The Portland Streetcar and Cincinnati (Part 3)

Streetcars

The main reason for our visit to Portland was to check out their mass transit specifically focusing on the streetcar.  We spent most of the day Friday checking out the system and talking to developers, streetcar maintenance folks, architects, and streetcar designers.  It was amazing how much we saw and learned just in one day.





One thing that was immediately obvious was that the streetcar encourages density.  Many multi-dwelling residential buildings lined the route.  Businesses such as brew pubs, coffee shops, an independent bookstore, an eclectic mix of restaurants, drug stores, and an urban grocery store were prevalent.  Many of the larger residential buildings were apparently built during or after the streetcar route was developed.  Developers we spoke to were adamant that they specifically built up the area along the route only because of the streetcar.  This seemed to ring true when we walked away from the route and the storefronts/density became visibly less.

Even in the rainy season the streetcars seemed to be a very popular way to travel.  People of all ages rode, including parents with babies, small children, teenagers, college students, and older people.  It was particularly easy for someone in a wheelchair to board the streetcar.  A disabled rider only needed to push a button, and a small ramp extended to the sidewalk.  The whole boarding process happened very quickly and allowed those with disabilities to easily ride mass transit making them more independent.



We found the ticketing to be quite simple.  Tickets and passes for the light rail are sold by machines at the stops, while tickets for the streetcar are actually sold on the car itself.  Many fare options are available, including monthly passes, all day passes, and single ride tickets.  Since tickets are only spot checked by a marshal (with hefty fines for violators), the speed of boarding is greatly increased.  Compared to the messy transfer and cash process of Cincinnati's Metro bus service, this ticketing system was just plain awesome.


Determining the time, route and stops of the streetcar was by far better than busing.  A bus route/stop changes and times can vary (often to the point of being erratic).  In order to determine the rail route all one had to do was look down at the street: rails = route.  Stops were clearly visible from a distance since each had a glass enclosure with a lighted display.  Each display showed how many minutes was left until the next train arrived and was quite accurate.  All-in-all it was very easy to catch the streetcar.

The quality of riding the rails was also better than a bus, but not as much as we had originally thought.  The movement was smoother and had less side-to-side shaking, but momentum shifts and turns had a similar bus-like feel.  The noise level was also an improvement over Metro buses, but they are still far from whisper quiet.  The light rail cars could still be heard as they were approaching the stop, and the sound of the streetcars reminded us of an electric car.

More to come tomorrow....