|
Getting around
|
|
|
Although you can see much of the compact city center on
foot
, or along the city's impressive, extensive network of
cycling
paths and trails, Portland also has an excellent public transit network. Portland's
light rail system
, Metropolitan Area Express (MAX), moves tourists around central downtown and Old Town, and carries commuters over the river to the eastern suburbs, also tunneling under Washington Park and the zoo. The Tri-Met
bus system
is based at the downtown
transit mall
along Fifth Avenue (southbound) and Sixth Avenue (northbound). Each bus shelter is labeled with a symbol - brown beaver, blue snowflake and so on - serving as a code for a block of bus routes in a particular area of the city. Although excellent for transportation, the mall is not a place to linger: it's well-known as a drug-dealing zone. The
Tri-Met Info Bureau
on Pioneer Courthouse Square (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm; tel 503/238-7433, for disabled customers tel 503/238-4952,
) offers free transit maps and sells all-zone day tickets ($4), "Quik Tik" six-hour passes ($3), books of ten tickets ($11.50), and monthly passes ($45) with special student rates ($16). Buses and MAX trains are
free
in the downtown zone - "Fareless Square" - edged by the Willamette to the east, Irving Street to the north, and I-405 to the south and west. Outside here, fares are between $1.05 and $1.55 - pay the bus driver exact change;
transfers
for onward travel within the same zone (there are three fare zones altogether) are free.
The brightly colored cars of the new
Portland Streetcar
line ply a tourist-oriented route between Portland State University and Northwest Portland, covering most downtown sights on NW and SW 10th and 11th streets. Fares are free inside Fareless Square, otherwise $1.25 (
). Portland's
taxis
don't stop in the street; you'll have to either get one at a hotel or call (Broadway Cabs tel 503/227-1234, Portland Taxi Co tel 503/256-5400). Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
|
United States,
|