Tag / light rail

by Adron

Calling Transit & Bike Portlanders

Hello all, I’m putting together a project that will kick off a set of blog entries across various Portlander’s (or anybody’s blogs for that matter) blogs. I’d like to do the following:

#1
Setup a transit ride on any of the lines that points out some of the best new amenities in the city’s system.

#2
Setup a bike ride on any major route that shows great street improvements, bicycle safety changes or features, and other characteristics.

Combine the results of either of the above into a set of blog entries from each person’s perspective of the trip.

So who is in?

by Adron

The Green Line Gets Car Free

Recently I was hanging out downtown and heard an interesting story over beer. It happens to be that the Green Line has achieved, for some, the ultimate. There are people living in Clackamas that have gone car free by choice! Truly amazing, America is slowly evolving past addiction. It is slow going, but it is starting to grow. Watching this ground swell of change is amazing.

To note, this could have happened with the bus lines, but it was however much less likely. Light rail enables and encourages people to drop their cars and focus on livability in ways that buses cannot and will never achieve. Buses are important, but they are not agents of change.

by Adron

The Transit & Pedestrian Only Bridge in Portland

I’m loving it more by the day! Really looking forward to putting it to use as I suspect thousands of others are.

It’s gonna go right smack THERE!  See below, you can kind of see the inlets and bridge pilings going in.

Click for full size.

Click for full size.

by Adron

Measuring Things…

Portland

Seattle

Other interesting facts are the distance people travelled (shorter is generally better for a more sustainable environment and activities), the energy consumed or expended per passenger, etc. Some of these are hard to find, some are a little easier. King County and TriMet do a decent job providing this data, mostly. TriMet has a vastly easier website to find data on vs. King County’s, which seems to have been forced to use the “how not to build a website book”. I’m sure some bureaucrat had some say in the misguided approach, but the data is there, ya just gotta dig for it.  🙂

by Adron

Zero MQ, Why Portland’s Transit Kicks Ass!

One of the things that happens over and over again. Check this out below…

Click for full size image...

Click for full size image...

Did you see it? Yeah, no “automobile” directions! Seriously, drivers can figure it out themselves, the country spends enough money on em’ and GPS makes that brainlessly simple. However Portland loves to point out the awesome transit capabilities – the nearby Amtrak Union Station, Light Rail MAX to the Airport, etc. Either way you come, the conference looks to be pretty sweet. Check it out here:  http://www.zeromq.org/event:pdxconf2012