Took these during my commute experiment on the WES.

This is a shot of the Cherriots Express Bus to Salem.

The design definitely stood out, even though it had a rather 80's feel to it.  I still dug it, regardless.

I had hoped to jump one of these buses down to Salem and back in the afternoon after work one day, but since most of the week was screwed up I didn't make it.

Also note, the hybrid design of the bus, which I'm still surprised TriMet can't find more use for Hybrid buses or at least clean fuel burning buses.

The next set are photos I got while waiting at Beaverton Transit Center.

Posted in: Commuting , Pictures , Public and Mass Transit Ramblings and Solutions , Rail Related  Tags: trimet, wes, bus, #20, #57, commuter, commuter, rail, commuter rail, express, express bus, cherriots

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This first shot I got of my trip out to Wilsonville was classic.  Click on it and look at that speedometer!  Yeah, I was rolling!  The next shot just tells the future ever so brashly.

Yeah.  Passed up with not a sound.  The WES flew right by me while I rolled a double digit 20 or so MPH.  Behind me in the rear view mirror you can see the traffic stacked up.  This was at 6:07pm.  I ended up in scheduling and alarm clock debacle after debacle.  I ended up driving out Monday which really sucked, I could have been on that ride instead I was stuck in traffic in the ole’ Zed (350Z for those non-Nissan peepz).  Real good use of a sports car, NOT.

The next day I grabbed a few good shots.

 

Here I grabbed a shot of the conductor walking the station before departure.  I think the sign embodies the ideal of the system from the perspective of Wilsonville & Beaverton.  Because really, out of all the riders, all but about 5 total people went into downtown Portland.  Everyone riding the WES went somewhere within the corridor or transferred to a bus or MAX heading westward.

Posted in: Commuting , Pictures  Tags: wes, commute, commuter rail, 350z, nissan

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After the week, or pseudo week of commuting I'm glad to be out of the suburbs and back downtown.  Every trip has turned into a 10 minute bus trip, with super frequent service, or a short walk between 5-20 minutes.  No necessity for a car, no necessity to visit a gas station, no necessity for dealing with traffic.

The WES is awesome, don't get me wrong, but I'm glad to be back downtown where everything is within a stone's throw.

First, the absolute negatives.

• TriMet got ripped off by Colorado Railcar.
• TriMet paid WAY too much for equipment that is not standard and should have gone with traditional equipment.
• TriMet hasn't aligned the transfers and other parts of the WES appropriately.
• TriMet does NOT have a green vehicle unless they remedy their lack of ridership.
• The politicians won't be harmed enough by the overruns, and will take too much credit for the positives.

Now the positives.

• Portland & Western is doing an amazing job running the WES.  Words like flawless, impressive, relaxed, and endearing come to mind when riding the system.
• Portland & Western has a great mechanism for spreading the word about passenger rail and provides a good example (amid the negatives) of how to setup and operate on local carrier lines with good cooperation.
• The WES, because of the new tracks, definitely helps out rail traffic in the corridor and extends the freight capability of rail.  This is by FAR a good thing, probably in some ways more important than the WES passenger runs.
• The county gains a competitive advantage because of this rail line upgrade.
• The WES is without doubt more comfortable, more up scale, more reliable, and internet ready than any other thing in the TriMet Fleet.
• The politicians now have a tool to provide an example of partnerships between public and private entities to further desires and requests of the public.  This is a mix of positives and negatives, but mainly is positive.

Ridership:  The peak I saw was 40+ for one single trip.  This is acceptable from an environmental point of view, but still far too low from an economic and budget point of view.  The City of Portland, Metro, and TriMet can't keep making decisions that build out infrastructure and such at such high prices for such minimal return.  They HAVE to meet more of the existing demand and stop running off on their fantasy trips to commuter rail land.  They HAVE to make sure ridership demand actually exists before doing these things.  I'm glad they built the WES, I think it can serve a good purpose, and it can provide a great example of what to do and not to  do, but overall should they have built it? No.  Should they have upgraded the tracks, or at least provided cheap, tax free, loans and such to get the tracks upgraded?  Yes.

If anything commuter rail could be setup in areas around Portland that could and would be far more utilized.  Salem to downtown Portland, Eugene to Portland, there are a host of places.  Hopefully, the next option is to get service to Salem, somehow or in some way.  Hopefully they can do it without too much cost or unnecessary shutdown of companies.

My best wishes go out to the awesome Portland & Western Crews running the WES, and to TriMet, I hope you guys get some serious ridership increases so they system can prove viable!  Keep rolling, and I'm sure I'll be out to ride again some day.  Until then, I'm back to 100% urbanite lifestyles.

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On the south bound stretch of the WES my father and I got to ride on the cab car instead of the DMU.  The sound is different, and quieter than riding on the DMU.  Ride quality is flawless just as the DMU.

On departure from Beaverton we actually had our tickets checked by the conductor.  I was rather stoked by this as I thought there wasn't going to be any enforcement.  The conductor asking, being they have that railroad matter of fact-ness about them, is the prefect candidate to be asking for fare.  One young kid didn't have fare, but I admit he seemed to be a bit perplexed by the whole "train" concept and how fare was supposed to work.  The conductor explained it to him and let him grab a fare at Hall/Nimbus Station.

We then cruised smoothly with our double unit consist on down toward Tualatin.  Without the engine noise of the DMU.  For kicks I decided to ride back and make possibly another round trip of the whole affair.

Once we arrived in Wilsonville we sat tight for the 20+ minutes for the return trip.

The stats so far are:

• One non-paying customer that became a paying customer.
• 43 people boarded in Beaverton.
• 12 more en route and others offloaded.
• 17 passengers detrained in Wilsonville.
• Peak load was 43.

Our departure was then set for 4:53pm.  At 4:53pm we headed north.  In Tualatin we actually picked up a number of people and barely lost anyone.  In Tigard we gained approximately 16 people on board and lost no one.  Peak load so far is approximately 30.

In Tigard we, as usual, met the south bound train.  The south bound train had an approximate load of 35-38 just from viewing the seat load.  We departed, on time, north for Beaverton.

On this north bound trip father and I sat in the DMU for a comparison.  Since I had ridden on the DMU for every other trip I've made this week I was able to compare that with the DMU under load of the cab car.  Let me tell ya, the vibration and extra effort the DMU had to make to get going was rather extreme.  Compared to single car operation it felt like it was just going to give a piston away at any moment.  We however got going after a few moments of acceleration and everything would quite down to regular operational levels.

At Hall/Nimbus we had 9 on, with one runner at the last second making 10.  I think at this point we lost 3-4 people, it however is rather hard to tell with the dual unit train.  I don't think I've ever struggled to count so much.  With the platforms and configuration though it is not easy to see all the egress points.

• 14 People north bound.
• Peak load north bound was 32.

That's it for the day.

Posted in: Commuting , Public and Mass Transit Ramblings and Solutions , Rail Related , Travel Log  Tags: transit, wes, trimet, commuter, commute, commuter rail

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I started trying to recreate Wednesday after work's entry, but haven't gotten too far.  Today I almost had another failure, my alarm didn't go off and I almost missed the last train of the day.  But I made it, walked on at 8:49am and off we went toward Beaverton.  But as previously mentioned I'm going to jump off and use some of the rest of the transit system and see where I can get to.

I use the trusty WES Internet to pull up TriMet site and find out where the best transfer point would be.  It looks like Hall/Nimbus will be my stop today.  I'll have to detrain there, head over to Washington Square Mall and grab a bus #56 or something from there.

Wednesday After Work, The Delete That Shouldn't Have Been

Ok, so the stats I was collecting for Wednesday where a lot better than the previous day.  I saw a peak total load of 48 at one point of the trip, and 9 on at another.  Overall total trips included 57.

There where some really good conversations carried on, all polite and at good tone.  Riding the WES is absolutely not riding the MAX or Bus.  It brings a new class to transit, this is without doubt.  Tad the Conductor, who I spoke with after detraining in Wilsonville, even had been speaking with one of the passengers in Spanish.

Overall Wednesday afternoon was the most interesting trip of the week so far.

With all that said at this point, I'll post again after I get more of the previous and some of then new blog entries put together.

Posted in: Commuting , Rail Related , Travel Log  Tags: transit, trimet, wes, commute, commuter rail

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Today's departure began at 5:24pm.  I boarded the Blue Line MAX at 5:26pm after leaving the office.  I got the slow elevator so it took a whole 2 minutes to get to Pioneer Square West Bound Stop.  I saw the MAX coming to the stop before at the mall, so I walked toward that stop and boarded there.  This one stop difference enabled me to grab a seat and start ye' ole' blog entry here instead of having to wait until the WES.

...there was however a catastrophic catastrophe at the end of the trip.  I restarted my laptop thinking I had saved the blog entry...

...and I forgot what else I wrote.  I'll try to recreate some of it tomorrow, needless to say, I've VERY disgruntled that I lost it, easily having written another two dozen paragraphs worth of material.

Mood:  Pissed.

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With three minutes to go on Wednesday there are a whopping 6 people aboard at Wilsonville, including me.  The engineer sits ready at the helm and the conductor paces the platform checking his watch every few minutes.  A few stragglers pull up in their cars, probably the now practiced WES rider, with barely a minute or three to spare.  The conductor, which had left his clipboard at ground level, walks back toward the platform.  As we approach the departure time we have 10 people riding.  The last few breathless as they had ran for the train.

The last person came bounding up to make a solid 11 riders, the doors closed, two toots of the "new and quieter horn" and off we went.

Reflective Observation

I'd have paid easily serious bucks to take the train into New Orleans growing up, this is awesome compared to all that driving I did.  After spending an hour and a half each way for the 3 month gig I was working, I could have saved time, sleep deprivation, and probably a serious chunk of change if something like this where available.  If even just connected to Covington, Slidell, and the west and southern stretches of New Orleans, they could easily garner a serious ridership.  This would of course, merely connect the legs that the city once knew before the mass auto subsidization and pillaging of the city for the Interstate could cut it to its heart, further splitting black and white.

Back to This Life

The WES rode out of its slow order area just north of Wilsonville Station and stepped on the diesel.  We pushed up and cruised along at 50mph, and then without haste kicked on up to a higher speed for various stretches.  Every crossing the bell dinged and the whistle was sounded.

To the left ducks could be seen in the water.  The lone child with her mother aboard the WES sounded off, "mom, look ducks!" as she smacked away on her breakfast sandwich.  After a bit of nature we passed on through the industrial areas.  A few of the customers sidings can be seen in use, with the various tank cars and others shoved back for loading.  As we passed the apartments I can't help but feel a bit of a laugh at the people who now complain that they moved near a rail line that is in use.  Who'd have thought, increased rail use!?  Oh dear!

WES squeaked into the turn and crested through to Tualatin.  At Tualatin we gained another 6 passengers for a whopping total of 17 now.

The conductor came back and said jokingly to the child with her mother, "Now you know there's no eatin' on the train less you give the conductor some."  With a smile the mother laughed as the child looked awkwardly toward him with bulging eyes.  However the child quickly realized that the conductor was just messing, a smile came across the child's face.

In Tigard we lost 2 riders and gained 9.  Our total now 24.  A little better than yesterday.

At Hall/Nimbus we lost another 2, gaining none.  Now down to what is the standard of the days, 22.

...Wednesday morning 1/2 way done, off to the MAX.

Posted in: Commuting , Public and Mass Transit Ramblings and Solutions , Travel Log  Tags: trimet, wes, commute, commuter, commuter rail, rail

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Straight Analysis

Departed work about 5:20pm.  Boarded a Blue Line MAX bound for Beaverton and points west.  Approximately 105 riders on the low floor car and about 94 on the high floor car.  Trip time of 17 minutes from Pioneer Square all the way to Beaverton Transit Center.  Once arriving at Beaverton TC transfer time was about 38 minutes.  WES detrained 36 people and boarded 28 at Beaverton TC with 5 minutes until departure at 6:03pm.  By the time we departed at 6:03pm we had 38 people aboard.

The Southerly Trip Story

The announcer came on the loudspeaker at 6:02pm and reported, "Hello ladies and gentlemen, we will be departing in approximately one minute".  At 6:03pm a few more people hustled in, several overweight and gasping for air as they ran, bumbled into the doorway at the last moment as they closed.  They took seats as the horn was blown with the bursts required by the FRA.  With those blasts off we went with our total load of 43 WES riders.

One lady piped up and asked the conductor, "Do you work for TriMet?"  He turned with a serious expression, brandishing his shoulder patch with pride, and stated, "No mam, I work for Portland & Western, we operate the train for TriMet".  Every time I ride I can see the difference in pride among the P & W's employees that is different, and inspiring.  The riders that where running conversed with the conductor for a few moments, he stated they looked like a blur and he thought they might overtake the door!  They had a jovial laugh with shared smiles.

As we rode out along Highway 217 toward the next stop at Hall/Nimbus we passed up many cars, which weren't backed up at the moment.  The smooth ride along at 60mph was like the ice skate blade against ice, slick and flawless.  We began slowing for Hall/Nimbus and pulled smoothly to a stop.  A pin on its head wouldn't have fallen over!  5 Riders left the train here and headed for their cars and I think one headed off for the bus transfer point.

At this point the conductor conversed again after doing his door check.  This time a male red headed passenger carried on about various aspects of the trip and other topics.

At Tigard we switched over the other main and slowly headed into the station.  12 People left us here and we gained 1.  The north bound train we met which had 26 passengers heading north.  The conductors from both trains, as in the morning, checked their watches and conversed about operations before boarding their respective trains.  With our 27 passengers we departed for Tualitan.

In Tualitan we passed through the park and by the Skate Park, in a Toyota Prius in the line at the crossing gates a young girl sat in the back seat smiling and waving happily at the WES Train.  It is always amazing the see the curiosity and interest a train brings to a child.  Their is a certain amount of intrigue and inventiveness one can see in a child when watching a train or airplane that is not shared with the site of a car or other smaller vehicle.  I do believe that a certain amount of it is the pure awe in which the size and nature of things like trains or planes and what these large vehicles accomplish.

As we rode along toward our final destination of Wilsonvilele the setting sun put a slightly yellowed sky above the distant clouds.  To the opposite direction in the east the sky held a clear darkening blue of pending night.  Along the sides of our path the swamp and waters held a glimmer of the train as we rolled by at 60 or so miles per hour.  The the final winding twists and turns we encroached only by our horn and rolled smoothly through the commercial industry zones that lay to the sides of the right of way.  Once through the empty fields of grass and marsh and vehicle lots of industry we again smoothly began a deceleration.  Our final turn and we began our final approach to Wilsonville Station.  As we pulled slowly in the 3rd WES train of the route pulled out and by us to clear the station for our arrival.

Again, I arrived at my week long temporary home!

Posted in: Commuting , Rail Related , Travel Log  Tags: trimet, max, wes, commute, commuter, commuter rail, rail, passenger rail

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As I detrained and headed for the MAX, the arrival times of the next two headed to downtown where 10 minutes for the Blue Line MAX and 18 minutes for the Red Line MAX.  I looked westward to see what was arriving and here comes a Red Line.  However, it was rather full, and I wanted to sit - period.  It pulled away with a solid 154 (give or take -+5, yeah, I walked the length and counted, it sat for about a minute) riders.

I had gotten on and then gotten off when I saw a #54 pulling up, with none other than one of the new buses.  I saw about 15 or so people preparing to board so I walked right over, I'd be able to get a seat and check out one of these new buses.  I got comfortable on the back of the bus with the school kids and two blue collar types and pulled out the laptop.  We departed with 19 people aboard.

As we left Beaverton we actually where stopped by the WES heading to Wilsonville.  The two blue collars pondered aloud, "where does that thing go?"  and "its so small".  I garnered a laugh out of that.  The younger one suggested, "could take it down and go to Wal-Mart".  I don't know where a Wal-Mart is down anywhere along the line.  It was odd hearing such a suggestion, but it is a start for a future WES rider, and it sure needs em'.

The stories where told back and forth between the riders, the interesting ones mostly by the blue collars.  Some slept and some just watched.  It was a rather pleasant bus ride.  I can see though, why the MAX is very preferable, being that it is easily 10 minutes faster than the #54 route.  But since I was able to write code while riding, instead of standing for 18 minutes, it was worth the extra 10 minute ride.

The new buses I must say are pretty nice.  Nothing too different then the existing ones, but nice regardless.  The rear seats go all the way to the windows, leaving more space for people's butts, and that is a good thing is this world of fat people.  The ride on the new bus is the one thing that stood out.  The new buses are better for ride quality, I can't really place how, but they are definitely smoother.

Posted in: Commuting , Public and Mass Transit Ramblings and Solutions , Travel Log  Tags: trimet, bus, #54

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So this week starts my commuting experiment from Wilsonville.  I’ll be photographing the mega-metropolis of Wilsonville this week, riding the TriMet WES, SMART, and maybe Cherriots.  Here’s an overview of what I have planned so far.  This is a similar experiment to my Sounder Commuting Experience; Entry 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.

I plan to commute somewhere each day.  Monday I will commute to Wilsonville after work.  Tuesday & Wednesday I will commute from and to Wilsonville into downtown Portland.  On Thursday & Friday I will commute to places I’m not sure of.  I think one might be Hall/Nimbus stop and go to Washington Square, as there are a few people who commute there with the WES.  I also plan to transfer to a westward direction on the MAX from the WES to see how that goes.  Another idea I have is to test and see if I can get to Salem for a few minutes, and return again via WES and Cherriots.

The main impetus for this trip is to see how or if a car-free existence is easily available in Wilsonville.  After my first visit it definitely looks like it is, however it by far is definitely not a standard way to live.  Wilsonville is in the end your standard sprawlsville America.

Routing, Scheduling, and the Logistics

First thing I want to test out upon arrival Monday is if I can even get around to a few places via the transit in Wilsonville.  I’ve scoped out a few places that are fundamental to being car free.  Now to many Portlander’s this might be an odd array of stores, but this is what Wilsonville has, so give’em a break.  What I found via trusty Google is;  Target…   yeah, that’s about it.  There are some grocery stores down that way, and a few other places here and there, but overall for a lot of basic commodities, the option is:  Target.  What gives?

Problem 1:  Where in the world is Target?

Target is A.  2 Miles away from everything.  Even via a car, it is at least 5+ minutes away for most Wilsonville Residents.  So that means the main consumer base for this store, all 20k+ of them, are mostly auto bound in order to use the store.  Bad choice Wilsonville.

 

WES Station is B.  WES is also located in an inordinately difficult place to get to, albeit not as poorly placed as Target.

 

My Wilsonville Home is C.  This is where I’ll be staying for the week.

 

So for any Wilsonville resident the option for basic commodities:  cloths, toothbrushes, yard equipment, and other non-commodity items a minimum 2 mile trip is necessary.

One Word:  Sad.

For the sake of honesty though, let’s figure out what options there are for hitting up Target after returning on the WES.  The schedule times I have available to me are as follows:

Target

Target Trips
SMART #6
WES Arrives	Target
4:30p	4:41p		5:11p	5:22p
5:00p	5:11p		5:41p	5:52p
5:30p	5:41p		6:11p	6:22p
6:00p	6:11p		6:41p	6:52p
6:30p	6:44p		7:11p	7:22p
SMART x2
4:30p	5:00p		6:59p	7:21p
5:00p	5:30p		7:27p	7:50p
5:30p	6:00p		7:57p	8:18p
6:00p	6:30p		8:30p	8:51p
6:30p	7:00p

As a weeklong Wilsonianvillian where can I go to find these things?  After a close review, the closest transit friendly place is most likely Bridgeport Village.  So where and how can one get to Bridgeport Village via transit?  That’s another entire story.

Here we are now with a map of the trip from Wilsonville to Bridgeport Village (Click on the image for a larger view).  Bridgeport Village is about 5 miles away from Wilsonville.  Not a big deal, except for going or being car-free.  I guess, with a little time on one’s side, it isn’t even a big deal for the car-free though.

The easiest way to drop into Bridgeport, which is what I’ll probably do for my after work retail search, is to just stop on the way back to My Wilsonville Home via the WES & #76.  Scheduling is a little tight, because of the lack of WES frequency and bus frequency, which avails these scenarios.

Bridgeport

WES Southbound		#76 Route
Beaverton	Tualatin	WES Station	Bridgeport
4:03pm	4:20pm	4:28pm	4:36pm
4:33pm	4:50pm	5:00pm	5:08pm
5:03pm	5:20pm	5:30pm	5:38pm
5:33pm	5:50pm	6:06pm	6:14pm
6:03pm	6:20pm	6:39pm	6:47pm
6:33pm	6:50pm
7:03pm	7:20pm	7:37pm	7:44pm
7:33pm	7:50pm	8:39pm	8:46pm

Depending on the time I can arrive at Beaverton from my MAX trip, I may or may not have a reasonable amount of time to hit Bridgeport.  But overall, there really are some good options here, for getting to Bridgeport.  Now leaving is a different story all together.  I might end up taking a trip to Bridgeport, but the return trip sure will be hellish.

The best and first option is to return by jumping on the southbound #76 & heading back to the Tualatin WES Station.

#76 Route	WES Southbound
Bridgeport	WES Station	Tualatin	Wilsonville
3:46pm	3:53pm	4:20pm	4:30pm
4:17pm	4:24pm	4:50pm	5:00pm
4:47pm	4:54pm	5:20pm	5:30pm
5:16pm	5:23pm	5:50pm	6:00pm
5:49pm	5:56pm	6:20pm	6:30pm
6:16pm	6:21pm	6:50pm	7:00pm
6:44pm	6:49pm	7:20pm	7:30pm
7:10pm	7:15pm	7:50pm	8:00pm

This leaves me with some pretty absurd wait times.  There has to be a better option I thought.  I checked out jumping the south bound #96 and walking the 8 blocks or so between where the #96 stops in Tualatin to the WES Station.  I’m figuring at least about 10, maybe 15 minute walk.  Which wouldn’t be too bad if it saved a few minutes.  After reviewing though, it leaves a lot to be desired also.  What happens if it is cold outside?  You don’t want to stand there for 15-20 minutes.

#96		WES Southbound
Bridgeport	Martinazzi	Tualatin	Wilsonville
3:55pm	4:04pm	4:20pm	4:30pm
4:13pm	4:23pm
4:27pm	4:41pm	4:50pm	5:00pm
4:39pm	4:49pm
4:51pm	5:05pm	5:20pm	5:30pm
5:04pm	5:14pm
5:14pm	5:24pm
5:24pm	5:34pm	5:50pm	6:00pm
5:43pm	5:53pm	6:20pm	6:30pm
5:56pm	6:06pm
6:24pm	6:33pm	6:50pm	7:00pm
6:43pm	6:52pm	7:20pm	7:30pm
7:06pm	7:14pm	7:50pm	8:00pm

That provides a few more options, but either way, one is still standing at the station for 15+ minutes or walking for about 10 to catch the train after a few minute wait.  Let’s check with a little back tracking, what would it be like to catch something to Tigard and then jump the train from there?  Less time in the cold possibly?  What I got was this:

#76 Route	WES Southbound
Bridgeport	WES Station	Tigard	Wilsonville
5:08pm	5:25pm	5:44pm	6:00pm
5:38pm	5:56pm	6:14pm	6:30pm
6:14pm	6:30pm	6:44pm	7:00pm
6:47pm	7:01pm	7:14pm	7:30pm
		7:44pm	8:00pm

Definitely NOT a better scenario.  So I’m left with two options, both of which are frustrating at best.  I believe Target will be the prime option.  Tomorrow starts the adventure, so I’ll just get to see then.  Hopefully SMART is reliable.  :)

One other alternative that is left available to me, is to ride WES down from Beaverton and get off at Tualatin & jump the #76 up to Bridgeport.  What I didn’t realize is that SMART actually has service from the park & ride across the way from Bridgeport back to Wilsvonville.  Those times are as follows and could sync up well with the schedules above.

Bridgeport	Wilsonville
3:49p	4:18p
4:19p	4:48p
4:49p	5:18p
5:19p	5:48p
5:49p	6:18p
6:19p	6:48p
6:49p	7:21p
7:19p	7:50p
7:49p	8:18p

All in all, looks like it will be a rather complicated logistical exercise, but, no worries.  I’ve dealt with more complicated.  :)

Posted in: Public and Mass Transit Ramblings and Solutions , Other Transit Related Topics , Commuting  Tags: trimet, smart, cherriots, wes, wilsonville, commute, car-free

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