Gateway/Riverbend EmX is up and running!

Lane Transit District's new Emerald Express bus rapid transit line is up and running as of this past Sunday! The second of many planned EmX line in Lane County connects Downtown Springfield with the Gateway Mall and Riverbend areas of Springfield.

This week, I took a ride on the new line with a few of my coworkers. We rode the entire length of the Gateway line, and I just wanted to observe the way the line functions and interacts with vehicle traffic and the neighborhoods it traverses.
One interesting feature of the new line, is the alternating loop. As buses leave the Springfield Station heading north, the digital route display on each bus reads either Riverbend/Gateway or Gateway/Riverbend, denoting the direction the bus will travel in the loop. Just north of Hayden Bridge Station, there is a roundabout intersection that incorporates the EmX excellently into general traffic. At this point, the bus either goes north to Riverbend or west toward Gateway. Hopefully, if you're going to Pheasant Station, you don't take the Riverbend/Gateway line. I can see how this can easily confuse riders, and The Transport Politic mentions this in their write up of the new line. I hope this becomes clear to riders after ridership becomes regular, but as a start, it caught me off guard and took some figuring out.

There is also good incorporation through the Pioneer Parkway corridor with bike and pedestrian paths with new signalized crossings at bus intersections and main road intersections.

With the opening of the Gateway extension, it now only requires around 20-25 minutes to get from Downtown Eugene to the Gateway Mall on the EmX, AND there is no transfer required! There is 60% of right-of-way reserved for this new line and priority signaling, making the interference with traffic even less, and which makes BRT lines truly successful.

Overall, this is a great addition for the new system of EmX in the Eugene/Springfield area. Downtown Springfield will benefit from the extension, Springfield as a city will benefit, and more extensions in the region will only benefit riders, neighborhoods, businesses, and quality of life even more, despite what the opposition may think.

(Top photo courtesy of @angibrauerKMTR, others from LTD.org)