the sw line should go to the washington square mall then to the beaverton tc. then have the powell line.

50 years away seems absurd. In the past 20 years TriMet/Portland has opened up the Red, Yellow and Green MAX lines, plus the entire streetcar system, and WES.

They already have the Powell/Division Not-Quite-BRT planned for the next decade and are actively working on the SW Corridor. The city has already started discussing where new Streetcar lines will go.

Clackamas County, Tigard and Tualatin have all challenged additional rail projects, and the Steel Bridge is at capacity. Without a major overhaul of the Steel Bridge there's no new capacity between the east and west sides of the river, and the Mall is going to have three trains already regularly running on it. Four if the SW Corridor happens.

There are already backups from trains crossing at the Transit Mall and Pioneer Courthouse Square. The downtown blocks limit the length of trains, and they can't add additional East/West trains without finding ways to handle more trains downtown.

The Orange and Green lines aren't going to be expanded to Clackamas anytime soon, the Yellow to Vancouver seems unlikely anytime soon, and even if the Blue line is extended to Forest Grove and Troutdale it doesn't allow higher frequency without cutting Green or Red line service. Powell/Division is going to be buses, so that's not a MAX project.

Do you really think TriMet is going to wait a few decades before chasing more federal money for MAX expansion?

Adding a new line on either side is unlikely without expanding the downtown system, or at least adding places to turn the trains around without using the Steel Bridge.

Given the cost of the Orange Line (~$1.5 billion) and the projected cost of the SW Corridor (I've heard ~$2 billion to ~$4 billion) a downtown tunnel doesn't seem like it would be that far down the list.

I'd be surprised if it's not under at least deep in the planning phase in the next dozen years.

TriMet's westside transit plan: takeaways from update presented to Beaverton City Council
By Laura Frazier | lfrazier@oregonian.com
On October 08, 2014 at 4:52 PM

http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/...l#incart_river

I would like to see a new line extension built for the Red Line out to Hillsboro so that the MAX can cover more land on the westside.

...continues at the Oregonian.

Why isn't the "Orange" Line just designated as the southern extension to the "Yellow" line? We could run out of colors eventually.

Trimet thought about that, but decided to go with two different lines that terminate downtown rather than continue through. It makes it easier to provide fast service to both lines, plus the amount of people going from Milwaukie to North Portland is probably a small percentage that those people could just as easily change trains in downtown.

From what I've seen the Yellow line does continue south onto Portland-Milwaukie alignment because the station signage already shows both orange and yellow. The orange designation is just semantics since a couple of the peak hour trains serving the south alignment will turn around at Union station rather than continue through.

They are extending the Yellow line to the Clinton St stop, that should help with the number of trains crossing the bridge and into SE.

FAQ on the TriMet electronic fare system, due to launch in 2017.

I can see a coipl of problems wiht this.

First not every bank offer chip enabled cards. Mostly community banks. When I asked the folks at Umpqua Bank 6 months ago they didn't even know what I was talking about.

Second, on buses it should work alright as there is a single point of entry and people are sue to paying as they enter the bus anyway. Light rail is a different matter. Multiple points of entry onto the train; potentially large groups trying to board at once and trying to get to the card reader. Yea, that will work well.

If Tri-Met were really serious about fare collection, they'd install turnstile systems at the station. But given the configuration through down town that's not likely to happen any time soon.

I guess this will just help keep the honest people honest. Everyone else rides for free.

The light rail would just need to add it to the kiosks where one buys a ticket, though I am not sure how one would be able to show they used a trip on a card, I get how it works on a phone, but not a card unless it is with turnstiles for train access.

Yeah, I don't see why it would be different from the current ticket validators. Just include some on the platform too. Turnstiles wouldn't work because it's an open system; to make them effective, you're talking many millions of dollars to reconfigure the stations - and not just downtown. Fare inspectors are probably way more cost-effective.

That is what I was thinking, I am fine with the current system that the MAX uses with tickets, and would really like to see if they could get a taps card to also work.

I'm pretty sure they want to move away from the current system because mechanical things that process paper tickets are expensive to maintain. But validators could be replaced with tap card machines pretty easily.

Even though the track is laid out to do so, the permanent signs at SE Clinton St only show the Orange to Milwaukie/Downtown right now. I haven't checked the OMSI station lately, but Clinton St only has the Orange line marked as a destination.

Maybe it's because the trains can run entirely out of Elmonica Yard without depending on the Steel Bridge that's already full?

Wow, did anyone else see the new MAX train sitting at the downtown turnaround??? (Yellow???)

http://i.imgur.com/z1WcUYP.jpg

I wonder if this train is being utilized to test the new track and not actually the MAX of the future...

It could be a rail grinder! I saw one of those bevel/smooth the MAX rail lines about 5-6 years ago. Diesel powered.

Edit: yep

http://maxfaqs.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/rail-grinding/

it will be nice when all the old trains are gone, i wonder when that will be