C-TRAN – public transportation from Portland to Vancouver

TriMetiquette reader Ambassador Jules writes:

“I have a friend who will soon be working at the VA hospital in Vancouver, WA and wants to use public Transportation. I’ve also had this same question when wanting to visit family up there.

How do you get from downtown Portland to the ‘Couve? I’ve seen the C-Tran buses. Do they take TriMet passes? Where do you find the schedule and route info?”

Good questions! First of all (for anyone who doesn’t know), C-TRAN is Vancouver’s public transportation system. They have three Transit Centers:

• Fisher’s Landing Transit Center (SE 164th Avenue and SE Cascade Park Drive)
• 99th Street Transit Center at Stockford Village (Hazel Dell)
• Vancouver Mall Transit Center (Van Mall Drive, north parking lot next to Mervyn’s)

Along with five additional park & ride locations, which you can see on the C-TRAN Commuter Map.

The C-TRAN fare prices are as follows:

Yes, you CAN use TriMet fare to pay for C-TRAN fare.  The way it works is like this:

• If you have a 2-zone TriMet fare pass, you pay $0.50 & use that ticket for a C-TRAN All-Zone pass.
• If you have an all-zone TriMet fare pass, you do not need to pay anything additional for a C-TRAN All-Zone pass

You are also able to do this the other way around, meaning: you can use your C-TRAN fare pass to ride TriMet.  Here’s the breakdown:

• If you have an Adult C (1-Zone Adult) pass, you pay $.0.50 & use that ticket for a 2-zone TriMet ticket
• If you have an Adult C (1-Zone Adult) pass, you pay $0.80 & use that ticket for an all-zone TriMet ticket
• If you have a C-Zone Day Pass, you pay $1.25 & use that ticket for an all-day TriMet ticket

Now, to specifically address your question: yes, there are C-TRAN buses that run from downtown to near the Southwest Washington Medical Center.  The routes your friend would like to specifically use in order to go to that Vancouver hospital would be either the #37 – Highway 99 & Mill Plain bus line or the #39 – Clark College / Medical Center bus line.  The best way to get to the Southwest Washington Medical Center from downtown Portland would be:

• Take the #164 – Fisher’s Landing Express to the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center
• Board the #37 – Highway 99 & Mill Plain bus line, which takes you to your stop

Or, you could also go this way:

• Take the #105 – I-5 Express bus to downtown Vancouver
• Board the #39 – Clark College / Medical Center bus line to your stop

Hope that answers your question & gives you a nice little primer on how C-TRAN works.

Oregon Street Talk dramatically calls for abolishment of TriMet

Oregon Street Talk is back at it again, this time calling for the abolishment of TriMet. While the post is certainly a long one, a couple of things stood out to me:

• “Now tell me, TriMet has been hiring hundreds of new operators (seen those “FIND your calling” ads?)”

Hundreds? Really? Last time I checked the webpage which that ad tells you to go to, there aren’t any open job positions for new operators. Heck, there’s only one job opening right now. And I keep an eye out on the page and there have been like, five open positions in the last two / three months. Hundreds of new operators? Just because there’s an ad telling people to check out there careers page doesn’t mean they’re hiring hundreds of bus & rail operators.

• “In addition to the continuing holy war on the Fareless Square…”

You’re really going to go there?

• “… spending an embarrasingly [sic] colossal amount of money on expensive toys such as the MAX Green Line light rail…”

I wouldn’t characterize the MAX Green Line as being an “expensive toy”, rather, I see it as an expansion to bring public transportation to more Portland citizens. With rising gas prices, do you think more people would use accessible public transportation? And why limit the range of public transportation you serve in the face of rising gas prices? The Green Line makes light-rail transportation possible for a wider segment of Portland – why is this a bad thing?

• “The proposed fare increase is unnecessary, and we ought not to tolerate the mismanagement and irresponsible spending spree any further.”

Is TriMet immune to rising gas prices? Do they still pay the $1.00 / gallon luxury we had back in the day?

• “TriMet has not even considered cutting down on excessive services (such as 4-Division and 8-Jackson Park running every 3-5 minutes in the morning when buses are half empty)”

Both of those bus lines are labeled as being “Frequent Service” ones. Simply put, they’ve been seen as being ones which service a higher amount of riders compared to other lines. While you’re close with the 4-Division line as running every 3 – 5 minutes in the morning (this is the case when the morning commute is the busiest, which according to the bus schedule only really happens between 7 – 7:30), the 8-Jackson Park line doesn’t come close to a “3-5 minute” schedule. I would recommend emailing TriMet and letting them know about this so they can factor that in when they change bus line schedules in the future.

• “Oh, by the way, there probably is something dirty going on between TriMet and Stacy & Witbeck.”

Huh? Where did this come from? Well, the last time I checked, the only ‘dirtiness’ that is happening is Stacy & Witbeck employees getting a little dirty by doing construction the Portland Mall & Commuter Rail. Why must we assume something ‘dirty’ is happening because of this?

I understand your want to present some negative opinions, but many of them are just silly.

Get your discounted Rose Festival tickets

Planning using Trimet to attend the Starlight Parade (May 31) or the Grand Floral Parade (June 7)?  TriMet has discounted MAX & bus all-day tickets for these two days only!  You can buy them online, at TriMet’s ticket office located at the Pioneer Courthouse Square or at any local Freddies, Albertsons or Safeway stores.

TriMet planning on raising fares either 20 or 25 cents in September

Uh oh – looks like another fare increase is going to hit around September. The rising fare cost is due to “record-high” diesel prices.

Originally, TriMet was only going to bump up the fare prices a nickel… but with this gas crisis that’s happening around the nation, that $.05 has turned into either an increase of $0.20 or $0.25.

TriMet has the lowdown in two downloadable PDFs about what the prices would look like in September for either option. Those can be found here: twenty-cent option & twenty-five cent option.

TriMetiquette reader Kevin shares his opinion:

“Why won’t Tri-Met do more to enforce fares and transit rules such as the smoking ban before considering huge fare increases? It makes no sense at all.”

What do you all think? I think it’s quite an increase… a little shocking, but I guess with diesel prices being what they are, they do need to offset that rising cost somehow. What they need, with this, is an increased presence of fare inspectors (specifically on the MAX) to make sure riders are purchasing fares.

Turn that music down, please

This morning on the MAX Blue Line I noticed that there was a guy listening to music several seats away from me. I knew this not because I saw him wearing headphones, but because I could hear his music.

Listen – listening to music while on public transportation is a good way to help kill the time. I sometimes listen to Abba, Paramore or English Premier League / Italian Serie A podcasts when on the bus or MAX. But listening to it at a level that others around you can plainly hear what you’re hearing is just downright disrespectful.

That’s the beauty of headphones – you’re able to listen to music and keep it at a level which only lets you listen to it.  It seems like some individuals need to have a lesson in not blasting their ears out (both the health issue related to it and the annoyance issue).