Public transportation (Portland: rental car, rental, transfer)

[raubre]

Hi. I live in Pittsburgh right now. I would like to visit Portland sometime (next year maybe?) for a potential move. My main concwern is public transportaion. How good is it or how bad is it? Do they run late or often, etc?

[philwithbeard]

Better than very good, it is great; not excellent, and no where near ultimate.

TriMet: Public Transportation for the Portland, Oregon, Metro Area

You can board our Red line MAX (Light Rail) at the PDX airport and ride in to downtown Portland for an All Zone fare. Auto Vending machine takes your money or card. Ticket is good for about 2 hours of riding any TriMet mode of transportation. We have Buses, Tram, Trolley (streetcars) and Light Rail, and a small Heavy Rail line in the Western Suburbs we call WES.

There are many, living is specific neighborhoods, who live without cars in Portland. Others, like myself, have limited ourselves to less than one tank of gas per month for our cars. There is also a rental car company in Portland that only rents on an hourly basis, with cars parked around town in specific reserved spots--rent on line and reserve a time, return to where you got the car after major grocery food run.

If I recall, Doesn't Pittsburgh have a light rail and / or a Trolley system from downtown to the South Hills out to Bethel Park, or Upper St. Clair? Did the East side out past the tubes ever get connected to the Light Rail to Downtown?

Phil

[Nell Plotts]

Well said Phil.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

If I recall, Doesn't Pittsburgh have a light rail and / or a Trolley system from downtown to the South Hills out to Bethel Park, or Upper St. Clair? Did the East side out past the tubes ever get connected to the Light Rail to Downtown?

Phil

Yep,we have the T in the South Hills. Unfortunatly the East Side still has no light rail. By the looks of things they never will. They are announcing major fair hikes and possible service reductions/eliminations in the spring and summer because they can't afford it and the state is refusing to provide funding.

[SunJoaquin]

I highly suggest that you obtain a MAX map (hard-copy) and study it, along with bus routes AND its schedules. Of course, that would be easier once you have an idea where you'd like to settle in.

I'm telling you this because MAX doesn't serve everywhere, and some "areas" have mediocre bus service at best. Many buslines run frequently, others don't. And Portland is pretty spread out, so transferring is to be expected. But it can be done easily with good planning.

Whenever I go somewhere I always have maps and schedules sent to me in advance so that I can pre-determine how I get from pt A to pt B.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by SunJoaquin

I highly suggest that you obtain a MAX map (hard-copy) and study it, along with bus routes AND its schedules. Of course, that would be easier once you have an idea where you'd like to settle in.

I'm telling you this because MAX doesn't serve everywhere, and some "areas" have mediocre bus service at best. Many buslines run frequently, others don't. And Portland is pretty spread out, so transferring is to be expected. But it can be done easily with good planning.

Whenever I go somewhere I always have maps and schedules sent to me in advance so that I can pre-determine how I get from pt A to pt B.

Excellent advice, how good the public transportation is depends upon where you are and where you want to go. Some places it's a straight shot no problem; others you can't get there from here.

Do have any particular itinerary or any idea of where you want to stay? Tri-Met.com has a trip planner online. You just plug in where you are and where you want to go to. It tells you. You can also download copies of schedules. Tri-Met headquarters in the heart of downtown at Pioneer Square will have all the schedules and people to help you map out your trips once you arrive in Portland.

It isn't difficult but you do need to plan a bit ahead.

[UrbanAdventurer]

It's fairly extensive for a city the size of Portland. Many of the bus lines don't run much past 10pm though, so I've found it to very limiting if you're hoping to rely on those for late night weekend activities (Miss the last bus of the night and you're screwed).

The trains run quite a bit later...1am at least but I don't know the exact schedule off the top of my head. I've found the train to be quite a bit more flexible and I much prefer it. You rarely have to wait more than 15 minutes for one. But, it doesn't go everywhere.

[OregonDaisy]

Originally Posted by SunJoaquin

I highly suggest that you obtain a MAX map (hard-copy) and study it, along with bus routes AND its schedules.
Whenever I go somewhere I always have maps and schedules sent to me in advance so that I can pre-determine how I get from pt A to pt B.

If you go to the Trimet website you can use their transit tracker. Just put in your address and your destination, and they will show you the quickest way to get there, along with step by step directions. We live in the Glenfair neighborhood just a few blocks from the 148th MAX stop and have no use for a car.

[SunJoaquin]

Originally Posted by OregonDaisy

If you go to the Trimet website you can use their transit tracker. Just put in your address and your destination, and they will show you the quickest way to get there, along with step by step directions. We live in the Glenfair neighborhood just a few blocks from the 148th MAX stop and have no use for a car.

And that's a good way to do it for those who take laptops with them on trips. I don't. So I check out the whole system before I go somewhere and carrying the maps 'n' schedules with me. It's come in handy when I had to make changes in plans or transit.

[UrbanAdventurer]

If you have a smartphone, the latest google maps app is pretty great for getting bus/train schedules. Very very easy to use...I stopped needing to carry paper schedules around quickly after I got used to it.