New transit system to speed commutes
Spurred by local growth,
LTD will add a new bus system
to the docket of transit options
Danielle Gillespie
Safety/Crime/Transportation Reporter
Students use many different
modes of transportation to travel
to campus — bicycle, car, moped,
motorcycle or the bus. But in a
few years, students will have an
other option.
In spring 2003, the Lane Transit
District will start construction on
the first phase of its Bus Rapid
Transit, a system that will have a
separate bus lane along the cur
rent median that runs down
Franklin Boulevard to Main Street
in Springfield. The project will
cost about #20 million.
The first phase will be four miles
long and will start at the down
town Eugene Station — located at
West 11th Avenue and Willamette
Street — and run to a new Spring
field station being constructed on
South A Street. Eight stations will
sit along the route, and six buses
will drive the loop.
LTD Public Relations Represen
tative Sue Aufort said LTD hopes
to have the new transit system op
erating by late 2004.
University senior Andrea Ro
driguez said she is frustrated with
the current bus system because
she often must switch buses, and
she thinks this new system will be
much more convenient.
“It will be nice to (take) one bus
(when I’m traveling) one way,”
she said.
LTD foresaw a need for the sys
tem to prevent future problems,
Aufort said.
“All information indicates that
we will need it,” she said. “Popula
tion is set to rise in Eugene, and if
we wait 10 to 15 years, the conges
tion is already going to be there.”
LTD decided to install the Bus
Rapid Transit instead of a light-rail
system because it will save about 4
to 10 percent in operating costs.
LTD expects the new transit sys
tem to be within its budget.
Because LTD is partially funded
by student incidental fees, ASUO
has plans to meet and discuss the
new transit system in the next
couple weeks before coming to a
formal stance on the issue, ASUO
Community Outreach Coordinator
Jesse Harding said.
Aufort said she thinks the new
bus system will benefit students
because the bus will have its own
lane and will be protected from de
lays in traffic. The lane will be
built with raised, concrete curbs to
guide the bus.
An artist's
rendering of LTD's
Bus Rapid Transit
System.
Courtesy
“Hopefully people driving and
sitting in traffic jams will watch
the bus zoom by and think, ‘Hey,
maybe I should take that,’” Aufort
said. “That’s what we want.”
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The system will be quicker be
cause it will have its own traffic
signal that turns green a few sec
onds ahead of the other signals, al
lowing the bus to got a jump start
on other traffic, she said.
LTD is discussing expanding the
line to run along the median next
to Pioneer Parkway in Springfield
and along Coburg Road, as well.
Aufort said LTD hasn’t decided if
the transit system will connect
and make a full loop around town.
She said the entire build-out plan
should be finished in the next
20 years.
Contact the reporter
at daniellegillespie@dailyemerald.com.
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