in place for those who are actually paying transport taxes instead of just poaching that funding. If Portland belongs to “all of us”, then all modes of vehicle transport, including bicyclists, need to be directly taxed as motorists and motor freight carriers already are. Furthermore, as Transportation Commissioner, Sam needs to not only establish equity in transport taxes with a bicycle tax, but Sam also needs to bring equity to transport citizen committees whereby motorists have, based on mode split and primary source of transport taxes, quantitative direct representation on advisory committees just as alternative modes of transport have nonstop outspoken representation. Currently these committees often recommend spending for special interest projects, make special interest back room deals and propose taxation without direct representation from the group or mode that actually pays the taxes. Maybe it is time to start throwing bicycles in the Willamette River as was done Boston with tea.

I completely support this idea thanks to the Bridge that Sam Adams supported on the Springwater Trail during high traffic days it takes me 35 minutes to get from my house in Sellwood to my Job on 82nd I can get there in 20 on my bike.

Joshua Patterson

Sam, what are you going to do about your beloved bikers that physically kick or spit on vehicles they may think are not moving where they want want the car to go or not moving fast enough in gridlock?? Why do they get a free ride to act lawlessly while the auto driver is punished for any kind of inadvertant action with a bicycle near by??? You better think about it because you will find someone someday soon driving a car that will not look too kindly at someone on a bike cutting them off in traffic or spitting on their car and decide to put that biker under their tire.

Funny how the Widmer Brothers are working closely with a guy named Sam Adams.

The Office: "Commissioner Adams continues to push for the development of more efficient mass transit options in the city of Portland, including east side streetcars and express bus routes, while continuing to allocate time and money to basic transportation needs (including road maintenance). As Transportation Commissioner, Sam is working on behalf of constituents, not special interest groups"

OK, then explain this:

Why do NUMEROUS City of Portland bus stops lack anything other than a sign - I have seen numerous bus stops on the 1, 44 and 45 lines in particular where bus riders have to ***STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INTERSECTION*** to wait for a bus? How is it safe to stand in the middle of an intersection?

Why does my bus stop lack any way for me to cross FIVE LANES OF 40 MILE PER HOUR BARBUR BOULEVARD WITH TRAFFIC COMING DIRECTLY OFF OF 55 MPH HIGH-SPEED INTERSTATE 5 in a safe manner?

There is nothing on Sam Adams' webpage that even mentions bus service. And the belief that we need more "express bus service" - so Sam Adams wants to provide more SPECIAL INTEREST bus service to those who can DRIVE THEIR SINGLE-OCCUPANT MOTOR VEHICLE to a SUBSIDIZED PARKING LOT and take an express bus, leaving those who wish to use almost door-to-door linehaul bus service with long waits? (I see three 94 busses pass by me for every one 12 bus during rush hour.)

I have asked repeatedly for Sam Adams to join me on my commute on the 12 Barbur Boulevard bus to see what I see, and each time Sam Adams and "the office" (whatever that is) is strangely quiet, as if they don't want to actually see what my DAILY COMMUTE in the CITY OF PORTLAND entails. Yesterday I had a 20 minute wait for a bus that is supposed to run every 15 minutes - and several people had been waiting even longer, which meant that at least one if not two busses failed to even show up. Last week I had a 30 minute wait for the same reason.

If Sam Adams truly believes that Portland "belongs to all of us" and that he listens to his Constituents and not special interests, then I want to see him on my bus. Not the 94 express bus, no, the 12 Barbur bus. The one that stops every 700 feet. The one that often runs late. The one that doesn't serve those who get free parking so they can drive home in their SUVs. The one that drops me off at a bus stop without a crosswalk. And I want him to justify to me how my situation does not warrant any attention by the City of Portland, but building a bridge that is a mere 200 feet away from another bridge (which is less than the distance between two typical TriMet bus stops) is somehow a civic necessity out of safety.

I want to know why the common Portlander who just needs to ride a bus is less important than a bicyclist or a Prius owner.

Sam's actions and words are very clear with this regard. He has no regard for the bus system, and the common Portlander. Remember, 2/3rds of Portland's transit ridership is on the bus. Sam Adams only listens to the 1/3rd that rides MAX.

Prove me wrong, Sam. I ride the 12-Barbur bus, that leaves PSU right around 5:00 PM. I want to see you there, on the bus. (That is, if the bus is on time.) Prove to me that my bus stop is safe. Prove to me that Portland's bus system is great. Prove to me that you care about people other than your special interests.