Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, OR
In our public transportation projects, PPS concentrates on creating community friendly transit facilities which:
- Improve passenger use and comfort;
- Act as a catalyst for regenerating surrounding communities; and
- Become centers of community life.
PPS helps to create “visions” for transit facilities, define problem areas, and forge partnerships between transit agencies and their passenger communities to enhance both the transit facility and the neighboring community.
Because PPS emphasizes the importance of meeting people’s needs in developing any transit oriented plan, our organization has developed a variety of techniques ideal for understanding and documenting existing patterns of use. These techniques include time-lapse cinematography of movement and activity patterns, and extensive systematic observations of user behavior and activities. PPS also conducts passenger, pedestrian and other user surveys to determine opinions of and preferences for different amenities and improvements. Information from these surveys is used, in part, to determine priorities for upgrading the facilities and the areas around them.
PPS has a long history of involvement with a broad range of transportation facility projects, from enhancing individual transit stations and their surroundings to improving diverse public spaces for transit-related use. Projects have included public space evaluations for mass transportation facilities including bus terminals and transfer centers, train stations, subways and airports; transit-centered economic revitalization strategies for downtowns; pedestrian-oriented streetscape improvements; and the development of master plans for transit corridors, downtowns, and cultural districts.
Projects have included not only on-site work, but also research projects that further knowledge of how transportation can be applied to build and rebuild communities — and be more comfortable for passengers.