Portland Transit System Cuts Car Trips
Published Mar 06, 2007
Commuting options in the Portland region include sleek streetcars that serve a fare-free zone in the downtown area.
Many large metropolitan areas seeking to upgrade their public transportation gaze with envy at what the Portland region already offers.
The exemplary mass-transit systems here, operated in cooperation with the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), serves a 575-square-mile area spanning four counties. Portland transit riders have access to a bus network of 92 lines, a still-growing MAX light-rail network and the Portland Streetcar – plus, as of January 2007, an aerial tram. And in Clark County, Wash., C-TRAN provides service to commuters and connections to Portland.
In fact, commuters can actually ride buses, trains and the streetcar for free throughout a 330-square-block area of downtown Portland.
“Our whole idea of transit started 25 years ago as a strategy to reduce car trips downtown and ultimately keep our air as clean as possible,” says Mary Fetsch, TriMet communications director. “The Portland community has a strong commitment to transit. Residents here know that they don’t have to drive their car everywhere – they have transit options.”
That includes MAX light rail that opened in 1986 and now extends 44 miles from Gresham in the east to Hillsboro in the west and from Portland International Airport to downtown. Meanwhile, an 8.3-mile line to the south is being planned to connect Clackamas County.
The mass-transit system also features sleek downtown streetcars that run on a 7.2-mile loop, region-wide buses and the city-owned Portland Aerial Tram that can carry as many as 78 passengers in each of two cars between the South Waterfront on the Willamette River and Oregon Health & Science University’s main campus atop Marquam Hill. The tram turns a half-hour drive at rush hour into a scenic three-minute trip.
The bottom line of all this transit talk: The region’s buses, MAX line and Portland Streetcar eliminate 62.5 million car trips per year.
“Portland is seen as a model of how to design, build and run a successful transit system,” Fetsch says. “We give people the option of taking the bus or train to the coffee shop, dry cleaner, concerts, community events and doctor’s appointments.
Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Brian McCord
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