Has light rail been a mistake? (Portland, Beaverton: crime rates, legally, vs.)

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by maxredline

You're right - taking a train to Singapore is unrealistic. That's why we have computers and webcams.

Some of the time that works - the spouse worked for a Fortune 50 company that tried to make it work, but, after shipping out skilled and semi-skilled engineering and manufacturing jobs to low-wage countries (Mexico--> Taiwan --> Singapore--> Malaysia --> China --> next stop Burma), the issues were too complicated and took hands-on tinkering to figure out what had happened. So off he went (on 12 hour coach class flights, of course, while Carly was ordering new corporate jets).

Sorry, inside HP chatter, there.....

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by maxredline

TriMet says that they power buses on biodiesel, not a five percent blend.

Nope: it's a blend. Takes quite a bit of googling to see what the blend IS. They tried 10% but that didn't work.

TriMet: Conserving Fuel and Reducing Emissions

Using improved fuel

Our buses use a cleaner burning biodiesel fuel blend. TriMet is the largest biodiesel user in Oregon.

The blend, including the petroleum-based share of the fuel, meets new federal standards for ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD). It reduces emissions, especially carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and particulates (smoke)

[maxredline]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

Some of the time that works - the spouse worked for a Fortune 50 company that tried to make it work, but, after shipping out skilled and semi-skilled engineering and manufacturing jobs to low-wage countries (Mexico--> Taiwan --> Singapore--> Malaysia --> China --> next stop Burma), the issues were too complicated and took hands-on tinkering to figure out what had happened. So off he went (on 12 hour coach class flights, of course, while Carly was ordering new corporate jets).

Sorry, inside HP chatter, there.....

LOL! Point taken on that. (Burma/Myannmar?) Who in their right mind outsources to a place like that? Of course, this doesn't have much to do with Portland transit, but it is darn interesting. So while HP was pulling jobs from Oregon and Washington....

[maxredline]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

Nope: it's a blend. Takes quite a bit of googling to see what the blend IS. They tried 10% but that didn't work.

TriMet: Conserving Fuel and Reducing Emissions

Interesting! TriMet plasters everything touting their bidiesel buses, but there's nothing that indicates it's a blend, rather they lead you to believe that it's pure biodiesel. Think Willy Nelson buses.

Thanks for the correction. Silly me; I should know better than to trust the agency.

[rosecitywanderer]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

Your very 1st post on this board was a specific and direct attack on me. A personal attack. I my time on this board I haven't been insulted and been the subject of such a direct and specific personal attack like in your first post in this thread. I see no reason why I should roll over and not attack you back.

You are vile troll, go back to your bridge.

There you go again, Phil...just making stuff up.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by maxredline

Interesting! TriMet plasters everything touting their bidiesel buses, but there's nothing that indicates it's a blend, rather they lead you to believe that it's pure biodiesel. Think Willy Nelson buses.

Thanks for the correction. Silly me; I should know better than to trust the agency.

I could be wrong, the latest dates I can find are articles from 2009 which mention that Trimet's test of 10% biodiesel weren't successful and they went back to 5%.

It's possible that in a year or so something changed and they've gone to a much higher blend, but I doubt it.

[figmalt]

They should have some express trains for the MAX as well, stop in Hillsboro, Beaverton & Sunset Transit Centers, and then Pioneer square. That's the biggest reason why I don't ride the MAX: it eats up a huge portion of my day when I could be working or studying.

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by figmalt

They should have some express trains for the MAX as well, stop in Hillsboro, Beaverton & Sunset Transit Centers, and then Pioneer square. That's the biggest reason why I don't ride the MAX: it eats up a huge portion of my day when I could be working or studying.

Agreed, they should. But they can't, of course. With only one set of tracks in each direction there is no way to have 'express' trains. Still, you have only to notice that once a train hits the downtown grid and has to deal with uncontrolled intersections the average speed plummets. Now imagine that that is your Mass transit system in its totality. I.e. busses only. In NYC the busses average 4.5 mph. Its faster to walk.

H

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

Agreed, they should. But they can't, of course. With only one set of tracks in each direction there is no way to have 'express' trains. Still, you have only to notice that once a train hits the downtown grid and has to deal with uncontrolled intersections the average speed plummets. Now imagine that that is your Mass transit system in its totality. I.e. busses only. In NYC the busses average 4.5 mph. Its faster to walk.

H

Hahaha , yes you can have express. You use switches to go around trains , but it has to be planned right or you'll back up the system. The Hudson Bergen Light Rail system has 4 Express trains every evening rush hour going to Hoboken Terminal. They use Switches to bypass other trains and stop only at the cooperate stops like Exchange Place or Harborside. Usually 1-3 stops per line as opposed to 10-12 normal stops. You can take Amtrak down to Philly and back to NYC in the same amount of time it takes to get form Harlem to Wall Street area by bus very slow during rush hour. Faster to walk , not really sidewalks are gird locked aswell. Biking is the fastest but most dangerous during rush hour , hopefully Portland never turns into NYC. MAX should have Traffic Light Chargers we have it built into our system , you slow at but hardly stop at the intersections. With the exception of Rush Hour. In my state we have a red light freeze when Trains are approaching the Intersection ,every light turns red. Those are used on Regional Rail and suburban Light Rail crossings. MAX needs to get higher ridership its still pretty low for a system that size should be higher.

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Hahaha , yes you can have express. You use switches to go around trains , but it has to be planned right or you'll back up the system. The Hudson Bergen Light Rail system has 4 Express trains every evening rush hour going to Hoboken Terminal. They use Switches to bypass other trains and stop only at the cooperate stops like Exchange Place or Harborside. Usually 1-3 stops per line as opposed to 10-12 normal stops. You can take Amtrak down to Philly and back to NYC in the same amount of time it takes to get form Harlem to Wall Street area by bus very slow during rush hour. Faster to walk , not really sidewalks are gird locked aswell. Biking is the fastest but most dangerous during rush hour , hopefully Portland never turns into NYC. MAX should have Traffic Light Chargers we have it built into our system , you slow at but hardly stop at the intersections. With the exception of Rush Hour. In my state we have a red light freeze when Trains are approaching the Intersection ,every light turns red. Those are used on Regional Rail and suburban Light Rail crossings. MAX needs to get higher ridership its still pretty low for a system that size should be higher.

The switches have to have extra track to switch the train to. They have to. Either it is parallel track in the same direction or it is parallel track in the opposite direction. If you are using the track in the opposite direction to switch the express trains around local trains then the schedules of the outbound trains are going to be destroyed during the inbound rush hour and vice versa. The issue is moot in PDX since there are no such switches. It therefore is what it is, and what it is is a ~60 minute commute to downtown from either end of the Blue Line, the main east/west MAX link. I can deal. To get from what is arguably a suburb (and all that is implied by that word) ~17 miles to the main downtown business hub and city center of the primary city in ~one hour for the price of a local fare is note worthy. It is the equivalent of being able to travel from Valley Stream, LI, NY into Manhattan on an IND subway line for whatever the base fare for MTA is at present. To live in places like Bronxville or Deer Park or Cold Springs, New Yorkers pay ~250 monthly Metro North or Long Island Railroad tickets to bring them into Grand Central Station (42nd st.) and then finish their trip with $80 monthly MTA passes. Perspective, as I said in another thread, is an invaluable resource.

H (BTW the PDX MAX does have light changers and in the suburban areas street traffic defers to the MAX schedule but in the Downtown core MAX defers to the street traffic timing pattern. The savvy commuter will bring a bicycle on MAX and depart the train at the start of the Downtown traffic grid. It saves some time but not as much as one might think.