Will Portland every build a subway system?

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by emathias

The Ravenswood branch (aka the Brown Line) does loop around the Loop - I was just pointing out the Howard branch (aka the Red Line - the one through East Rogers Park) doesn't.

Yeah I misunderstood at first. It's been a long time for me since I rode the subway or El in Chicago.
I didn't get the right colors since they had names when I rode them. I rode the Howard that goes through East Rogers Park that begins at Howard St and the Ravenswood that begins at Albany Park at Kimball AV (where I got my "parks" confused) at one time or another. Now they are the red line and the brown line.

After looking them up the realized what the changes were. That was a really interesting video. I was surprised though to see there were no more A and B stops and the stations that the narrartor said were no longer in existence.

Anyway, trying to tie all this in to Portland, you could fit all of Portland's mass transit under maybe a few miles of elevated track in Chicago's Loop and have a lot left over. We just don't need such a massive mass transit system. I did hear that TriMet is planning on purchasing some new buses and is not goint to raise fares in the near future and that makes me very happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_x0u...&feature=share

[laserdiscfan]

I'm late to this argument, so I apologize, but wanted to chime in with my opinion. (I did not read all twelve pages of the thread, but gathered some info).

I think what the OP means is why Portland doesn't have HEAVY rail. As opposed to the light rail that is the MAX. We all know that a section of the rail goes underground, but in all technicality it does not make that section a "subway". Since most people refer to heavy, rapid/mass transit lines as subways, as opposed to the smaller, weaker and less dense light rail lines. The major difference is that heavy-rail systems are powered by the third rail, and are designed to go faster and move more people at once. MAX's system uses two cars at most to transport people, while NYC's MTA usually links around six to eight cars.

I don't think Portland will ever have a heavy rail system, at least not in our lifetimes. There just simply isn't the population density for it, and the simple fact that heavy rail systems cost significantly more than light-rail to build and maintain. I mean...where would you even consider putting in subway lines? Even the most busy MAX lines in Downtown are not that busy. It would be a lot nicer if they were elevated or underground lines though, since they would move much faster.

And people now are complaining about how expensive it is to ride TriMet. Just wait and see if they build a subway line. They would try and justify their five dollar one way ticket with it. Maybe they would get smart and put in turn-stiles like every big city after that at least.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by laserdisc fan

I'm late to this argument, so I apologize, but wanted to chime in with my opinion. (I did not read all twelve pages of the thread, but gathered some info).

I think what the OP means is why Portland doesn't have HEAVY rail. As opposed to the light rail that is the MAX. We all know that a section of the rail goes underground, but in all technicality it does not make that section a "subway". Since most people refer to heavy, rapid/mass transit lines as subways, as opposed to the smaller, weaker and less dense light rail lines. The major difference is that heavy-rail systems are powered by the third rail, and are designed to go faster and move more people at once. MAX's system uses two cars at most to transport people, while NYC MTA usually links around six to eight cars.

I don't think Portland will ever have a heavy rail system, at least not in our lifetimes. There just simply isn't the population density for it, and the simple fact that heavy rail systems cost significantly more than light-rail to build and maintain. I mean...where would you even consider putting in subway lines? Even the most busy MAX lines in Downtown are not that busy. It would be a lot nicer if they were elevated or underground lines though, since they would move much faster.

And people now are complaining about how expensive it is to ride TriMet. Just wait and see if they build a subway line. They would try and justify their five dollar one way ticket with it. Maybe they would get smart and put in turn-stiles like every big city after that at least.

If you had read all twelve pages you would have known we know this is what the OP meant but the discussion morphed into a discussion of light rail among other things. What Portland doesn't need is a bunch of New Yorkers coming in and telling us what our city needs. I just don't get why they are so obsessed with how Portland should be run in the first place. With all due respect, doesn't your city have enough problems of its own.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by laserdiscfan

I'm late to this argument, so I apologize, but wanted to chime in with my opinion. (I did not read all twelve pages of the thread, but gathered some info).

I think what the OP means is why Portland doesn't have HEAVY rail. As opposed to the light rail that is the MAX. We all know that a section of the rail goes underground, but in all technicality it does not make that section a "subway". Since most people refer to heavy, rapid/mass transit lines as subways, as opposed to the smaller, weaker and less dense light rail lines. The major difference is that heavy-rail systems are powered by the third rail, and are designed to go faster and move more people at once. MAX's system uses two cars at most to transport people, while NYC's MTA usually links around six to eight cars.

I don't think Portland will ever have a heavy rail system, at least not in our lifetimes. There just simply isn't the population density for it, and the simple fact that heavy rail systems cost significantly more than light-rail to build and maintain. I mean...where would you even consider putting in subway lines? Even the most busy MAX lines in Downtown are not that busy. It would be a lot nicer if they were elevated or underground lines though, since they would move much faster.

And people now are complaining about how expensive it is to ride TriMet. Just wait and see if they build a subway line. They would try and justify their five dollar one way ticket with it. Maybe they would get smart and put in turn-stiles like every big city after that at least.

When I created this thread my original intent was to get some honest feedback from Portland locals on if they think their city would ever build a subway system. At the time when I created this thread, I wasn't aware of Trimet's financial issues and poor reputation with the locals, so I think that came off as if I was trolling by some posters. I do understand why some might have felt that way at first(as we get a lot of trolls on the "Philadelphia" and "City vs. City" forums).

What I can say is that I have gotten a lot of great feedback from the Portland area posters and have done a lot more research on Trimet. Portland may not have a subway system like Philadelphia or Chicago, but it still has one of the best light rail systems in the country. Also maybe I could have worded the thread topic a little better so it didn't come off as somewhat insensitive to Portland residents.

[2bpurrfect]

Originally Posted by EnricoV

Perhaps you do. But it'd be nice if you demonstrated that you did, rather than just claiming you do.

well, that will have to be the last inappropriate nasty belittling comment from enrico directed at me,since i am now blocking that %^%$%$%@#$@@! hahaha his favorite stalking prey is now going to disappear as far as he is concerned! and i won't have to read any of his egocentric comments any more either! yayyyyyy freeeeedom!

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

When I created this thread my original intent was to get some honest feedback from Portland locals on if they think their city would ever build a subway system. At the time when I created this thread, I wasn't aware of Trimet's financial issues and poor reputation with the locals, so I think that came off as if I was trolling by some posters. I do understand why some might have felt that way at first(as we get a lot of trolls on the "Philadelphia" and "City vs. City" forums).

What I can say is that I have gotten a lot of great feedback from the Portland area posters and have done a lot more research on Trimet. Portland may not have a subway system like Philadelphia or Chicago, but it still has one of the best light rail systems in the country. Also maybe I could have worded the thread topic a little better so it didn't come off as somewhat insensitive to Portland residents.

I know this is basically a dead thread that I am commenting on, but this is a topic I have always been interested in. Portland will never have a subway, and the downtown is too small to have a subway, but if it ever got one, it would be used as a regional rail system that would be independent of the light rail and had only a couple stops in the downtown area and ran lines out to the suburbs for quicker access into downtown. It would basically function like the Metra in Chicago....but with that said, this kind of talk is nothing more than fantasy.

More of a realistic thing I would like to see is the MAX to upgrade track lines to install express lines.

[sorupaa]

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/ed...k.k7ByQGL77ENw

might as well post this on this forum too, i did a se part of town light rail map