The Washington Park

visitor survey Fall 2015

Explore Washington Park Acknowledgements Explore Washington Park Staff

Explore Washington Park (EXP) would like to acknowledge the EXP Heather McCarey, Executive Director Board of Directors for their work in supporting our vision and work: JP McNeil, Program Manager Wendy Paton, Project Coordinator Eric Vines, Chair, Peggie Schwarz, Vice Chair, Portland Parks & Recreation Staff Dave Malcolm, Treasurer, Sylvan Neighborhood Association Inessa Vitko, Secretary, TriMet Victor Sanders, Program Specialist Mike Abbaté, Portland Parks & Recreation Joe Angel, Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association For additional information about the EXP surveys, please contact JP McNeil at Teri Dresler, Zoo [email protected]. Allison Duncan, Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association Cynthia Haruyama, Portland Ruth Shelley, Portland Children’s Museum Anna Volkova, Community member Steve Cole, Community member

In 2014, PP&R installed a pay to park system in Washington Park. All revenue generated from the pay to park system is reinvested in and around the park. This revenue made this report possible.

Washington Park Transportation Management Association 2 The 2015 EXP visitor intercept survey was conducted August 14-15 and August 21-22 at six locations representing the major park atractions: • Portland Children’s Museum • Hoyt Arboretum • Japanese Garden • International Rose Test Garden • World Forestry Center •

The survey was part of a series of surveys conducted throughout the month of August that targeted visitors, employees, and volunteers in the park. Though the surveys were targeted at different groups, all seek to identify the “mode split” (how people travel to the Washington Park) along Explore Washington Park (EXP) helps people make decisions about how with several other key indicators, including: they get to and around Washington Park, to ensure they have what they need for a fun, enjoyable visit. • Where people came from We strive to improve the experience at Washington Park in the following • Number of people in the vehicle ways: • Parking location • Washington Park free shutle use • By ensuring all visitors have a safe, smooth, positive experience. • Public transit use • By giving visitors access to beter information and ways to get around • Demographic info (age, gender, race) the park. • By providing responsive customer support and guidance to our visitors. In all, 867 visitor surveys were collected. The data from these surveys , along with the 417 employee and 490 volunteer surveys collected, gives us EXP was formed as a Transportation Management Association and a snapshot of conditions in the park during the peak season. This report is operates as a 501(c)3 non-profit with a license agreement with the City of intended to provide a high level look at the survey data. More detailed Portland for transportation management in the park. survey information is available from EXP.

Explore Washington Park 3n VISITOR PROFILE

who’s coming to the park?

Kate Cummings Who’s in the group? Where are they coming from? Are they members?***

VISITOR Portland Metro Member PROFILE International 44% 26% Groups with young children* 3% 34.6% Adults only 50.7%

U.S. beyond OR & WA 29% OR & WA: 2-hour drive Non-member 11% Groups with older children** 74% 14.7% OR & WA: More than 2 hours 13%

Gender *Young Children: Under age 7. Race & Ethnicity ***Member of a Washington Park Atraction **Older Children :Ages 7-17 Black 1% Other Hispanic 0.5% 6% Other 5% Asian 9% Male 42.2%

Female 57.3% White 79%

The visitor profile was crafed to look beyond just without children, visitors from near and far, and demographics, but to also identify and compare atraction members or non-members. groups of visitors, such as groups with and

Explore Washington Park 5 5 DESTINATIONS

where are they going?

Explore Washington Park 6 Who is in the Group?

Children's Museum 94% 6% Parkwide attendance percentage - August 2015* Hoyt Arboretum 28% 72% Japanese Garden 17% 83% Rose Garden 31% 69% World Forestry Center 51% 49% Zoo 71% 29% DESTINATIONS Groups with Children Adult only

Zoo 51.4% Where are they coming from?

Children's Museum 72% 14% 15% Children's Museum Hoyt Arboretum 62% 7% 31% 7.4% Japanese Garden 28% 10% 62% Rose Garden 29% 4% 67%

Hoyt Arboretum World Forestry Center 44% 9% 47% 11.0% Zoo 45% 40% 16%

World Forestry Center Portland Metro NW Regional Outside Oregon & Washington 0.9% Japanese Garden Rose Garden 13.9% Are they going to more than one attraction? 15.4% Children's Museum 83% 17%

Hoyt Arboretum 61% 39% Japanese Garden 32% 68% Rose Garden 36% 64% World Forestry Center 45% 55% *Atendance numbers for Rose Garden and Hoyt Arboretum are estimates Zoo 80% 20% Visiting One Attraction Visiting Multiple Attractions

Using park atraction atendance figures and venue. Looking at our typologies, we can see how to see that the Children’s Museum is favored by some educated guesses, we were able to estimate different types of visitors come to the park to do families with children, but it is interesting to note the share of visitors for the month of August by different things. It may not be terribly surprising that the Zoo is such a regional draw.

Explore Washington Park 7 7 MODES

how did they get here?

Explore Washington Park 8 Kristine Torres MODES How people get to the park Number of people in the vehicle 80% 4

60% 3

40% 78% 2 3.63 3.36 3.11 3.07 2.79 2.48 Mean Occupants per Vehicle 20% 1

16% 3% 1% 2% 0% 0

Auto Walk Other Transit Bicycle Oregon Zoo Rose Garden Hoyt Arboretum Japanese Garden Children's Museum World Forestry Center

The heart of the survey is the “mode split” – what number of people who drive or take transit varies transportation mode visitors used to get to the based on where in the park visitors are heading park. Though most people drive to the park, the and also across the different types of visitors.

Explore Washington Park 9 9 How people get to the park based on where they come from

Auto Transit Walk Bicycle Other* MODES

Portland Metro 80% 14% 2% 1% 2%

** NW Regional 89% 9% 2% 0.5%

Outside Oregon & Washington 67% 20% 6% 1% 6%

*Based on writen comments, most “Other” responses referred to Uber, taxi, and Pink Trolley trips

Explore Washington Park 10 How people get to the park

Auto Transit Walk Bicycle Other MODES by Park Area

** Zoo, Children’s, Forestry Ctr. 80% 19% 1% 0.5%

Hoyt Arboretum 2% 82% 14% 2% **

Rose/Japanese Garden 72% 12% 8% 1.5% 6%

by Who was in the group

Groups with children 85% 13% 0.5% 0.5% 0.08%

4% Adult only 70% 18% 4% 2%

by Membership

Non-member 77% 15% 3% 0.5% 3%

Member 80% 17% 1% 0.5% **

Explore Washington Park 11 11 MOVEMENT

how did they get around the park?

12 How are you getting around the park Number of Attractions Visiting Shuttle Use today? 50%

Yes MOVEMENT 22%

Multiple Attractions 43% One Attraction 57% 38% No 78%

25% How shuttle riders Where shuttle 46% got to the park riders came from 3% 7%

42% 37% 13% Other Bicycle 19% Outside OR & WA Walk NW Regional Transit 25% Portland Metro Auto 12%

53% 3% 1% 1% 34% 0% Bike Auto Walk Other TriMet WP Shuttle

Washington Park is a big park – it’s nearly two that didn’t drive here. Many people told us that visitors, others chose this method to get around. A miles from one end to the other. Geting around they walk between the different areas of the park. surprising number of visitors said they drove to the park can seem daunting, especially for those With a free shutle available to peak-season the park and then used the shutle to get around.

Explore Washington Park 13 Shuttle boardings by location

MOVEMENT 91,281 Washington Park MAX Station

Total Shutle Boardings International Rose Test Garden May-September 2015

Hoyt Arboretum

Shuttle boardings by time of day Elephant House/Children’s Playground 18%

Holocaust Memorial

14%

Vietnam Memorial

9% Sacajawea Statue

Other 5%

Archery Range

0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

9 AM to 10 AM 1 PM to 2 PM 2 PM to 3 PM 3 PM to 4 PM 4 PM to 5 PM 5 PM to 6 PM 10 AM to 11 AM 11 AM to 12 PM 12 PM to 1 PM

Explore Washington Park 14 TRENDS

how are things changing?

15 Percentage of park visitors using the shuttle Parkwide Visitor Mode Split 2014 to 2015 100%

81% 9% 75% 78% 2014 TRENDS

50%

21% 25% 2015 20% 19%

1% 2% 0% 0% 6% 11% 17% 22% Drove Active Transportation* Other** *Active Transportation includes transit, walking, and bicycle trips. **Other trips include Drop-off and Other responses

Volunteer Mode Split 2014 to 2015 Employee Mode Split 2014 to 2015 100% 100%

75% 75%

50% 50%

25% 25%

0% 0% Drove Alone Transit Carpool Other Walk Bike Drove Alone Transit*** Carpool Other Walk Bike ***Employee transit for 2014 includes Bike and Bike/MAX option

2015 was the second year in a row that EXP 2014. Due to the fact that some questions were Additionally, EXP conducted employee and conducted a visitor intercept survey. This allowed updated to help us beter understand visitors, volunteer surveys for both years, allowing us to us to pull out some trends between this year and some of the comparisons had to be adjusted. see those trends as well.

Explore Washington Park 1616 OTHER DATA

what else is happening in the park?

1717 Portland Children’s Museum Washington Park Trail Counts August 2014-August 2015 OTHER 16,000

12,000

8,000

4,000

0 Aug 14 Oct 14 Dec 14 Feb 15 April 15 June 15 August 15

1. Rose Garden Pedestrian Trail 2. Upper Madison Trail 3. Wildwood at MAC Trail 4. Wildwood at Burnside

More trail count info available at trafx.net

In addition to the summer survey effort, EXP also Infrared counters are scatered throughout the has trail counters in the park that give us an idea park, as shown on the map above. of how many people are using the trail system.

Explore Washington Park 18