Quote:
Originally Posted by bvpcvm
That's a long trip. Per Google, driving from Pacific University to Pioneer Square is about 36 minutes. It's frustrating, because it feels like Portland builds LRT to the minimum standard possible, resulting in achingly slow travel. And frankly the SW corridor is where we should be putting any LRT money.
I'd love to see commuter trains down to Salem, out to Newberg>McMinnville, Forest Grove, Canby, etc. Beyond that, perhaps off topic, I know that high speed rail is sexy but honestly I'd rather see Amtrak reconfigured to get rid of long distance lines and concentrate on regional rail. Trains to Corvallis and Eugene and Longview and Hood River make sense; I don't think trains to San Francisco do, at least not as much.
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Also depends when you're calculating this trip. Google Maps tells me it's 35 minutes right now, at 11pm. Sunset Highway from Sylvan is notoriously slow during the day, 7 days a week. Is that extra 10 minutes worth an extra $30k investment on a vehicle and spending $50/week on gas?
On the other hand - I studied at Pacific, owned a car, and drove to downtown often. I would have preferred light rail, but the car incentive is there. Parking downtown is ridiculously cheap. But most places worth visiting these days aren't in downtown; they are in neighborhoods far from light rail. No one who values their time would take a leisure trip to Alberta Street for example using TriMet. The round-trip ride alone would take half the day. TriMet even acknowledges this as it integrates Uber to its mobile apps.