The bus mall project kicks off in earnest on Sunday, January 14th; buses that used to stop on 5th and 6th Avenues will instead move to either 3rd, 4th, Columbia, Jefferson, or (if you’re on the #14) on 2nd Avenue. Bus riders: do you know where you’re getting dropped off? Do you know where you can find your transfer buses at? Yeah - me neither.

I figured I’d just walk on over and work it out on the 15th - after all, I’m probably just moving one block over, so what’s the big deal? But then I read that they’re now moving stops 4-5 blocks apart now - a change that will remain when the bus mall reconfiguration’s done as well. And that puts a whole new spin on my projected stroll through the soon-to-be-arriving January rain, no?

If scrambling through the details on the TriMet website just results in a headache due to Too Much Information, you might want to drop by their all-day (7 am to 7 pm) Open House tomorrow in Pioneer Square, where TriMet reps promise to personally help you find out where your stops are migrating to.

But - as someone who goes from NE to inner SE via downtown ’cause it’s actually faster/more comfortable that way - I’m starting to think that the bus driver on my morning #10 route has the right idea. He’s using his seniority to transfer to a route that never, ever goes downtown.

I’ll give it the good old college try - after all, I really like that whole ‘get on one bus and read the paper’ routine I’ve got going. But if It gets too ugly, or too chaotic, I might be following my driver’s lead & spending more time on the #6 myself. If I’m going to have to walk anyway, might as well stick to my own side of town…

Related posts:

1. Adventures in TriMet
2. TriMet MAX and TriMet Bus collide downtown
3. TriMet’s verbose peoplemovers
4. TriMet Bus Mall Is Moving: Make Your Voice Heard
5. Seven things TriMet could do to ease the pain