Portland is a great city to visit to see a large variety of small-scale transportation, including facilities and accommodations for non-motorized and human-powered transportation, or out of the ordinary modes like an aerial tramway (also called a cable car). The photos are from my trip to the Pacific Northwest in April 2010.
You pay to go up. It’s free to come down.
Portland also has traditional transportation modes like streetcars and light rail.
What to see and ride in Portland (I rode or saw each of these):
- TriMet MAX (Metropolitan Area Express)
- Portland Streetcar
- Portland Aerial Tram
- Bikeways, including bike lanes, marked shared lanes, bike boulevards (now called neighborhood greenways), and cycletracks
- Bike parking
- Lift and moveable bridges – the Steel Bridge carries light rail, railroad, automobiles, pedestrians, and bicyclists; the Hawthorne is the most popular bridge for bicyclists. I made sure to cross over the Broadway, Hawthorne, Steel, and Burnside bridges. I missed crossing on the Morrison bridge. I guess I will have to take another trip!
- Bus – This is standard fare, nothing unique about it in Portland compared to other cities.
Bicycles make up 21% of all traffic on the Hawthorne Bridge. See the rest of my “Transportation in Portland” photos.