Why Portland says this One Line is Actually Two

I lived in Milwaukie at the time of the Orange Line construction, a common talking point was "it's gonna decrease property values". In reality, the opposite happened because Milwaukie became more desirable. Also, Milwaukie generally supported the Orange Line, it was unincorporated Clackamas county that was opposed.

Now that it’s actually been built, they should really just rename the whole thing the Yellow Line (or Orange Line). The lack of clarity honestly might turn away more riders than it attracts.

Portlander here - the FX is a joke BRT - no off board ticketing and separate lanes. It also gets held up by an at grade freight rail crossing in inner SE Portland

I honestly feel like the whole "all it does is transport them damn criminals to new areas to rob" sentiment is why cities like baltimore have terrible transit. I'm hoping that changes soon because reliable public transit is crucial for those who can't afford a car or don't have a place to park one. There's a lot more to it but that's one of the more prominent things about it.

Thanks for promoting our city’s MAX system! It gets a lot of hate locally, but those of us who use transit regularly know how important it is. Hope you had a great time!

Glad to see the MAX system get some more attention. Definitely a diamond in the rough amongst the larger, more prosperous systems of Ameicas big cities.

I work for TriMet and the real reason they are two “seperate” lines. Is because that was the only way to get a federal grant for funding for the tilikum crossing. I was told originally it was just supposed to be a yellow line extension but they wouldn’t have been eligible for the grant

A Portland resident myself, always really enjoy your videos on the MAX system. One thing I'd love to see for the MAX is a line entirely on the east side, similar to where the 75 bus route is. I'd love a quicker way to get from central SE to NE/N! A girl can dream.

Keep Portland Weird was based on Austin's Keep Austin Weird and was brought to Portland in 2003 by Music Millennium owner Terry Currier. Portland has a cool flag! It was designed in 1969 by longtime Portland resident, noted graphic designer R. Douglas Lynch who passed in 2009. The flag used to have a dark blue canton with the city seal, which was added despite Lynch's objections, but was finally removed in 2002. Green stands for the forests, yellow for agriculture and commerce, and blue for the city's rivers. The blue stripes radiate from a hypocycloid that represents Portland being at the confluence of the Willamette River with the Columbia River. Willamette is believed to derive from the French pronunciation of Wallamt, which means "still water", and was a village of the Clackamas band of Chinook. The Columbia River on the other hand got its name because of the Columbia Rediviva, a private American ship led by Captain Robert Gray from Boston that became the first non-indigenous vessel to enter the river in May 1792.

That Powell's City of Books is no joke! To put things into perspective, it's 68K square feet with over 3,500 different sections! And kudos to Portland for building that cool Tilikum Crossing, it's great to see a bridge that's just for transit, bikes, and pedestrians, especially one that's cable-stayed! NYC has an aerial tram too, the Roosevelt Island Tramway! It's the tramway shown at the end of the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie. Before the aerial tramway, there used to be a streetcar line that ran on the Queensboro Bridge, and it stopped in the middle of the bridge at an elevator that took passengers down to the island. Today, the elevator storehouse is now a visitor kiosk next to the tramway station. After the NY state government leased the island from the city in 1969, they opted to build large housing developments and transform it into a transit-oriented community. A new subway station would be built to serve as the centerpiece. However, the Roosevelt Island station that was proposed was delayed. So the temporary solution was to build an aerial tramway! The tramway would open in 1975. The subway station ended up opening in 1989, however it was decided to keep the tramway open!

Love to see more US west-coast rail videos! Especially NW (Portland&Seattle) train content. And I love that this is footage of you physically riding the transit.

Hello Thom, I'm a local and I really loved this video, I like when transit youtubers at least acknowleged a big part of transit construction and expansion which is politics, and I was surprised at your includsion of it in this video! kudos! As for the two Lines the consensus here is that the marketing of a new line is 100% the reason why its this way, I also want to add that the funding for an extension of the Green line to where I live was voted down in 2020 in part because it was marketed as an extension when they could have just called it a new line. I also want to add that according to our 20240 regional growth plan A high capacity transit route is included to run along highway 26 in the Tualatin valley, I imagine this would be an extension of the Yellow Line which would run through downtown how it used to and follow the Blue and Red through the west hills. As for the Orange I know the plan is to eventually extend it to Oregon City but there is no official rumors about extending it anywhere North out of Downtown where it currently "ends". Right now the priority is to get the Southwest Corridor funded and then start planning for putting all the MAX lines into a couple Tunnels under Downtown.

As someone else said, pre-pandemic, some Orange lines in morning and some in the afternoon would turn at Union Station and head south back to Milwaukie. Originally, the Orange and Green lines were going to be extended further south to Oregon City, and meet up. Clackamas County and others fought it. Just like the Green Line was supposed to go down 82nd Ave originally, similar to how the Yellow Line goes up Interstate. Easier for people to get to businesses, but that fell through too. "Purple" Line was going to connect at Jackson area with Green/Yellow/Orange, and go to Tigard, but fell through. Next up, would be extending Yellow into Vancouver, most likely the revitalized Vancouver waterfront.

You blew my mind that we have a “commuter rail” despite living in Portland for a few years. Apparently only 400 daily riders, what a waste

Yes, pretty much a marketing exercise. At least the current "A Better Red" project really is a better Red Line, and will allow for 1 seat riding from where I live in Hillsboro to the airport rather than transfer lines at some point between Beaverton and Gateway.

As far as I'm aware it was required to get federal funding. Funding was available for new lines, but not extension of old ones. At least that's the scuddle bud among the local transit folks I've heard from, I could be wrong. (Portland based here)

Was finally in Portland and got to ride the MAX earlier this month. When you're in the central core of the city, the coverage is impeccable. The Streetcar does a great job extending that coverage. I was really impressed with how speedy the MAX was despite being a street-running system. Hopefully someday Portland will get a tunnel for the MAX to really get it running quickly and be the true Metro system it was to be

The issues you mentioned have also delayed rebuilding the I 5 bridge into Vancouver Washington. Some want dedicated transit and others are fiercely opposed. The bridge is a disaster when an earthquake hits and no solution is forthcoming. Nice video on MAX.

This anti lightrail activism painfully reminds to the BS which went down a few years back in Wiesbaden, Germany. Wiesbaden is the state capital of Hessen and next to Mainz, the state capital of Rheinland-Pfalz. Divided mostly by the river rhine. Mainz has a small, but functional tram network, which has been extended a few years back and will (hopefuly) see more extensions in the near future. Wiesbaden on the other hand fuly relies on buses for the the local public transport. There were plans to build a tramline from Mainz to Wiesbaden. But rich idiots from Wiesbaden (which don't even use public transport) blocked that initiative. The buses between the 2 cities are always packed and taking the train is a hassle. And the project would have been 90% financed by the federal and state government. I totally see what you are taking about Thom. Also, great video, as always!

Facinating history! And, yes, Northwest Portland. What a nice place to visit or live.