I rode the entire TriMet MAX network in one day

[Matthew H Fish]

I have a thread where I talk about the Portland MAX, but here is a trip report from travelling it! The entire thing! The Portland MAX is five lines (or maybe four), and has 60 miles of track, and I rode all of them in one day! And it was a long day.
From a train and transit point of view, the most interesting thing about seeing the entire network is how it is adapted to different communities. In places, like downtown Portland, the stops are a few blocks apart. In other places, especially the western run towards Hillsboro, some of the stops are a mile apart. The MAX system is 37 years old now, and the basic configuration has gone a lot further than when it was first planned. Of course, in some places it is a lot more fit for what it is doing: the Blue Line still is much busier than the other lines. (Some of this, at least, is that it is still recovering post-pandemic). There are also places where the train goes through "Transit Oriented Development", residential and commercial complexes that are built especially for the MAX. Some of these are quite popular. In other places, it passes through neighborhoods of single family ranch homes and low-density apartments. A lot of the positive press on the MAX is going to focus on the shinier aspects of its development.
A lot of the negative press on the MAX, and on Portland in general, has focused on crime. There is a lot of poverty and homelessness in Portland right now. But my ride on the MAX was mostly peaceful, there was one case (not shown) of someone who had agitated, but not threatening behavior. Otherwise, it was a pleasant ride with friendly people. At one point, an operator had to come out and tell a couple who were dueting love songs to sing less loudly.
From a technical standpoint, the light rail model, designed in the 1970s, might not serve a city of Portland's size as well. Most of the trips have their slowest portion to be the journey through downtown Portland, mixed with automobile traffic and stopping every few blocks. Changing this portion to something more like a Metro system with its own right of ways would make the MAX go much quicker---but that would be quite a financial challenge! Also, the point of my video is to show what the system is like now, not to speculate about its future (which I do in another thread).
I know this is a long video! But it is a big system! Feel free to skip around to the interesting parts.

 

[coalman]

I have a thread where I talk about the Portland MAX, but here is a trip report from travelling it! The entire thing! The Portland MAX is five lines (or maybe four), and has 60 miles of track, and I rode all of them in one day! And it was a long day.
From a train and transit point of view, the most interesting thing about seeing the entire network is how it is adapted to different communities. In places, like downtown Portland, the stops are a few blocks apart. In other places, especially the western run towards Hillsboro, some of the stops are a mile apart. The MAX system is 37 years old now, and the basic configuration has gone a lot further than when it was first planned. Of course, in some places it is a lot more fit for what it is doing: the Blue Line still is much busier than the other lines. (Some of this, at least, is that it is still recovering post-pandemic). There are also places where the train goes through "Transit Oriented Development", residential and commercial complexes that are built especially for the MAX. Some of these are quite popular. In other places, it passes through neighborhoods of single family ranch homes and low-density apartments. A lot of the positive press on the MAX is going to focus on the shinier aspects of its development.
A lot of the negative press on the MAX, and on Portland in general, has focused on crime. There is a lot of poverty and homelessness in Portland right now. But my ride on the MAX was mostly peaceful, there was one case (not shown) of someone who had agitated, but not threatening behavior. Otherwise, it was a pleasant ride with friendly people. At one point, an operator had to come out and tell a couple who were dueting love songs to sing less loudly.
From a technical standpoint, the light rail model, designed in the 1970s, might not serve a city of Portland's size as well. Most of the trips have their slowest portion to be the journey through downtown Portland, mixed with automobile traffic and stopping every few blocks. Changing this portion to something more like a Metro system with its own right of ways would make the MAX go much quicker---but that would be quite a financial challenge! Also, the point of my video is to show what the system is like now, not to speculate about its future (which I do in another thread).
I know this is a long video! But it is a big system! Feel free to skip around to the interesting parts.

HAs anyone done this in Vancouver BC? I'd like to know if there are better areas to ride their transit train than others

 

[Matthew H Fish]

HAs anyone done this in Vancouver BC? I'd like to know if there are better areas to ride their transit train than others

I bet someone has! I don't know who, though.

 

[Willbridge]

Actually, the best transit ride in VAC is the Seabus between downtown's old CPR Station and North Vancouver. It's integrated with the transit system. I like riding the Kingsway trolley coach line, and though it is not as important as it used to be -- due to rapid transit alternatives -- a few stretches of older development remind me of the Sandy Blvd. trolley coach line in Portland. The Broadway trolley coach line and the Hastings trolley coach lines are also worth a trip.

A transfer point on Broadway in 2004.

 

[Willbridge]

I have a thread where I talk about the Portland MAX, but here is a trip report from travelling it! The entire thing! The Portland MAX is five lines (or maybe four), and has 60 miles of track, and I rode all of them in one day! And it was a long day.
From a train and transit point of view, the most interesting thing about seeing the entire network is how it is adapted to different communities. In places, like downtown Portland, the stops are a few blocks apart. In other places, especially the western run towards Hillsboro, some of the stops are a mile apart. The MAX system is 37 years old now, and the basic configuration has gone a lot further than when it was first planned. Of course, in some places it is a lot more fit for what it is doing: the Blue Line still is much busier than the other lines. (Some of this, at least, is that it is still recovering post-pandemic). There are also places where the train goes through "Transit Oriented Development", residential and commercial complexes that are built especially for the MAX. Some of these are quite popular. In other places, it passes through neighborhoods of single family ranch homes and low-density apartments. A lot of the positive press on the MAX is going to focus on the shinier aspects of its development.
A lot of the negative press on the MAX, and on Portland in general, has focused on crime. There is a lot of poverty and homelessness in Portland right now. But my ride on the MAX was mostly peaceful, there was one case (not shown) of someone who had agitated, but not threatening behavior. Otherwise, it was a pleasant ride with friendly people. At one point, an operator had to come out and tell a couple who were dueting love songs to sing less loudly.
From a technical standpoint, the light rail model, designed in the 1970s, might not serve a city of Portland's size as well. Most of the trips have their slowest portion to be the journey through downtown Portland, mixed with automobile traffic and stopping every few blocks. Changing this portion to something more like a Metro system with its own right of ways would make the MAX go much quicker---but that would be quite a financial challenge! Also, the point of my video is to show what the system is like now, not to speculate about its future (which I do in another thread).
I know this is a long video! But it is a big system! Feel free to skip around to the interesting parts.

When considering the downtown operation for light rail, you have to weigh the customers' extra time for access if stops are further apart or are under or above ground. Suburb to suburb riders would prefer a faster trip through downtown. I've worked with an underground central segment in Edmonton and a surface operation modeled after Tri-Met in Denver. There are pluses and minuses either way.

One difference I would have advocated in Portland is swapping the downtown routing of the Red and Green lines, so that there would be a direct line between the airport and Union Station and intercity buses. That also would have covered more hotels. That would have cut some redundant service to Washington County in marginal times of the day. I understand the politics, though. Also, Tri-Met has always been insular in regard to intercity connections. (That's why the urban renewal agency ended up with Union Station rather than the transit agency.)

 

[Bob Dylan]

Actually, the best transit ride in VAC is the Seabus between downtown's old CPR Station and North Vancouver. It's integrated with the transit system. I like riding the Kingsway trolley coach line, and though it is not as important as it used to be -- due to rapid transit alternatives -- a few stretches of older development remind me of the Sandy Blvd. trolley coach line in Portland. The Broadway trolley coach line and the Hastings trolley coach lines are also worth a trip.

A transfer point on Broadway in 2004.
View attachment 32031

Brings back Great Memories of my Time in Vancouver!

 

[Matthew H Fish]

When considering the downtown operation for light rail, you have to weigh the customers' extra time for access if stops are further apart or are under or above ground. Suburb to suburb riders would prefer a faster trip through downtown. I've worked with an underground central segment in Edmonton and a surface operation modeled after Tri-Met in Denver. There are pluses and minuses either way.

One difference I would have advocated in Portland is swapping the downtown routing of the Red and Green lines, so that there would be a direct line between the airport and Union Station and intercity buses. That also would have covered more hotels. That would have cut some redundant service to Washington County in marginal times of the day. I understand the politics, though. Also, Tri-Met has always been insular in regard to intercity connections. (That's why the urban renewal agency ended up with Union Station rather than the transit agency.)

There were a few places where the orientations downtown caused some problems---but that was because I was giving myself a very artificial goal. When I first planned the trip, I was going to walk from Union Station to downtown, and then start with the Red Line. But I got on the Green Line at Union Station instead. Later, I realized that this meant I had to ride the short old segment of the Blue Line between the river and Pioneer Courthouse Square.
But it is true that political considerations have made the network inefficient in some places.

 

[Willbridge]

Even though I have ridden all of the MAX lines, some of it was years ago, so I found this interesting. A few notes for background:

The Blue Line between Gateway and Gresham is on the former Mt. Hood Railway, which operated from 1911 to 1927. It was one of the first interurban lines to shut down because it was hampered by its downtown Portland access being via the all stops, narrow-gauge Montavilla streetcars. The right-of-way between Gateway and Ruby Junction was let go for unpaid taxes and Multnomah County expected to eventually widen Burnside with the extra land. As a kid, my dad watched it being torn up. As a senior citizen, he enjoyed riding on that part of the line!

Orenco Station (Oregon Nursery Co.) was a greenfield development. The Blue Line from Beaverton to Hillsboro is on the former Oregon Electric Railway (Hill lines). As it was built in 1908 after the SP Steam / Red Electric line between those two cities, it had little chance to develop in the interurban years and passenger service ended in 1932. The state highway was built parallel to the SP line, so when I rode SP&S excursion trains to Forest Grove, the Oregon Electric's area was quite rural. Orenco was a tiny settlement; I hope the picturesque Orenco Presbyterian Church is still somewhere in all those buildings.

Delta Park Station is the site of the briefly-settled Vanport wartime housing area. It was meant to be temporary, but before its residents could all relocate after the defense jobs ended, it was destroyed in a 1948 Columbia River flood. I lived there for a while in 1947, too little to remember it, but reportedly thrilled to shout "train" for every passing SP&S, UP, NP or GN train on the fill above my playpen. Amtrak passengers pass this way now. Here's British newsreel coverage! Watch for the familiar Union Station tower.



And, an exclusive for Amtrak Unlimited readers, the official after-action report by the Portland Traction Co. inspector on the scene of the flood. Tri-Met was throwing it out. (I kept a carbon, donated the original to the Oregon Historical Society.)



The Expo Center station at the current end of the Yellow Line has one of the most moving "art in the stations" installations in the country. In 1942, Japanese-Americans were assembled in the Stock Show buildings for shipment to internment camps. The station art memorializes this and the dog tags hanging from a temple gate dance in the wind. Statuary luggage sits permanently on the platform.

 

[Matthew H Fish]

So to be fair, and because it could be an elephant in the room, I think it is fair to talk about safety and security in Portland and on the MAX. It might be a political topic, but also, its impossible to talk about transit without addressing it, because safety issues, real and perceived, are a big reason why people use, or don't use transit.
I have been riding the MAX since 1994, as a teenager. So I have seen Portland go through cycles, good and bad. Portland is currently in a worse phase than at some times in the past. However, Portland has always had some rough spots. One of the problems with talking about Portland is that people seem to want to have a binary view of it: either Portland is a twee wonderland full of hipsters eating vegan cupcakes, or it is a crime-ridden dystopia.
One of the reasons why I made this video, and made it so long, is that I wanted to show what things really looked like.
And another very important part of that is that things look different in different places, which is why I took the entire network. There are 1.7 million people in the counties with MAX stations (although, of course, many of those people live a distance from the MAX), so it isn't just about downtown Portland. I don't have the numbers, and I don't know if they exist, but many, or probably most MAX riders don't pass through downtown regularly. A lot of commuters are going from Gresham to Gateway, or from Hillsboro to Beaverton. There are parts of the route where the MAX is going for a mile between fields and forests---which is a very different route than when it is crawling through the Old Town stops.
So without getting into the political and social causes and effects of homelessness and poverty in Portland (which I can't claim to understand, and would not be appropriate for this forum), I do think it is fair to talk about how it impacts transit. And hopefully this video shows how wide the answers to that can be.