Portland Getting Around Portland
Getting Your Neighborhood’s Walk Score
When you’re thinking about visiting a place, one of the key questions is often, “What’s within walking distance?” Every hotel or hostel you check out is going to say it’s within “easy walking distance” of something, but you never quite know if they’re trying to sell you a bill of goods. Well, one website can help you figure out if what they’re telling you is the truth.
Walk Score is actually designed with real estate in mind - the idea is that you’re thinking of moving to a new neighborhood, and you plug in potential addresses to see what’s nearby. Some of it, therefore, isn’t really relevant to those who are just playing tourist - but much of it is very useful. Just to test it out, I put the address of BootsnAll headquarters into it, and found this map.
Some of it’s stuff I already knew - the Wild Oats two blocks away, the Acadia restaurant across the street, and Irving Park a couple of blocks in the other direction - but I didn’t know, for instance, that there’s a used bookstore nearby or an Ethiopian market not far from that.
Date: November 26th, 2007 |
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Portland Duck Tours
There are lots of ways to see Portland’s sights, including several which take advantage of the river running through the city’s center. One particular tour company not only shows you the sights from the river, they also take you up on land as well - in the same vehicle.
Portland Ducks Land and Water Tours offers tours that go from land right into the Willamette River and back out again in amphibious vehicles based on the old DUKW trucks used during World War II. There are several cities around the world which use such vehicles to ferry tourists around in a unique way, including Dublin, London, Singapore and Boston. Duck Tours turn amphibious vehicles from war transports into tourist attractions, although the ones used by Portland Ducks Land and Water Tours are modern Hydra Terra vehicles and are deemed “unsinkable” (at least by the company).
Each bus/boat in the Portland Ducks fleet can seat 46 passengers, and tours are offered three times a week on a regular basis. Private tours can be arranged as well - can you imagine your next company meeting taking a Duck Tour over lunch? The tours themselves begin at the Oregon Convention Center in SE Portland and go through downtown before driving straight into the Willamette River. The trip lasts around two hours, and if you’re thinking that a wintertime tour doesn’t sound fun (it rains here during the winter, after all), don’t worry - each vehicle has windows and heaters so trips can be fun - and dry! - year-round.
Date: November 5th, 2007 |
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Portland Notes: April 13, 2007
Sorry about the delay in posts - been out of town. Anyhow,
The picture at right is from a travel article the New York Times is running this weekend about 36 Hours in Portland. Highlights include Doug Fir, Portland Saturday Market and Portland Art Museum. All told it does a good job covering a quick trip to our Rose City.
Local baseball fans take note: The Portland Beavers open its first home stand at PGE Park TONIGHT!! A Beers of the World stand, better and better promotions and a bunch of other groovy things …
Date: April 13th, 2007 |
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Where the car is not king
The public transportation in Portland is so good, they’re talking about it in the UK!
If you thought political cross-dressing was a recent British phenomenon, you obviously haven’t been to Portland.
In Oregon they were ‘cross dressing’ as far back as the 1970’s when the Republican Governor, Tom McCall, took radical steps to prioritise public transport over roads, using the freeways levy to invest in the foundations of what is undoubtedly one of the most integrated and dynamic public transport provisions anywhere in the world.
Today, the city still invests its share of federal tax dollars into multiple modes of transport, and its …
Date: August 15th, 2006 |
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Get There Via Tri-Met
Taking public transport around Portland is popular for a couple of reasons - it’s cheap, it’s easy, and if you want to get around downtown, you’ll never have to worry about finding a place to park (now, if they can just run it all the way across the I-5 and 205 bridges…)
Tri-Met’s website has a nifty Get There Via Tri-Met function that allows you to save gas AND pocket change….while still getting in your workout. And who doesn’t like that?
Alt Portland has even incorporated them into her blog entries. Very cool.
Date: March 15th, 2006 |
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Portland Tram
Portland has long been recognized for its efforts in innovative public transportation, and the newest transit method is just another feather in the city’s cap. Well, kind of. Now that it’s finished, the Portland Aerial Tram is actually quite a striking addition to the skyline of the emerging South Waterfront district. During its construction, however, there were plenty of controversies along the way.
The Portland Aerial Tram, sometimes called the OHSU Tram or just simply the Tram, connects Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) on the hill with the South Waterfront neighborhood below. OHSU has expanded into the South Waterfront area, so most of the people using the tram on a regular basis are those who work, go to school or get treatment at the hospital complex. But even people who have no reason to ride the tram have found excuses to make the round-trip journey - the views from the car are spectacular.
The distance the tram covers is roughly 3,300 feet (about one kilometer), and the trip takes about three minutes to complete. Each car can carry up to 78 passengers, and a car leaves each station every five minutes. The tram’s lower terminal at South Waterfront connects with the Portland Streetcar, which provides easy access to downtown Portland. In addition to ferrying people up and down the hill in a new and interesting way, the Portland Aerial Tram is also innovative in environmental ways - for instance, the car which is traveling down is generating energy which is used to propel the car which is traveling up.
Date: November 12th, 2007 |
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Portland Notes: April 24, 2007
I just returned from a trip to San Diego. Apart from a few footnotes of nice places, it lacks much of the uniqueness of businesses which makes our town so great. I’m definitely happy to be a Portlander for almost two years running now! And now Portland Notes:
Portland’s big annual literary festival - known as Wordstock - has put out a call for writers for a first time short fiction competition. The winner receives a first prize of $1,000 and publication in the December 2007 issue of Portland Monthly magazine. The deadline is July 15 and the festival …
Date: April 24th, 2007 |
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Portland Notes: Feb. 23, 2007
The Portland Trail Blazers are on a two-game winning streak and the word playoffs is being mumbled by some. Catch them in action at their next home game tonight at 7pm against the Memphis Grizzlies.
200 parking spaces have opened up in downtown Portland.
Skiers take note - 50-70 inches of new snow could be on Mt. Hood from Sunday to Sunday
Portland’s streetcars, which some may not know are Czech-made, got a write up in The Prague Post. In it, they talk about the Rose City approaching Škoda Transportation Feb. 9 to supply a prototype for more streetcars.
Today …
Date: February 23rd, 2007 |
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Portland One of the Ten U.S. Cities Best Prepared for an Oil Crisis
Thanks to its excellent public transportation systems like the MAX, a reliance on bikes and other alternative ways to get around Portland, the city has been ranked #6 on a list of cities best prepared to deal with an oil crisis.
Commute-to-work data, regional public transport ridership, urban sprawl, street congestion, reliance on local food and wireless network availability/telecommute possibilities were all taken into consideration.
Ten U.S. Cities Best Prepared for an Oil Crisis
Date: April 12th, 2006 |
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How to Get Around Portland by Bike
If you want to get around Portland like the locals do - rent a bike! One of the most bike friendly cities in the country, Portland has more than 200 miles of bikeways, which are bicycle lanes, boulevards, and multi-use trails. More than half of Portland residents own a bicycle and an estimated 5% of all trips in the city are taken on bikes.
Date: August 1st, 2005 |
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