Portland Revelations – Bikes on a Train
Decatur Metro | August 3, 2010 | 9:24 amI’m in Portland, Oregon this week, wandering the city streets with a 3-month old. And since Portland has one of the tightest and most celebrated grids in the nation, I thought why not do a little photo journal?
For those unfamiliar with Portland’s Max rail line, here ’tis…
Beautiful isn’t it? But not just beautiful, it’s also free within the city center – yes, FREE – or $2.25 for an all-zones 2 hour pass. With frequent, accessible trains, it’s easy to see how the Max is a viable option for many daily commuters. (According to the TriMet website, the impetus for a “Fareless Square” centered around concerns about air quality back in the mid-1970s The foregone fare money is partially subsidized by the city of Portland and a tax on employers in TriMet’s service area as it’s assumed that the free transit option brings significant tourism and convention business into the area.)
But one of the coolest things about the Max, is the extra love given to the gearheads…
Yep. All you have to do is hang up your bike and hitch a ride into town.
I lived in Portland for a little while before it became really cool. You could see it heading in the right direction though. It’s kind of a whole state of Decaturites but with better backpacking gear and a higher tolerance for rain, snow, and black ice. Just like Decatur, they have token Republicans but they are more the local control, pro-rancher, pro-logger types than the big centralized power, deficit-creating Bush types. Even the Republicans cycle, hike, cross-counry ski, and take mass transit!
“Just like Decatur, they have token Republicans”
“Even the Republicans cycle, hike, cross-counry ski, and take mass transit!”
Sorry to carp so early in the thread, but I have to. I’m no Republican by any stretch of the imagination, but I would like to suggest a bit less condescension. The habit of conflating political affiliation with lifestyle choices is divisive, distorting, and tends to coarsen public dialogue. Plenty of Democrats ride snowmobiles and jet-skis, go downhill skiing, and have a big, gas-guzzling vehicle for every driver in the household. Pigeon-holing people using external trappings may sound cute and make one feel clever, but it doesn’t contribute to meaningful discussion. Depending on the reader/hearer, it either (1) cues them to agree without thinking further, or (2) cues them to disagree without thinking further. It encourages everybody to be lazy.
I expect to be chided for lacking a sense of humor (even though K’s post lacked the “just kidding” smiley-face). I submit that half-serious digs at opposing opinions can work fine during face-to-face interactions, but are usually counter-productive when injected into written, public forums.
“I expect to be chided for lacking a sense of humor (even though K’s post lacked the “just kidding” smiley-face).”
So if I were to say, “Why don’t you just move to Alpharetta?”, it would be OK as long I include the
?
Maybe we can have a rule that condescension and coarseness be reserved for FFAF? Of course, DM will have to be the arbiter of what constitutes condescension and coarseness. I would recommend the Potter Stewart approach to that.
“So if I were to say, “Why don’t you just move to Alpharetta?”, it would be OK as long I include the
?”
No, IMO it would not be okay. I muddied things up by trying to make two different points: that it’s not okay, i.e., it’s counterproductive, to codify political leanings via lifestyle descriptions; and that even if you pretend to be joking, it’s still not okay.
I’ve got to admit, I’m surprised at the things some folks have been taking offense to lately. I guess I come from a family like Karass’. Except instead of backhanded compliments I just got the backs of hands to my head.
That being said, the thing that’s really annoyed me about this thread is smalltowngal’s name. Because now I have that Journey song stuck in my head now and can’t get it out!
Livin’ in a lonely world…She took the midnight train goin’ anywhere….
The song is about a small town GIRL, not a small town gal. I will cling to that crucial distinction, in order to keep that song from turning into an ear worm and forcing me to change my name!
OK, now you’ve forced my hand…you know that song could be changed to:
“Just a small town gal…
Lookin’ for a bloggin’ pal…
She took the midnight train
Go-in’ aaaaaannnnyyyyywheeeere!”
Sorry, stg, I just couldn’t help myself. Don’t kill me!
Gosh, I thought I was complimenting the classic style of Republicans that still exist in places like Oregon and upper New England. Most of my family above my generation belong to that ilk. But I guess one person’s complement is another person’s insult.
I mean “compliment”, of course. And “exist” should have been plural. Just trying to get ahead of the grammar police.
Ever heard of a back-handed compliment? It carries condescension, which is what I’m objecting to.
Yeah, back-handed compliments, good-natured ribbing, and rolling of eyes is standard operating procedure on my side of the family, given the diversity of political views. It works if everyone does it equally and has a thick skin.
I believe there’s a difference between face-to-face interactions (especially in your own family), and comments submitted to a public forum that’s anything but face-to-face. Karass, I think your initial remarks in this thread sounded condescending and smug, and that tone does nothing to promote meaningful discourse. You spend a lot of time and energy posting here, on a wide range of topics, and I would expect you to be more interested in stopping and listening to yourself sometimes.
Glibness is no substitute for acuity. It not only fails to illuminate, but often obscures. Were your comments massively offensive? Not in my opinion. Has this whole thing turned into a mountainous molehill? Almost definitely. But it’s a matter of a thousand tiny cuts. I just get tired of hearing adherents to any political party or movement being dismissive of others. It reflects intellectual laziness and contributes to an ambient buzz of incivility that coarsens public dialogue. I’m not the first to observe this; and I’m sure I won’t convince anybody here of anything. But on this particular day, it felt better to spit it out than try to swallow it.
All I can say is sorry you feel that way. I suspect that neither of us is ever going to enjoy each other’s comments much. We’ll just have to make our own personal decision on how we will handle that.
To karass & smalltowngal:
Chiming in as someone who usually adores you both: Y’all are distressing me greatly! Y’all both generally add so much value on here. I always look forward to reading what y’all have to say. Yes, karass’ 1st comment was iffy. smalltowngal- right now your comments aren’t in line with the kind of discourse you’ve been encouraging. But y’all both know that, right? So please chalk it up to one bad exchange & try to let it go. Please?
“Glibness is no substitute for acuity. It not only fails to illuminate, but often obscures.”
Obscures what? I like glib comments. Go for it, karass!
I’m with Deanne on this one. While I didn’t take karass’ comments to be mean-spirited or nasty, I can empathize with stg’s being weary of contentious discourse. The caveat is that if one is going to call another out for incivility, one should take care that in doing so, s/he doesn’t commit the same infractions. And if anyone here thinks that the discussions on this blog are nasty, spend a little time over at the AJC site. Trust me– we’re not even close.
I had resolved look for my lesson and let it go, but yesterday I let more annoyance show than felt seemly, and I don’t want it to seem like I’m pouting.
I try my best not to engage in pissing contests, and this time I slipped. But I honestly did not mean to be starting one. A few weeks ago, on a different thread, I expressed an opinion about the fallacious and counterproductive nature of “red state/blue state” characterizations. In my own mind (admittedly murky territory sometimes), yesterday I was making the same type of observation about the negative impact of glib, lifestyle-based political stereotypes. I truly think it’s a “thousand tiny cuts” issue: it’s risky to try making an issue of a single tiny instance; and then my own stubbornness makes it hard to shut up. Anyhow, my intent was to call out the post, not the person making the post. In the ensuing exchange, I let annoyance get the best of me (although in fairness to me, I refrained from making any generalized comments about K or any other of K’s posts). I will try much harder in the future not to get into these types of exchanges.
Agree with Cuba that the level of discourse is magnitudes higher here than elsewhere locally. But one reason is because we keep each other honest. I hope we all continue to feel comfortable calling out a post–not the poster–when we spy a false premise or a slip in standards. If the poster chooses to engage on the issue named, then fine. If they choose to deflect and play to the crowd, that has to be considered a legitimate response too. (That is the lesson I’m taking away.)
Sounds like we can all move on. I don’t usually say a whole lot about Republicans/Democrats on this blog anyway and I’ve certainly lost all interest in doing so for at least awhile. I have to say that I did feel like the poster was being targeted, not just the posting, because my moniker or moniker initial was specifically mentioned and phrases like “you spend a lot of time here….” and “…I would expect you….” and “…listening to yourself….” were used. But I wasn’t mortally wounded and hopefully no one else was as well.
I completely agree with all that this blog has a high level of discussion and we shouldn’t compromise it. Somewhat relevant to this thread, if you go to oregonlive.com and see their news blogs, you’d be shocked at the low level of comments, progressive Portland or not.
Karass & smalltowngal- Glad to see y’all rise above. ( And smalltowngal- you’re darn tootin’ it’s up to all of us to keep each other honest! Wouldn’t be the same blog otherwise!)
Cubalibre’s right: The discussions on here are very tame compared to the AJC forums. ( It’s like the folks-in-charge don’t care about anything over there anymore.) We’re super fortunate to have Decatur Metro for getting the scoop & exchanging ideas & enjoying some really good snark! Things just suffer when folks have a “win at all costs” mentality.
The last week on here has been kind of brutal in terms of civility. Every time there’s an ugly exchange, it chips away a tiny piece of the specialness that is Decatur Metro. It’s a shame.
(Um… post tie-in… DM, the “on the scene” reporting about Portland’s transit system is way cool! Just don’t get too caught up & accidentally leave the baby on the train! :0)
Love my bicycle. And my future Republican-voting children love theirs.
Karass, you might be surprised at the number of right-leaners in Decatur. They’re quiet, but they’re out there. And we have our sights set on Nelliebelle’s children.
I have a sibling who has run for state office as a Libertarian with the platform that, if elected, he would do away with the position! I love him anyway! (But I keep the children away during visits).
Token, good luck. I don’t think either one of us stand a chance convincing Baby Nellie of anything. He’s so stubborn at 3 I think he’d vote both ways then laugh at all of us.
But get him a ride on that kick ass train after taking him on a bike ride and you might just stand a chance.
Yep. I was in Portland a couple of years ago for a conference. Loved it. Stayed outside of town and took the train in almost every evening to check out city center. Very progressive. Way more cyclists commuting to work and school than I have ever seen in ATL.
MARTA takes bikes on board too – front-of-bus racks on buses, roll it in with you on trains.
The difference is that by designating space to hang bikes, you give cyclists more incentive to actually hop on a train during rush hour because they know they most likely can find a hook. Rolling a bike onto a full MARTA train isn’t really appealing at all, because you know you’ll end up being in somebody’s way.
That reminds me to work on getting Mrs. Ridgelandistan to approve this MARTA friendly purchase.
http://www.dahon.com/bikes/2010/ios-xl
Hooks on which to hang bikes would be great, but the current set up of rolling bikes onto MARTA trains doesn’t strike me as a huge problem, since there is usually plenty of space in the narrow corridors at the end of the trains.
I did a bit of research on the Portland system, and while it looks like a nicer version of MARTA (lots more stops), I was surprised to see that its rail ridership is much lower–100,000 per day in Portland vs. 240,000 per day on MARTA.
Well, it’s light rail transit with significantly shorter trains. Still that’s an interesting comparison.
In my limited experience, the trains here always have a good amount of people on them, so they seem to meet demand well. Though I haven’t been on a train during really off hours, except on Saturday afternoon.
Perhaps part of the reason for the generally lower ridership is that Portland is so damn walkable and bikeable that many people just do that instead of taking the train. In Atlanta, walking is rarely an option for anyone, so the train has a more captive audience…so to speak.
Metro Atlanta also has about 3 times the population of Portland, no? And probably a higher portion of people and poverty that tend to rely on it.
Actually, the MARTA service area (Fulton + Dekalb) has a slightly lower population than metro Portland–1.75 million vs. 2.2 million (according to Wikipedia). I know people from other metro Atlanta counties use MARTA, but I suspect that number is rather small. I’m sure you are correct Atlanta has a higher percentage of impoverished people than Portland.
I’ve always been skeptical of the MARTA ridership numbers, but I have no reason to believe they are less accurate than any other transit agency. It makes me think that MARTA’s biggest failing is PR.
Yup, I’m a cyclist, and I get on the trains just fine without having a picture to show me where to put my bike. There’s a luggage area that is usually good.
My problem is usually figuring out how to get up the stairs, etc. But I hoist that bike to my shoulder, and I’m good.
RE: Civility. Folks would be a WHOLE lot nicer to each other if they used their REAL names here. Bet that would cut down on the sniping a lot. Easy enough to take pot shots at school officials when you don’t have to use your name. I suspect they have a good idea who these folks are. BTW, Diane is my REAL name!!!
Think of the picture as an aid to show non-biking folks that bikes are allowed on the trains.
I also use my own name. I’ve no problem with others opting for an alias. Whatever gives folks the freedom to be candid is cool. Folks are either mindful of how they treat others or they’re not. A few of the real namers should probably consider going with an alias!
I don’t think so. I’ve done it many times and it’s not much worse than hauling luggage to the airport. I’ve never had problems finding space for the bike.
It isn’t exactly “free” but it is beautiful.
It’s free to me!
Drool.
The bike racks on trains are pretty cool. Seattle’s new light-rail trains have them too.
I am new to ATL (our second week here). I went to PDX for the first time last year and I am planning another trip in December. I really wanted to move there after the first visit.
I am very excited to be in Atlanta, but I am surprised by the stigma attached to the MARTA by local residents.
I am so happy to learn that PDX has maintained there fareless square; it was on my list to research before our next trip. There were talks to cut that incentive last year.
Note:
Thanks for this post. I am so happy to have found your site, even though I live in Midtown. Your site makes it easier for me to get a vibe on the community more so than AJC.
Welcome to Decatur, and the ATL!
[...] a ton of stuff going on this week, so here’s this: The good folks at Decatur Metro took a little tour of the Max this week, and they say: Hey, this ain’t that [...]
Why hello Portland blog! Nice to meet you.
Did you know that the city of Portland requested a copy of Decatur’s Community Transportation Plan because we were the first city in the country to account for the community health when determining our transportation endgame?
Just a little factoid for ya. Thanks for the free transit!
Portland and Toronto have to be the best cities i’ve been in for bikes/public transit hands down.
g.lou, welcome to atlanta!! Hope you are enjoying your new home. I just wanted to let you know that those who attach a negative stigma to MARTA probably do not do a lot of MARTA riding. I am a MARTA regular (for many years) that has had many good experiences. It’s just like mass transit in any metropolitan area–people just trying to get to work or school. It’s cheap, speedy, and the trains are clean. Try MARTA-It’s Smarta
I ride MARTA once in a while and I don’t find it useful. It does not go anywhere – North, South, East & West. The problem with Metro ATL is all the different cities & counties not working together for the better of the area.
MARTA and bikes mix well.
No fan of being told to put my bike on this circle, I prefer that we handle them like baggage.
It’s not mandatory Tom. The signs are really there to tell other people to allow you to hang your bike if you want to.
It’s just like the priority seating for the elderly. No one’s going to fine an old lady for NOT sitting in the priority seating.
Unless they’ve changed the policy recently, people with bikes are indeed required to hang their bikes on the hooks. And if all of the hooks are taken, they’re required to wait for the next train. There are four hooks per car, and MAX trains are never longer than two cars, so the bike capacity is actually pretty limited. It’s been an object of contention in the past.
I don’t have too many positive things to say about Atlanta, but the bike situation on MARTA is actually much better than Portland’s.
Perhaps this is the equivalent of throwing a live grenade into the room, but I just can’t help myself. This article made me giggle in light of the above exchange.
http://www.denverpost.com/election2010/ci_15673894
(I will happily accept any wrist-slapping and scolding you deem necessary, DM.)
Oh, my. Paula, if you get a wrist slapping for that, then so should I, because I’m gonna go out on a limb & say that I believe Mr. Maes has…how do you say?…lost his bloody mind.
Why, I think he has a point.
Nell, darlin’, take two shots of rum & a cupcake, and call me in the morning.
(shhh…. I am trying to give Token a fright)
Tee hee…well-played, Nell!
And this Maes guy gives me much more of a fright than you could. What a maroon.
Thank you for that. Did you notice his Tea Party creds?