45.522405
-122.684155
Tag / portland
A Wednesday Day Off
I grabbed my bike and rode down the street to the bus mall. I picked a random bus, the #44 it happened to be, to board. I rode the bus out to the Willamette Boulevard overlook area.
Waiting with bike at bus mall stop for the #44.
While waiting a few buses and the MAX Yellow Line passed by on their way…
MAX Yellow Line Passing while I wait. (Click for full size image)
After a pleasant ride up to Mock’s crest, a view from the stop…
Mock’s Crest (Click for full size image)
Off to more riding about…
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?
Measuring Things…
Portland
- Portland City Population: 583,776 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon)
- Weekday Trips on TriMet: 323,900 (http://trimet.org/pdfs/publications/performance-statistics/2012-01.pdf)
- Cost Per Passenger: $2.68 bus, $1.61 for light rail (http://trimet.org/pdfs/publications/factsheet.pdf)
Seattle
- Seattle City Population: 608,660 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle)
- Weekday Trips on King County Metro: 370,000 (http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/NewsCenter/NewsReleases/2012/February/nr022412_Ridership.aspx)
- Cost Per Passenger: $3.92 (http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/MetroTransit/Facts.aspx)
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. 🙂
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...
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
Transit Sleuth 