A Letter in the Sun
Strange that, after the resounding NO vote in the recent plebiscite, the Vancouver Sun has been giving ink to some very pro LRT writers, in both the Op-Ed section and the Letters To The Editor Section.
Saturday, July 18: Portland LRT grounded in reality
Vancouver Sun July 17, 2015
Letter writer Ray Arnoldai??i??s decision to vote No in our recent transit plebiscite was due in part to his transit experiences in Portland (pictured), Seattle, and San Francisco, where, he says, ground-level light rail has proven to be immensely cheaper and equally, if not more, efficient than subways, more effective in building community cohesion, and less detrimental to traffic control and business than our so-called experts claim would be the case here.Photograph by: Handout Ric Ernst, PNG
One of the fun things about visiting Portland is how easy it is to navigate around the city on the light rail transit system.
No walking up and down stairs or riding elevators or escalators to elevated or underground stations. Simply wait at a street-level transit stop and step on board.
While on board, you can check out the neighbourhoods you are passing through or hop off to visit an interesting store or restaurant you just passed. Itai??i??s a more civilized and enjoyable experience than riding the Canada Line and at a cost of $40 million per km to build compared with subways at $250 million per km, itai??i??s clear Portlandai??i??s politicians and administrators have made more enlightened and responsible decisions for their taxpayers than ours have and were going to make for us.
My decision to vote No in our recent referendum was due in part to the transit experiences I have had in Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco, where ground level light rail has proven to be immensely cheaper and equally, if not more, efficient than subways, more effective in building community cohesion, and less detrimental to traffic control and business than our so-called experts claim would be the case here.
Congratulations No voters ai??i?? you recognized incompetence at work and responded accordingly.
Ray Arnold, Richmond
Portland MAX LRT
Fact file
| 2A?-Hour Ticket | 1-Day Pass | 7-Day Pass | 14-Day Pass | 30-Day/ 1-Month Pass ai??i?? |
1-Year Pass ai??? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult | $2.50 | $5 | $26 | $51 | $100 | $1,100 |
| Honored Citizen (ages 65+/disabled/medicare) |
$1 | $2 | $7 | $13.50 | $26 | $286 |
| Youth (ages 7ai??i??17 or high school/GED students) |
$1.25 | $2.50 | $7.50 | $14.50 | $28 | $308 |
| Children (ages 0ai??i??7) |
Free when accompanied by fare-paying passenger | |||||
Notes:
|
||||||
| Locale | Portland metropolitan area, Oregon |
|---|---|
| Transit type | Light rail |
| Number of lines | 4 |
| Number of stations | 87 |
| Daily ridership | 118,400 (avg. weekday boardings, FY2014) |
| Annual ridership | 38.23 million (boardings, FY2014) |
| Website | MAX Light Rail |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | September 5, 1986 |
| Operator(s) | TriMet |
| Number of vehicles | 127 |
| Technical | |
| System length | 52Ai??mi (83.7Ai??km) |
| Track gauge | 4Ai??ftAi??8Ai??1a?i??2Ai??in (1,435Ai??mm) (standard gauge |
The Charlotte streetcar opened.