All posts tagged: Portland

Submission – Unofficial Map: Portland, Oregon Rail Network by Taylor Gibson

Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps

When Taylor sent through his aerial photo map of Portland the other day, he also submitted this very interesting isometric map of the city’s rail network (MAX, WES and streetcar). Tyler is a self-proclaimed “total newbie at making transit maps”, but this is definitely a pretty solid effort. Highly reminiscent of this isometric map of Stuttgart (Oct 2011, 5 stars), the 30-degree-angled route lines allow station labels to be set horizontally without clashing with each […]

Submission – Aerial Photo Transit Map of Portland, Oregon

comments 2
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps

Submitted to the Transit Maps Facebook page by Taylor Gibson. While nowhere near as complex as the New York system featured previously, it’s still an interesting look at a successful rail transit system. For those unfamiliar with Portland, the thicker lines (Yellow, Green, Blue and Red – shown here as pink for visual clarity, I think) are the MAX light rail, while the thinner aqua and lime green lines are the Portland Streetcar, which has […]

Photo – Official Map: Portland MAX Horizontal Strip Map

comment 1
Filed Under:
Official Maps

The newest rolling stock used on Portland’s MAX light rail (Siemens S70 cars, known as “Type 4”) has enough room above the doors to display a horizontal version of the system map. Types 1 through 3 don’t have this space, and instead display an unwieldy portrait-oriented version of the map that bears little resemblance to geographical reality. Interestingly, this map is not the same as the official system map found on TriMet’s website or ticket machines (despite sharing […]

Portland, Oregon: New Motor Coaches Replace Last Street Cars, February 26, 1950

Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps

Here’s an amazing full page ad that ran in The Oregonian on Thursday, February 23, 1950 to announce the end of an era in Portland. The last few remaining streetcar lines – to Council Crest, Willamette Heights and 23rd Avenue – were going to be replaced by “the very latest design in city transit equipment”, modern motor coaches. It’s interesting to compare the bulky, inefficient buses depicted here with their modern equivalents, especially in light […]

Unofficial Map: Portland MAX Light Rail – Super Mario 3 Style

Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Mash-Up Maps, Popular Culture, Unofficial Maps

Here’s the latest “Mario Map” from the incredibly prolific Dave Delisle (seriously, how much cool stuff can one guy pump out?). This one is of my home town of Portland, Oregon, and Dave actually enlisted my help in checking the accuracy of the route layouts and the spelling of the station names. Considering the ridiculous length of some of the station names in the system and the limitations of the 8-bit art style, Dave’s done […]

Photo – Official Map: Portland Streetcar Strip Map

Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps

A first look at the new in-car strip maps for Portland, Oregon’s streetcar system. With the opening of most of the eastside loop, there are now two lines: the original route is now the North/South (NS) line, and the new track is the Central (CL) line. Unfortunately, for a brand new service that the city desperately wants everyone to like and use, the design of this map is terribly dowdy and old fashioned. There’s some […]

Fantasy Map: DC Subway Map from “Leverage”

comment 1
Filed Under:
Fantasy Maps

Just good enough to pass for the real thing when fleetingly seen in the background of a TV show. The map uses real DC Metro station names, but they’re all in the wrong places. The “corporate identity” uses the colours from the old TriMet livery… which is kind of neat, seeing as the show is filmed in Portland, TriMet’s base of operations. In the show, I believe that the Washington Park MAX station (the only […]

Updated: Portland Unified Rail Map, September 2012

comments 4
Filed Under:
My Transit Maps, Unofficial Maps

Today is the end of an era in Portland, Oregon. TriMet, under budgetary stress, has done away with the much-loved Free Rail Zone, which allowed free travel by light rail and streetcar within the “Fareless Square” area of downtown Portland and the Lloyd Center. Not too long ago, Fareless Square also applied to buses in the same area, so the writing’s been on the wall for a while. At the same time, TriMet has also […]

Photo: New Portland MAX Light Rail Map!

Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps, Photography

Reporting live from the streets of Portland, Oregon, where I’ve just noticed a new map on the ticket machine at my downtown stop. These are being rolled out in preparation for the abolition of the Free Rail Zone (and ALL fare zones!) on September 1st, and I have to say that the removal of the old multi-colored zone rings is a great improvement. The poor old streetcar still gets short shrift (now being a grey […]

UPDATE: Portland MAX In-Car Map

comment 1
Filed Under:
Official Maps

Just as I post about the in-car maps on Portland, Oregon’s MAX trains, I notice that TriMet has just released a new version (pardon the bad cell phone photo; I was getting off the train as I snapped it!). The new map has two important changes from the previous one: JELD-WEN Field is correctly named (instead of the old PGE Park – showing exactly why commercial names on transit maps are a Bad Idea), and […]