Category Archives: Transit

Who’s smarter: you or your phone? Here are some (transit) apps to get you there

Posted on January 5, 2012 | 1 Comment

Content courtesy of ITegrity Solutions

Hopped on the smart phone bandwagon yet? If so, smart phone apps have been popping up right and left that can make your daily life much much simpler (or complicated, depending on whether you really need 13 apps to help you figure out your dinner).

When it comes to demystifying  how to get to work or anywhere, for that matter, smart phones have changed the commuting landscape.

Lucky for you, our friends at Portland Afoot have done their homework and reviewed 5 prominent TriMet apps for smart phones, demonstrating parity in their nod to apps for both the ubiquitous iPhone as well as its brethren. Check it out HERE

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Posted in Transit, TriMet

Time to shed some light on winter commuting

Posted on December 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Photo courtesy of TriMet

Bussing it after hours? Biking in the driving rain? We wintertime commuters in the northern latitudes can finally herald the passing of the shortest day of the year (December 21st) and the calendar’s slow inch toward daylight.  But we’re not there yet.  This is the Pacific Northwest after all.  We fear there could be more rain…and more darkness.

But don’t despair!  We gathered a number of helpful tips to cheer up your commute.   Check out the following links to ensure your trip is not only safe but comfortable.  And remember, leave that car behind and you’ll head into the New Year healthier, richer, and, well, more relaxed!

TRANSIT TIPS 

WINTER BIKE COMMUTING TIPS

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Posted in Active Transportation, Bike Resources, Bike Safety, Bike/Walk, Transit, TriMet

TriMet’s multi-modal trip planner: Bike+Bus+Walking = cool

Posted on December 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

You may have caught the buzz already but if not, check this out– TriMet has trotted out the latest tool to make your commute easier: an open-source multi-modal trip planner, making itself ahead of the game as the first of its kind developed by any U.S. transit agency. This trip planner allows you to specify your preference for a bike ride and even indicate whether you want the safest route or the flattest route.  Combine bike and bus for the fastest and most efficient trip.

Other features include:

  • Allows for future inclusion of other transit systems, such as C-TRAN and SMART
  • Uses OpenStreetMap, a Wikipedia-like map, so bike routes and walking paths are up-to-date and reflect closure and construction information
  • Offers bike routing based on suitability, a highly requested feature not offered by other mapping tools
  • Includes car-share locations, so you can plan transit or bike trips to ZipCars.

Try the new tool and use it to plan your next adventure or just a better route to work:  Test the new regional trip planner  Continue reading →

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Posted in Active Transportation, Alternative Transportation Benefits, Transit, TriMet

Swan Island Transit: the quick report from TriMet

Posted on June 13, 2011 | Leave a comment

Relax, Swan Island transit riders– breathing into a paper bag this Fall won’t be necessary for a reputable source informs us that neither the TriMet 72 or 85 schedule will face the chopping block this September. For those of you who’ve found your bus riding groove, this is happy news.

And for those of you who haven’t found your transit groove, we can help. Did you know that the Swan Island TMA will customize a transit trip plan just for you? Did you know that the map collection in our office would make Lewis and Clark blush? And while we’re on the subject, did you know you could read all about Lewis and Clark’s remarkable cartography skills if your hands were free to hold a book on the bus and not the steering wheel of your car?

Oh, and another thing: the PDX Bus iPhone App. It’s life changing.  (Next post forthcoming)…

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Posted in Swan Island TMA, Transit, TriMet

Why you should be thankful Swan Island isn’t an island

Posted on April 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

Not all industrial regions are created equal in this town and the act of getting to these areas is rarely simple either.  Now imagine if Swan Island actually lived up to an island’s definition: lest a ferry shuttle appeared overnight, odds are good that carless Swan Island commuters would be less chipper about their transportation options.  As it stands now, Swan Island has the best transit access of any industrial region in the city of Portland. Intrigued? Neighborhood Notes gives the full scoop here…

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Posted in Swan Island in the News, Swan Island TMA, Transit

UPS got it right. Now life for UPS employees on Swan Island just got better

Posted on March 8, 2011 | 1 Comment

While the FedEx hub on Swan Island was busy relocating hundreds of its employees to Troutdale (a long mile from any public transit), UPS was charting an opposite tact:  to stay put, double the capacity of their Swan Island hub and make getting to work even easier for their growing number of employees on the Island.  The fresh paint on their newly expanded facilities drying apace with hiring, UPS, as of March 1st,  took the next bold step:   Swan Island UPS employees can receive a transit subsidy that knocks the cost of a monthly TriMet bus pass down to just $22 (pre-tax) per month.

Time for TriMet to fire their engines and FedEx to get some hankies.

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Posted in Economic Development, Swan Island Businesses, Transit

Portland grabs first place for best public transit…Or does it?

Posted on March 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

Last month the Oregonian’s “City ranked tops in country for public transit” article gave Portlanders another reason to be proud. Based on a February 2011 online U.S.News magazine study, the report gave Portland the take home prize for best public transportation in the U.S.   It may be heads above much of the nation when it comes to urban planning, but does Portland really deserve a place at the top where public transit is concerned?

When local transit guru, Michael Anderson of Portland Afoot, tracked this story more closely, he didn’t seem to think Continue reading →

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Posted in Transit

Get it in your calendars now: open houses for Portland/Milwaukie Light Rail Project start rolling in March

Posted on March 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

If you’re curious about how the civic process works in this town, Portland is a great place to find (and use) your voice when it comes to weighing in on local issues.  Perfect timing for TriMet–no stranger to public discourse–to provide such a forum. Throughout March,  TriMet will host a series of open houses in neighborhoods throughout the city to engage the community in the design process on the Portland-Milwaukie light rail project.  Each evening will open with a brief presentation from project staff before soliciting input from area residents on station area and alignment design. Event Details

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Posted in Events, Transit