Getting involved with TriMet

A few days ago, I posted a lament about the difficulty of finding out about a meeting to plan expansion of the Portland Streetcar – and about flawed agency websites in general. I ended with a resolve to try to find out about planning at TriMet, so those of us who would like better bus service in and between neighborhoods would know how to raise our voices.

Turns out TriMet‘s website is an excellent example of a good citizen-friendly agency web site. I’ve used it before, for its handy-dandy trip planner allowing bus travelers to figure out what time to leave home to arrive at a destination by a set time. But right there on the front page, there’s also a tab for News and Meetings, and from there one for Public Meetings and Hearings. Checking on the Transit Investment Plan, for the long range plan. Just like that, within a couple of minutes, I know no meetings are scheduled at this time (appropriate, over the summer months). Lots of clicks, but all clearly marked and easy to see. Brilliant. Being told for sure TriMet doesn’t have any public meetings scheduled (other than Board meetings) means I can stop looking. As I said in my previous post, it’s hard for citizens to know what they don’t know. Now, I know I’m not missing anything, and where to check when something might be coming up. And that page gives the option to sign up for e-mail updates, so I don’t have to guess the best route to do that. Outstanding.

If I want to study up on TriMet’s future plans before the next meeting, whenever it may be, the “Transit Investment Plan” page leads to Transit Investment Plan info. “The rolling five-year plan describes focused investments in service, capital projects (building new MAX lines, for example) and customer information, designed to meet regional transportation and livability goals. That sounds like something several of us bus-riders will want to read, study, and participate in.

And now we know how and where to do that. Good work, TriMet web site producers.

Note: I also learned “TriMet” doesn’t have a hyphen, something that I’ve wondered about for years and never took the time to look up. Just like “St. Johns” doesn’t have an apostrophe. Good to know. How about Boones Ferry and Taylors Ferry – apostrophe or no apostrophe?