On November 19th, TriMet publicly unveiled its new transit mobility facility in a naming ceremony that honored transit accessibility advocate Jan Campbell for her decades of service and dedication. Starting Monday, November 25th, people will begin attending the new Jan Campbell Transit Mobility Center in the Lloyd neighborhood to interview and confirm eligibility for TriMet LIFT Paratransit Service.
As with TriMet’s current Mobility Center located on NW 5th Avenue and Davis Street, this new center at 710 NE Holladay Street will perform a critical step in assessing a rider’s capabilities before receiving LIFT services. Every applicant must complete an in-person interview with a LIFT Eligibility Coordinator and engage in a physical assessment on the Transit Mobility Course. The indoor course simulates some obstacles individuals with disabilities may face when commuting on TriMet’s fixed route service.
TriMet offers the LIFT Paratransit Service to people whose physical or mental impairment might prevent them from using fixed route service. Consequentially, TriMet needs to interact with people requesting the service every three years on average to determine if they meet LIFT eligibility. This new facility features mockup bus layouts, ramps, and a variety of ground conditions. In addition to observing a person’s ability to ride standard accessible transit vehicles, evaluators observe people’s capabilities in traveling to and from bus stops or MAX stations. The course has facilities to simulate waiting at a stop or station, boarding, and exiting vehicles.
The new facility is next to the NE 7th Ave MAX station for convenient access. However, TriMet offers complementary LIFT rides to and from the Transit Mobility Center for each applicant’s eligibility appointment. This investment in new facilities is part of TriMet’s continued dedication to building an accessible transit system, and the speakers at the Tuesday afternoon naming ceremony attributed those efforts, in part, to the center’s namesake, Jan Campbell. “For nearly 40 years, she has been more than an advocate. She’s been a guiding light leading the way,” said TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr. “As our Chair of the Committee on Accessible Transportation, also known as CAT, her leadership has set a high standard for accessibility and inclusion at TriMet, shaping our services to reflect values that matter – equity, dignity, opportunity for all.”
Desue explained to the audience at the ceremony that CAT, under Campbell’s leadership, has ensured TriMet not only meets minimum accessibility requirements but also embodies the ideas of universal design, where services are usable by people of all abilities from its inception. “Jane’s work has touched every corner of our system, from our LIFT paratransit program, which now provides thousands of essential rides every day, to accessible features on our buses and our trains, empowering riders to travel independently,” said Desue.
Jan Campbell expressed her gratitude for naming this facility after her during her lifetime with a bit of humor. “Actually, I haven’t passed yet, so it’s really cool. I know we honor many people after they’ve passed, and this means so much to me.” She explained that this TriMet honor is a significant recognition of her work because public transportation is the only option for many people with disabilities and older adults. “If you don’t have transportation, you just stay at home and rely on others for everything,” said Campbell. “I used to work very closely with Mayor Vera Katz when I worked for the City and the County, I was a liaison between the government and community regarding compliance to ADA. As an older adult, Vera became very ill and acquired a disability. I saw her on the streetcar one day, and she told me that she now understood why I was always coming to City Council or to the bureau’s trying to make change. She got it,” explained Campbell.
Disability is considered the only minority group that a person can become a part of at any point in their life, whether through an accident, illness, or aging. Jan Campbell’s path to a lifetime of advocacy began in childhood. “I became disabled at a very early age from a virus that attacked my spine and paralyzed me. I was never able to enjoy many things as a child because very little was accessible and I always had to depend on others for getting around growing up. Into young adulthood, I had to rely on others for transportation and strangers to carry me up and down stairs through college,” recalled Campbell. Her experience living in a pre Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) country motivated Campbell to become a voice for societal change. She served as the Disability Project Coordinator for the City of Portland and Multnomah County for 23 years. She contributed to the founding of TriMet’s Committee on Accessibility in 1985, where she has served as chair ever since. Campbell serves on the Board of Directors for Disability Rights Oregon and is a Northwest ADA Center’s Regional Advisory Committee member.
Naming the center for Jan Campbell is a significant recognition of her contribution, but the facility is worthy of celebration on its own. “This center here will stand as a beacon of service, a place where older adults and people with disabilities can find personalized support and resources. It will be a symbol of what’s possible when advocacy, partnership, and shared purpose come together,” said Desue. TriMet is a national leader in accessible transit. For many of the thousands of Portlanders with a disability, it is an essential service, and this new facility will better meet their needs. “TriMet has given me the independence and freedom so that I can work, participate on committees and boards to put disability on their agenda, and just enjoy life like everyone else,” said Campbell.
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