Commuting is the necessary evil of the Parisian lifestyle. Portland, being the large-small town that is claimed to be, has a Metropolitan Area Express or MAX for short. This modern light rail system with a tap to pay and its own app is for the most part useful bordering on useless. As a Portlander, I pride myself on this cute little transit system and have much respect for the person that has figured out when and where each train, bus, and streetcar stops. It, however, leaves much to be desired.
First off, the platforms. If you have ever traveled the underground systems of NYC or London, toss that image out of your mind. The MAX is an open transit system and as such many of the stops are literally a Ticket station on an otherwise unsuspecting sidewalk. You are walking along one second, and the next you are at a MAX stop getting run over by people pouring onto the sidewalk. If you are not looking you can easily miss the "Hop" post, a cute pole with a touch less pay box on it. I have met people that have lived here for years still convinced the MAX is free because you can just walk up and get on, no gates no automatic ticket machines.
So legally, $2.50 per trip later, you are sitting on the MAX next to a guy that hasn't paid a cent ever, and it's crowded because the next 25 guys next to you haven't paid a cent ever. Getting a seat on the MAX is like finding a downtown parking spot, some guy that doesn't have to pay has already got it and you have to wander around getting nothing, eventually standing for the duration of the "express" trip.
So the MAX needs to expand and add more times and stops to prevent the crowding on the trains - unfortunately, so many people are not paying which means MAX admins have no clue how many people are actually using the MAX, which means as they can see it's built for the people paying and there is room to spare. They also want to even shut down a few "barely used" stops, trouble is, they are heavenly used and the protest to their closure has shown that (if only everyone complaining would buy a ticket).
First off, the platforms. If you have ever traveled the underground systems of NYC or London, toss that image out of your mind. The MAX is an open transit system and as such many of the stops are literally a Ticket station on an otherwise unsuspecting sidewalk. You are walking along one second, and the next you are at a MAX stop getting run over by people pouring onto the sidewalk. If you are not looking you can easily miss the "Hop" post, a cute pole with a touch less pay box on it. I have met people that have lived here for years still convinced the MAX is free because you can just walk up and get on, no gates no automatic ticket machines.
So legally, $2.50 per trip later, you are sitting on the MAX next to a guy that hasn't paid a cent ever, and it's crowded because the next 25 guys next to you haven't paid a cent ever. Getting a seat on the MAX is like finding a downtown parking spot, some guy that doesn't have to pay has already got it and you have to wander around getting nothing, eventually standing for the duration of the "express" trip.
This "express" is far from it, there are so many stops to go from Beaverton to Portland it takes about 45min to travel 14miles! So when I fly into PDX from Billings on a 1 hour and 40 min flight, it takes 1 hour and 48 mins on the max to get from the airport to my house and only if it's not delayed, which it always is in the evenings. I will sit in this metal coffin longer than my plane ride.
So you say, what is the solution - a hybrid, like mine. I mean someone has to park in all those spots downtown.
So you say, what is the solution - a hybrid, like mine. I mean someone has to park in all those spots downtown.