TriMet won’t close the Skidmore Fountain MAX station after all, but the transit agency said it planned to study the Old Town Chinatown station’s performance and revisit the idea in three years if ridership doesn’t improve and expected development nearby doesn’t materialize.

That’s according to documents posted on TriMet’s website ahead of a board meeting next week.

TriMet’s station closure plan, first floated last fall as a way to speed up trains by an estimated two minutes in one direction on trips between Goose Hollow and Old Town Chinatown, heads to the board of directors on Wednesday for final approval.

The board will consider the proposal to keep Skidmore Fountain’s stop open for the next three years pending an “evaluation.” Separately, the board will discuss a plan to permanently close the Mall/SW 4th and Mall/SW 5th Avenue stations in March 2020. TriMet is recommending a one year “trial closure” of the fourth stop earmarked for closure, the Kings Hill/SW Salmon Street station.

Keeping Skidmore Fountain open marks a victory for the Portland Saturday Market and its neighbors, which had pushed for months to keep the station open.

“I’m pleased and surprised, frankly, that the proposal was shelved for three years,” said Howie Bierbaum, executive director of the Portland Saturday Market.

Bierbaum said he’s asked TriMet to step up its efforts to clean the station, which sits underneath the Burnside Bridge. The market, University of Oregon and Clean and Safe already maintain the station, he said.

“We hope it will actually be one of the best stops and safest stops in Old Town,” he said.

Roberta Altstadt, a TriMet spokeswoman, said the agency’s staff would present an analysis of its plan on Wednesday, including details on how the closures will make the system more equitable for all riders. TriMet leaders, including General Manager Doug Kelsey, said that if the system was designed today, urban planners wouldn’t have clustered the stations so close together in the Central City.

TriMet had hoped closing stations that were within 500 feet in some cases would rectify some of those initial wrongs, but the proposals drew opposition from senior citizens, neighborhood groups and other advocates who argued shutting stations for minimal time savings didn’t make sense.

“We know the proposal has brought up emotions, both in support and opposition, and we appreciate everyone’s feedback during the last ten months of outreach and engagement,” Altstadt said. “While we understand that change can create uncertainty, TriMet recognizes our responsibility to provide transit service that is safe, equitable, convenient and more efficient.”

TriMet never received significant pushback on ideas to close the two mall light rail stations near Pioneer Courthouse Square, but the Kings Hill and Skidmore Fountain stops prompted vocal opposition from neighborhood groups, the University of Oregon, Pink Martini’s frontman Thomas Lauderdale, Multnomah Athletic Club, Multnomah County commissioners and Mercy Corps.

Altstadt said TriMet would evaluate the Kings Hill closure in 2021 and “determine if it should remain closed.”

“That evaluation will look at time savings, ridership changes, customer surveys and neighborhood safety,” she said.

Kings Hill had the lowest weekday ridership of any station on the Red and Blue lines in downtown, according to TriMet figures.

Skidmore Fountain also had low ridership, but its weekend ridership remains some of the strongest on the system, buoyed by the thousands of attendees at the Portland Saturday Market.

At one point, TriMet said it was studying whether it could keep the Skidmore Fountain stop open on weekends only. But the agency appears to have dropped that idea.

Bierbaum said previously TriMet leaders had offered free advertising on the tri-county system during a January meeting in exchange for dropping opposition to the closures.

TriMet estimates it will spend $460,600 to change its systems for managing train movements in and around the three stations set to be closed. It also expects to spend another $750,000 to alter the platforms and station areas.

A final vote on the three closures wouldn’t occur until the board’s July meeting.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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