Links
General transportation
- Portland Transport and Portland Transportation History blogs
- Stuff from the City of Portland Office of Transportation:
- Also see historical maps from the Bureau of Planning, as well as digital copies of the 1988 Central City Plan and the 1972 Downtown Plan
- Ernie Bonner's history of Portland planning and Center for Transportation Studies seminar videos from Portland State University
- Oregon Sustainable Community Digital Library, featuring historical documents about transportation and other projects, including Environmental Impact Statements, design reports and hearing transcripts for the Banfield Transitway Project as well as reports on Self-Service Fare Collection
- 1890 panoramic map of Portland
- 1955 plan of Portland Interstate highways
- A personal essay about the Mt. Hood Freeway
- How Portland's Power Brokers Accommodated the Anti-Highway Movement of the Early 1970s: The Decision to Build Light Rail
- Willamette Week's anniversary Highway to Hell article about the Mount Hood Freeway (also see the 25th anniversary version)
- Topo map from before I-205 and aerial photo of pre-Pearl District rail yards
- Historic Photo Archive featuring transportation-related and other old pictures
- Picture of Portland State University's Urban Center/Plaza before streetcar construction
- An archive of news from the I-5 bridge closure and the Portland Business Journal on it leading to a commuter rail line
- Other PBJ articles about the remodeling of Pioneer Courthouse Square offices and a debate about growth
- Exhibit on the auto-oriented/suburban Sandy Boulevard in the 1940s/1950s, including a postcard of Portland's old bus depot, and a picture of I-205 Tualatin River bridge construction from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's "America on the Move"
- Articles on MSN showing that Eugene and Salem spend some of the least amount on gas and that costly gas may doom suburbs
misc TriMet
- Chapter 267 of the Oregon Revised Statutes regarding mass transit and transportation districts
- CNN article showing that 13.3% of Portland commuters take transit, according to the U.S. Census Bureau
- Oregonian slide show about lateness of Line 95
- TriMet photos on Flickr, including one of a ticket machine error
- Dave Stubblefield's excellent bus site, including detailed fleet lists (in Photo sections): old and new versions
- A neighborhood page about the changing of Line 39
- A couple of older transit passes
- Information about design awards for Tri-Met Passenger Shelters, 1970s and the transit mall, from Stumptown Confidential
- TriMet TV commercials produced by Dodge Schmitgall, inc
- Videos of TriMet from Google, including a better version of one of the above ads and ones from the Oregonian
- A TriMet prototype bus stop sign, from The Bus Stops Here page
- WorldChanging on Open-Source Public Transit Mapping, which led to Google Transit
- Pictures articulated buses-turned-fake MAX trains on webshots
Print articles
- Portland Tribune stories about TriMet, including one about a bus operator's hard job and one noting how a parking garage was built at the very epicenter of the system
- Articles mentioning TriMet from Google News Archive Search
- Tri-Met on Find Articles
- Willamette Week articles about:
- the "Best Tri-Met Driver" of 1998
- the "Best Traveled Bus Driver" of 2000
- Best Fare Inspectors of 2002
- the end of the PGE Park transit pass program
- tall fareboxes
- Crony Express and the ability to fire people
- the battle to control the transit union
- Al Zullo's lack of brain oxygen
- Rose Quarter trash cans
- Trouble Express and loans made to union officers
- union streetcar operators
- the lack of late night New Year's Eve service
- The San Francisco Examiner on how TriMet is better managed than Muni
- Reports mentioning TriMet from the Transportation Research Board
- An interview of Fred Hansen by The Daily Journal of Commerce
- David Bragdon's 1974 bus rider's manual
- Transit Gazette
- Portland Business Journal on Tri-Met's role in Multnomah Athletic Club/Civic Stadium parking issues
- A list of transit articles in the Clackamas Review from Milwaukie's Ledding Library
Online stuff
- Main official site, including a list of publications
- TriMet's general history of itself
- LiveJournal community of riders on "America's Best Transit System" (to see older posts, click the last link in the orange bar)
- PDX Bus blog
- Reviews of TriMet on Yelp and Travel + Leisure
- Commissioner Sam Adams worked at TriMet cleaning buses
- Google's blog announces Google Transit; discussion on Google Groups and on Slashdot
- Announcement on Usenet of the opening of TriMet's website
- "Brass Key" announcements mentioning TriMet
- 1985 mention of TriMet on Usenet
- A TriMet trip report and a summary of it.
- Often negative debates about TriMet on Usenet (Google Groups) including a complaint that Westside MAX is slow
MAX Light Rail
- Pictures and detailed line descriptions from nycsubway.org
- Older pictures of MAX on their site: 1, 2, 3 (note the single track), 4, 5 and 6
- Mark Kavanagh's section on Portland rail transit
- Another person's gallery on webshots
- Washington County's Westside MAX sub-site
- The SubwayNuts, featuring more station and train pictures
- MAX routes overlaid on Google Maps
- South/North MAX photo simulations, some of which have been re-used in the mall project
- Water color of MAX on the Steel Bridge
- A person's map of MAX
- Willamette Week on South/North MAX, including the placement of a new Willamette River bridge; also see their opinion on the difference in participation between Senators Smith and Wyden
- Their article on how MAX has changed Portland
- A good history of rail control operations in PDF, as well as a study of issues in building Interstate MAX
- Portland Tribune's Stumptown Stumper on the naming of MAX
- Their articles about Portland Mall plans leaving people in the dark and putting MAX in a tunnel
- Current Daily Journal of Commerce article about a Milwaukie MAX line
- Metro's pages about a MAX line to Milwaukie
- Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 391 regarding Mass Transportation, including the Columbia River Light Rail Transit Compact (and Authority); also see 1995 Regular Session Senate Bill 1107 and 1996 Special Session House Bill 3479
- 1, 2, 3 (2/3rds down) articles touting TriMet (mainly MAX)
- And a video of a Las Vegas delegation's visit
- 1996 Measure 32, regarding the South/North Light Rail project
- 1994 and 1998 Multnomah County General elections, including 2 other votes on South/North (check the voter's pamphlets)
- Old Town blogger's view of MAX on the Portland Mall and an update
- AORTA's view on turning MAX into rapid transit
- One person's view on a South/North Light Rail alternative
- Another person's views on improving MAX
- A LEGO MAX train
- Fake MAX trains used in the movie The Hunted
- An article on how MAX helped reshape Portland
- Portland Business Journal articles
- Tri-Met purchases green power - 2001-01-15
- Light-rail proponents lick wounds, look ahead - 1996-11-25
- Westside MAX ready to roll, but will the scheme work? - 1998-08-03
- Two views on light rail to the airport - 1998-02-16
- Hillsboro co-exists with light-rail project - 1996-12-02
- Pork-barrel light-rail measure an incredible waste of money - 1996-10-21
- PDX light rail may lead to south-north line - 1997-12-22
- Simpson lines up apartments along westside light-rail line - 1997-02-10
- Hillsboro hopes to ride the light rail to prosperity - 1998-08-03
- Hatfield breathes life into Portland streetcar venture - 1996-08-05
- RT envisions light rail lined with retailers - 1999-04-05
Streetcars/trolleybuses
- A chronology of Portland transit routes as steam dummies, electric streetcars, trolleybuses and motorbuses, as well as an overview of street railway companies
- A (partial?) list of trolleybus routes
- Off Line Too Soon: Portland's Electric Buses and details of almost century-old streetcar track remnants
- Oregon Electric Railway Society's pictures of old streetcar remnants
- A Usenet thread about Portland streetcar track sightings
- Portland Traction Co. Streetcar and Coach Map, c.1943 from the city Bureau of Planning (10.22MB PDF)
- A streetcar track map showing "Center St Shops" and a line down Corbett, Nebraska and Virginia (part of today's Line 43)
- Portland Vintage Trolleys site, showing the following trolley lines that exist today as TriMet bus lines:
- Broadway (part of today's Line 9)
- Council Crest (part of today's Line 51)
- Fulton (part of today's Line 43)
- Irvington & Jefferson (part of today's Line 8, which also turns on Jefferson St)
- Mount Tabor (part of today's Line 15, which also goes to NW)
- Mountavilla (today's Line 19, which has a very similar interurban connection at the end, except farther east).
- tinzeroe's Historical Trolley Lines on Platial
- 1 and 2 sets of Portland trolleybus photos. The 2nd set has a picture of a bus with the destination of "CAR HOUSE". Buses don't go to car houses...streetcars do.
- A companion site featuring lots of Portland trolley pictures, including many color ones
- The New Electric Railway Journal article and photos about the Portland Vintage Trolley
Old routes
- Portland Tribune's Stumptown Stumper on the logic behind the original line numbering (note: the question is technically about how the vehicles are numbered)
- Pre-Westside MAX bus system map (click on route labels for individual maps)
- Arial photo of the Cedar Hills TC bus pullouts (replaced by Sunset TC across US 26)
- Cedar Hills, Hillsboro and other Pictures of Westside MAX construction
- Hawthorne Bridge Closure Operations Plan
- Ross Island Bridge Closure Operations Summary and detour details
- 1998/2003 Strategic Plan and Mission & Goals
- Inside Tips for Riding Smart
- The reasons why TriMet schedule pages have headings on the side
- A person's critique of an old version of their web site
- South/North MAX (also see info from Metro and the phone number from Google)
- Supposedly, nobody was able to Guess This Route
- Bus Dispatch System (BDS) Customer Fact Sheet (older version)
- MAX at 10
- Press Releases: 1995-1997, newer 1997
- Older-looking picture of Elmonica bldg
- Recent TriMet Service to Union Station listing Line 58-Sunset, which ended when Westside MAX opened (which is also listed)
- More pages
New links
Also Portland streets--Hawthorne=Asylum Street, Division=Section Line Road, Stark=Baseline MLK=Union
SE Division=NW in Gresham (Powell is base for north/south in Gresham, vs Burnside in Portland)
per ZehnKatzen Times 1, 2, 3, 4, rootsweb
-Health Effects of Air Pollution
-Clackamas Town Center urban renewal paying for roads
-climate change (from KATU)
-gated communities
transit journeys
Loren Petrich's MAX map
ASCII TriMet map
MAX A Success in Light Rail Transit, WIRED cars blog
Oregon Art Beat - Trimet Glass video
Pacific Views Cooper's Hawk Rides Portland's Light Rail
Wandering Coyote Booted from Airport Hops Train Instead (TriMet press release wondering if it had a vaild fare)
Amalgamated Transit Union - Local 757 - History
Bicycle Expenditures with Some Context, Commissioner Sam's blog
Subsidies keep flights going at tiny airports. Are they necessary? by USA TODAY
http://world.nycsubway.org/perl/show?66801
Highway Finance - Highway Statistics 2003 - FHWA
"Roughly 20 cities in Oregon have enacted such a [street] fee." -Commissioner Sam's blog
suburbs require LIFT usage (can't walk to bus stop) --TIP?
Tualatin parks const. funding?
-WA fuel has no sales tax
-Portland, ME sewer overflows
Feds say 1/2 fares for senior citizens, per Cherriots director Kelly (June special? meeting)
cincy also has sewer overflow problems per Congressman Earl B. (08/05/08 mtg in Salem
-also, OR gas tax pays for 27% per Gail Atcherman, who also says that LRT is $6M/mi vs $10 for avg fwy lane
MAX vs. fire truck
Seattle article on MAX
http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2008/11/sample_bill_will_list_waivers.html
Old topo maps of Portland 1, 2
Airport MAX crash
The Mighty 6 http://mightysix.blogspot.com/
Labor press, Portland Tribune, Oregonian search
The Commuting Chronicles http://thecommutingchronicles.blogspot.com/
Oregonian commuting blog
BizJournals
"Express is service that skips a significant segment of the typical route path, Limited is service that only serves limited/major stops during a segment of the typical route path" per Mike Gilligan
Transportation: $232/month
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7actxSJix-I
TriMet "Guess this Route" 1, 2, 3
http://olmis.emp.state.or.us/olmisj/employers?areatype=04&stfips=41&areacode=01000000&action=name&stype=c&name=trimet&key=Find+Employers
http://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.do_name_srch?p_name=TRI-MET&p_srch=PHASE1&p_print=FALSE&p_entity_status=ACTINA
http://alaskaoregonwesternwashington.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=114&bbb=1296&firm=53000479&biz=53000479&bbb=1296
http://ucc.sos.state.or.us/ucc/soskb/SearchNonStd.asp?FormName=Search&SearchContext=NonStandard&Words=Starting&lapsestatus=Not+Lapsed&PartyType=Debtor&IncludeLapsedFilings=ON&NameType=C&OrganizationName=TRI+COUNTY+METROPOLITAN+TRANSPORTATION+DISTRICT+OF+OREGON
http://www4.cbs.state.or.us/ex/wcd/cov/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=detail&empnr=5795356
http://www4.cbs.state.or.us/ex/wcd/cov/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=detail&empnr=1375484
CENTER ACTION TEAM NON PROFIT GROUP
http://www.portlandonline.com/licenses/lookup/index.cfm?address=4012+SE+17th
Video of Tillamook-Portland bus route
line/train
bus operator's jobs:
-Driver of big bread box (per "GILLIG PHANTOM IS AS SPORTY AS BUSSES COME AT TRI-MET")
-Customer service
--Knowledge of transit system, destinations
-Operate lift/ramp, handicap help
-Fare sales
-Fare inspector (Mary Fetsch says "informer")
-Security
Green power stuff:
(shared) green power is like better countertops in shared new home
bike or train is best green vehicle
Combine Metro, Multnomah/Washington/Clackamas county portions, TriMet, ?
--see Wikipedia: Oregon Ballot Measure 5 (1990)
Poor transit service from Clark County to Rivergate in North Portland
http://www.trilliumtransit.com/blog/2008/09/11/trimet-innovations-in-transit-data-publishing/
-interview
City of Portland E-Files (search for both trimet and tri-met)
Wilsonville SMART history -what about PDF boards?
http://ci.wilsonville.or.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=2685
http://www.ridesmart.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=31
Up until January 2007, I had a key to the [Union Station] tower because we had some cranky old PCs in a room up there, used to send schedule displays to the bus shelters in Old Town. As much as I enjoyed my visits to the upstairs of the building, with all the oak flooring and beautiful construction, I certainly don't miss those PCs." --Jeff Frane
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oregonstreetrailways/photos/album/0/list
Portlanders ahead of curve, put cars at curb
"In Portland, the average motorist drove 4,403 miles in 2006, the latest figures available. That compares with more than 9,000 for the rest of the nation."
Old Portland street images, more
YouTube - Getting Around Portland in the 21st Century - Transit
OPB News: More Than Commuters Will Be Affected by Columbia River Crossing project
Oregon DOT history
My Flickr slideshow
http://www.route99west.com/contents.html
http://www.route99west.com/camera/pdxmaps.html
TriMet people on Classmates and LinkedIn
tax-free parking
What can Portland teach Los Angeles about transportation?, LA Times Bottleneck Blog
The Portland of Robert Moses, Cafe Unknown
a post on Streetsblog.net on all the ways that we subsidize auto drivers
Portland ranks ninth in nation for fewest miles driving
Portland's good, but it's no Lancaster, in one transit measure
Department of Revenue: Business Taxes Mass Transit District Payroll/Excise Tax
According to the APTA fact book, TriMet has the 10th highest amount of transit system boardings in the country. While it is 18th in passenger miles carried, 5 of the addional ones above it (get less trips than TriMet but more passenger miles) operate commuter rail or similar lines which are used for longer trips. This includes both NYC commuter rail lines, SF BART, Chicago's Metra, Atlanta, Maryland. Also, Denver's RTD has almost exactly one more passenger mile per reported boarding than TriMet.
Secured airport lands don't need policing to watch over people; also less chance of someone starting a fire
New links 2
including Measure 26-74-Tri-Met South/North Light Rail Bond
In Both Ears talent roster featuring Jodi Lorimer, MAX announcement voice
Ride Connection\'s Washington County U-Ride
The mistake made etching Pi into the Washington Park station wall
WES car details: TriMet DMU 1001 and TriMet aero cab trailer 2001
Portland Real Distance Metro Map: to-scale MAX Light Rail map (see mine under My TriMet creations in My Photos); also has a complete opening timeline
Oregonian Newspaper Index Search Page: Headlines about TriMet
Two Google News Archive articles showing how TriMet couldn\'t continue the service to Yamhill County inherited from the Blue Lines because it was outside the district.
Video of Wilsonville mayor discussing SMART Central building construction