Portland - Milwaukie Light Rail (PMLR) | Completed

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Between 11a-6p, downtown Milwaukie will be having a full on Main St party going on.



Milwaukie's Orange Line Opening Celebration

Also, check the bus maps because a number of them are changing. The 31, 32, and 33 will no longer be going to downtown Portland once the light rail line is active. The Orange Line will be the only direct route into downtown besides the 99 bus during rush hours.

I should clarify, I meant I'm willing to ride the bus. For the grand opening I figured I'd take it from Sellwood up to Union Station, then back to Milwaukie.

[zilfondel]

There will also be some sort of "night bus" (line 291) that will run between Milwaukie and downtown until 1 am.

I think its to fill in the gap between the last MAX train.

http://trimet.org/alerts/service-cha...ex.htm#line291

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

There will also be some sort of "night bus" (line 291) that will run between Milwaukie and downtown until 1 am.

I think its to fill in the gap between the last MAX train.

http://trimet.org/alerts/service-cha...ex.htm#line291

I'm not apologizing, but I might have been an antagonistic bastard about the realignment of the buses at one point.

At least they seem to have agreed the 70 and 19 are worth keeping.

[zilfondel]

So I rode the MAX on Saturday over the bridge, and biked over yesterday. Should have my pictures posted up sometime in the next few days.

[urbanlife]

I rode it into downtown today, and loving this new line, though not loving the confusing Yellow/Orange line nonsense. They should have just made both sections the Yellow and Orange lines to make it sound like their are two trains running on those lines rather than one that switches colors downtown. I was at the park and ride at the end of the Milwaukie line as the train announces itself as the Yellow Line, they really made this one too confusing for itself.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I was at the park and ride at the end of the Milwaukie line as the train announces itself as the Yellow Line, they really made this one too confusing for itself.

I rode it from South Waterfront to Milwaukie yesterday and the train operator made the same mistake at the end of the line in Milwaukie.

[zilfondel]

Massive Photo Update

Opening Day - Saturday, September 12th 2015:

As most know, last Saturday was the official opening day of Trimt's new MAX Orange Line - running from Portland State University south through Milwaukie, OR ending at the suburban station at Park Avenue. The new bridge also debuted and it was a free Trimet day. My wife and I took the day and rode the line from our house in Sellwood, south to the end of the line and then north across the bridge to South Waterfront. We stopped to take pictures at the Bybee station, Park Ave, SE 12th ave/Clinton, and South Waterfront and OMSI.

This new MAX line is a pretty big deal. It vastly improves transit access, mobility and reliability for transit riders in SE Portland to Milwaukie, and features miles of new Amsterdam-level bike infrastructure and new pedestrian sidewalks and trails on both sides of the river. Access across SE Powell is vastly improved - SE 17th ave has been completely rebuilt and is similar to Interstate Ave. South Waterfront and the OMSI area have two new transit centers on either side of the bridge!

All in all I was highly impressed by the line - the design, construction, detailing, signage all seemed to be top-notch. I thought the stations were generally well integrated into the urban landscape (much better than the Green Line). Downtown Milwaukie, for instance, has their station right smack dab in the middle of downtown (we didn't stop as we were running out of time - but it was very crowded!). I live right next to the MAX and will definitely use it when I'm not biking.

New Map:

img from Trimet

Photobucket slideshow



















































































all images taken by me, except for the map

[rsbear]

Great pics, zilfondel. Thanks for sharing.

If you wish to share them with forum members who may not make their way into the Portland sub-forum, there is a thread in the main transportation section about the opening of the Orange Line.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=218780

Thanks again.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by rsbear

Great pics, zilfondel. Thanks for sharing.

If you wish to share them with forum members who may not make their way into the Portland sub-forum, there is a thread in the main transportation section about the opening of the Orange Line.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=218780

Thanks again.

Done. Thanks - forgot about those other forum threads!

[maccoinnich]

I thought it was busy Saturday, but it's crazy how many people turned up to the opening of the original Eastside and Westside alignments of the MAX:

How many rode Orange Line, Tilikum Crossing on opening day? Numbers are in



TriMet said riders made about 40,000 trips on it's new Orange Line on Saturday after it officially opened at 11 a.m.

That's a pretty solid opening for the $1.5-billion, 7.3-mile Orange Line. It ties the opening of the MAX Green Line on a Saturday back in 2009, while the Yellow Line opened to 20,000 rides in 2004.

When MAX debuted in 1986 with a Portland-to Gresham route, about 200,000 people rode what would become the Blue Line during its opening weekend, and 160,000 people rode the weekend the Westside expansion to Hillsboro opened in 1998.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[maccoinnich]

MAX Orange Line riders aren't showing up as predicted



While under construction, the MAX Orange Line checked every box: it opened on time and came in about $48 million under budget, despite being one of TriMet's most ambitious construction projects to date.

A year into its Portland-Milwaukie service, however, riders aren't showing up as expected.

Forecasts used to help justify federal funding for the project called for 17,000 average weekday trips in 2016. The Orange Line has so far averaged less than 11,000.

TriMet planners say they're still hopeful the $1.4 billion project will live up to projections. It won't report back to the federal government until the end of next year.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[urbanlife]

I think there needs to be some adjustments made to the Orange Line to better help them get to that target number. There needs to be better timing for the buses so that people aren't arriving at the stations right as the train is leaving and the trains need to not arrive at the stations right as the buses are leaving. This creates an issue for commuting because often times missing a bus or train by a minute can easily mean an extra 15-20 minutes added to a commute, which that makes people less likely to take transit over driving.

Also with this, they definitely undershot their park and rides, because the reality is it is much easier to get someone to drive to a light rail station than it is to get them to take a bus and transfer at the station.

Then there is the issue with biking to the stations. In some places it is pretty easy to do or in the process of getting better with new bike routes being put in. Milwaukie has done a great job working towards being more bike friendly, but the town still has a long way to go. There is however the mess that happened with the Springwater Corridor that has probably curbed a lot of people from biking to a station via that route in fear of being attacked and robbed, or even worse.

Also, I think it was dumb to have the trains switching colors between Orange and Yellow, it is fine having them go the full length of both lines, but there should be some trains that just do the Orange line. Nothing worse than commuting somewhere and having a train be delayed longer than expected because of an issue at the Steel Bridge or Rose Quarter. Running trains specifically for the Orange Line would help increase reliability.

Plus, it is still a great line to have built simply because of the route that was chosen. It is going to be a major development route in the future with plenty of target areas around almost every stop that could easily see new urban districts sprouting up. So while their beginning numbers might be much lower than expected, I don't see that being as much of an issue in the future as growth along the line happens, and hopefully some needed adjustments happen.

[colganc]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I think there needs to be some adjustments made to the Orange Line to better help them get to that target number. There needs to be better timing for the buses so that people aren't arriving at the stations right as the train is leaving and the trains need to not arrive at the stations right as the buses are leaving. This creates an issue for commuting because often times missing a bus or train by a minute can easily mean an extra 15-20 minutes added to a commute, which that makes people less likely to take transit over driving.

Also with this, they definitely undershot their park and rides, because the reality is it is much easier to get someone to drive to a light rail station than it is to get them to take a bus and transfer at the station.

Then there is the issue with biking to the stations. In some places it is pretty easy to do or in the process of getting better with new bike routes being put in. Milwaukie has done a great job working towards being more bike friendly, but the town still has a long way to go. There is however the mess that happened with the Springwater Corridor that has probably curbed a lot of people from biking to a station via that route in fear of being attacked and robbed, or even worse.

Also, I think it was dumb to have the trains switching colors between Orange and Yellow, it is fine having them go the full length of both lines, but there should be some trains that just do the Orange line. Nothing worse than commuting somewhere and having a train be delayed longer than expected because of an issue at the Steel Bridge or Rose Quarter. Running trains specifically for the Orange Line would help increase reliability.

Plus, it is still a great line to have built simply because of the route that was chosen. It is going to be a major development route in the future with plenty of target areas around almost every stop that could easily see new urban districts sprouting up. So while their beginning numbers might be much lower than expected, I don't see that being as much of an issue in the future as growth along the line happens, and hopefully some needed adjustments happen.

They will need alot more than that to reach their estimates. You're crazy if you think that will boost the ridership enough or even into the same ball park. I'm not sure what it matters anyway.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by colganc

They will need alot more than that to reach their estimates. You're crazy if you think that will boost the ridership enough or even into the same ball park. I'm not sure what it matters anyway.

Reducing commute times and making it easier for people to do bus transfers would do wonders to help boost ridership numbers. Also, operating the Orange line the same way the Green line is operated, by having it end in downtown, would also give a boost to ridership numbers because that too would reduce any issues with train delays that happens.

It matters because it is what is used when trying to expand the system, if the newest line is under preforming, then it is going to be much harder to get the funding and support for any future lines that need to be added.

[hat]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Reducing commute times and making it easier for people to do bus transfers would do wonders to help boost ridership numbers. Also, operating the Orange line the same way the Green line is operated, by having it end in downtown, would also give a boost to ridership numbers because that too would reduce any issues with train delays that happens.

It matters because it is what is used when trying to expand the system, if the newest line is under preforming, then it is going to be much harder to get the funding and support for any future lines that need to be added.

While it brings up issues with income disparity, having for-hire, semi-public transport available such as something similar to Lyft Line to stations could be an improvement on the current system of unpredictable buses on fixed routes. I think people would pay slightly more for short rides to stations (say < 1 mile). I'm imagining this is how the Finish system works. You are picked up by a car, driven to a station, and take pub/active trans within the city. I think Tri-Met should experiment with a similar system.

Keep in mind the most significant thing this system accomplishes is getting people to think about how they will travel as opposed to the typical American who gets in their car and just expects their surroundings to be designed to fit their car.

[dubu]

i think the concord street area needs the max. id stay living in oak grove but oak grove is crazy with cars. i liked living in oregon city where i lived most my life. im tired of the city though, so many homeless and meth heads