| Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Info | |||
| Locale | Portland, Oregon, United States | ||
| Transit type | Light rail | ||
| Number of lines | 4 | ||
| Number of stations | 85 | ||
| Daily ridership | 126,800[1] (avg. weekday boardings) | ||
| Operation | |||
| Began operation | September 5, 1986 | ||
| Operator(s) | TriMet | ||
| Number of vehicles | 127 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Standard gauge | ||
| Minimum radius of curvature | 82 feet (25 m) | ||
| Electrification | 750 V DC, overhead wires | ||
| Average speed | 21.2 mph (34.1 km/h) (including stops)[2] | ||
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Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) is a light rail system in the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is operated by TriMet and currently has four lines: Blue, Green, Red and Yellow, with an Orange line currently under construction.
The number of weekday boardings on the MAX system averages between about 123,000 and 130,000 per day, depending on the time of year, but was 126,800 per day (weekdays) for the 12-month period from July 2010 through June 2011 (TriMet's Fiscal Year 2011)[1] and has been as high as 134,300 per day in a given month.[3] Total MAX ridership in FY2011 was 41.2 million.[1] Since its inception about $3 billion has been invested in light rail in Portland (as of 2004).[4]
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In the mid-1970s, TriMet (or Tri-Met, as it was known until 2002) began a study for light rail using funds intended for the cancelled Mount Hood Freeway. The light rail project was known as the Banfield Light Rail Project, named for the freeway (I-84) that part of the alignment followed. The TriMet board approved the project in September 1978.[5] Gresham officials and businesses initially rejected the plans until a slight routing change was agreed to.
Construction of the 15-mile (24 km) route started in 1982,[6] and the system opened on September 5, 1986.[7] Of the project's total cost of $214 million, 83 percent was funded by the federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration (now known as the Federal Transit Administration).[8] Less than two months before the opening, TriMet adopted the name Metropolitan Area Express, or MAX, for the new system following an employee contest.[9][10]
As planning of a second light rail line, to the west side, gained momentum in the late 1980s, the MAX line came to be referred to as the Eastside MAX line, so as to distinguish it from the Westside MAX project. The 18-mile (29 km) Westside line, to Beaverton and Hillsboro, began construction in 1993 and opened in 1998. Except for a few rush-hour trips, all trips on the now-two light rail lines were connected in downtown. The resulting 33-mile (53 km) east-west line has always been operated as a single, through route, and it became known as the Blue Line in 2001, after TriMet adopted color designations for its separate light rail routes.[11]
In parts of the MAX system, particularly in central Portland and Hillsboro, MAX trains run on surface streets. Except for on the Portland Transit Mall, trains run in reserved lanes closed to other motorized vehicles. On the Transit Mall, trains operate on the same lanes as TriMet buses (although MAX trains have traffic priority). Elsewhere, MAX runs within its own exclusive right-of-way, in street medians, alongside freeways, and on former freight railroad lines.
Where the tracks run along a street, intersections are generally controlled by traffic signals which give trains preemption. Where the tracks occupy a completely separate right-of-way, level crossings are protected by automatic crossing gates giving trains the right-of-way. A three-mile (4.8 km) section consists of two tunnels below Washington Park. While this section has only one station, it is 260 feet (79 m) below ground level, making it the deepest transit station in North America[12] and one of the deepest in the world.
Because of Portland's relatively small 200-foot (61 m) downtown blocks, trains operate with only one or two cars. The MAX cars are about 90 feet (27.4 m) long, so a stopped train consisting of more than two cars would block intersections. All service is typically operated with two-car trains, except for certain trips during late-night hours. During the first few years of Red Line and Yellow Line service, those lines normally used single cars on a portion of their service, but as ridership has grown and additional light rail cars have been acquired, those lines now normally use all two-car trains. The 2009-introduced MAX Mall Shuttle, which provided supplementary service along the Portland Transit Mall on weekday afternoons only, normally always used a single car;[13] it was discontinued in June 2011.[14]
TriMet runs four MAX lines, each designated by a color. The MAX system was built in a series of five separate projects, and each line runs over one or more of the previously opened segments. The use of colors to distinguish the separately operated routes was first adopted in 2000[11] and brought into use in 2001. The 2004-opened Yellow Line originally followed the same routing in downtown Portland as the Red and Blue lines, along First Avenue, Morrison Street and Yamhill Street, but it was shifted to a new alignment along the Portland Transit Mall on August 30, 2009, introducing light rail service along the Mall.[13][15] The Green Line began serving the Mall on September 12, 2009.[13]
The system currently has a total of 85 stations. 51 stations are served by the Blue Line, 28 stations by the Green Line, 29 by the Red Line, and 22 by the Yellow Line, with 38 stations served by two or more lines and 8 by three. The system's central stations are at Pioneer Courthouse Square, on the Portland Transit Mall. These stops, on three sides of the square, are near the center of the Free Rail Zone (formerly known as Fareless Square), a section in and around downtown Portland in which all MAX and Portland Streetcar rides are zero-fare (free). All trains also connect at the Rose Quarter.
The trains operate on direct current and utilize two voltages, 750V DC nominal on sections west of NE 9th Avenue & Holladay Street and 825V DC nominal on the remainder. The two systems are electrically isolated.[16]
Trains run every 15 minutes from early in the morning until late at night, even on weekends. The Blue Line runs every 10 minutes during rush hour. Headways between trains are shorter in the central section of the system, where lines overlap. Actual schedules vary by location and time of day. At many stations, a live readerboard shows the destination and time-to-arrival of the next several trains, using data gathered by a vehicle tracking system.
In addition to regular MAX service, the Portland Vintage Trolley runs along the Portland Mall MAX tracks on some Sundays, serving the same stops. From 1991 until 2009, the vintage trolley service followed a section of the original MAX line, between the Galleria/Library stations and Lloyd Center, but in September 2009 the service moved to the newly opened MAX alignment along the transit mall, running from Union Station to Portland State University.[17][13]
| Line Name | Opened | Stations | Length | Termini | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Line | 1986 | 51 | 32.7 mi (52.6 km) | Hillsboro – City Center – Gresham | |
| Green Line | 2009 | 28 | 14.1 mi (22.7 km) | Clackamas – City Center – Portland State University | |
| Red Line | 2001 | 29 | 25.5 mi (41 km) | Airport – City Center – Beaverton TC | |
| Yellow Line | 2004 | 22 | 7.8 mi (12.6 km) | Expo Center – City Center – Portland State University |
| Project Name | Opened | Line(s) | Section | Stations | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banfield-Burnside (Eastside) | September 5, 1986 | Portions of: All lines |
Galleria/SW 10th Avenue – Cleveland Avenue | 30 | 15.1 mi (24.3 km) |
| Westside | September 12, 1998 (portion opened on August 29, 1997) |
Portions of: Blue and Red |
Hatfield Government Center – Library/SW 9th Avenue | 20 | 17.6 mi (28.3 km) |
| Airport | September 10, 2001 | A portion of: Red |
Gateway TC – Airport | 4 | 5.6 mi (9.0 km) |
| Interstate | May 1, 2004 | A portion of: Yellow |
Steel Bridge east approach – Expo Center | 10 | 5.8 mi (9.3 km) |
| Portland Transit Mall | August 30, 2009 | A portion of: Green and Yellow |
Steel Bridge west approach – PSU | 12 (6 per direction) | 1.8 mi (2.9 km) |
| I-205 | September 12, 2009 |
A portion of: Green |
Gateway TC – Clackamas Town Center | 8 | 6.5 mi (10.5 km) |
| Totals | 85 | 52.4 mi (84.3 km) | |||
There are currently four models of MAX cars, designated by TriMet as "Type 1", "Type 2" and so on.
The Type 1 cars were manufactured by Bombardier Corporation and featured a raised floor with steps at the doors. The first car was completed at the factory in late 1983[18] and arrived in Portland in 1984.[19]
With the partial opening of Westside MAX in 1997, new cars made by Siemens and called Type 2 by TriMet were introduced. These cars have a low-floor design, a first for light rail cars in North America,[20][21] digital readerboards and a slightly more open floor plan. The floor is nearly level with the platforms, and small ramps called "bridge plates" extend (on request) from two of the four doors, enabling passengers in wheelchairs to roll on and off of the car easily. These permitted the elimination of wheelchair lifts that had been located at every station and were time-consuming to use.[22] Type 1 cars are now always paired with a Type 2 or 3 car so that each train is wheelchair-accessible.
The first low-floor light rail car was delivered in 1996[23] and the type was first used in service on August 31, 1997.[22] The new cars also came equipped with air-conditioning, a feature originally lacking from the Type 1 cars,[20] but TriMet later retrofitted air-conditioning to all of the older MAX cars, in 1997-98. The initial order of 39 Type 2 cars was expanded, in stages, eventually to a total of 52 cars.[24]
Some of the later models of light rail cars had automatic passenger counters retrofitted; in these models, they are on the floor of the doorways.
The Type 3 cars are essentially identical to the Type 2 cars in design, but have TriMet's new paint scheme. They began to enter service in fall 2003, but were not in use in large numbers until the opening of the Interstate Avenue MAX line in 2004, which was the reason for their acquisition. They include automatic passenger counters which are located above the doorways, using photoelectric sensors.
In 2001-02, TriMet modified the interior of the Type 2 cars to add space for bicycles. Eight seats per car were removed and replaced—in four places per car—with hooks from which a bicycle can be hung.[25] The Type 3 cars carried this newer layout as built.
Twenty-two new Siemens S70 vehicles, designated Type 4 cars, have been purchased in conjunction with the I-205 and Portland Mall MAX projects. They feature a more streamlined design than previous models, have more seating and are lighter in weight and therefore more energy-efficient. At about 95 feet (28.96 m) long, they are about three feet longer than Type 2 and Type 3 cars, which were 92 feet (28.04 m).[26] The Type 4 MAX cars began to enter service in August 2009.[27] All four different types of cars are used on all four MAX lines.
The Type 1, 2 and 3 cars have destination signs of the roll-type, whereas the signs in the Type 4 cars are LED-type.[13] In the rollsigns, the designated route color (blue, green, red or yellow) is shown as a colored background under white (or black) text in the display, while in the LED signs the route color is indicated by a colored square at the left end of the display, and all text is orange lettering against a black background.
| Designation | Car numbers | Manufacturer | Model No. | First used | No. of Seats/ Overall Capacity |
Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type 1 | 101-126 | Bombardier | none | 1986 | 76/166 | 26 |
| Type 2 | 201-252 | Siemens | SD660 | 1997 | 64/166 | 52 |
| Type 3 | 301-327 | Siemens | SD660 | 2003 | 64/166 | 27 |
| Type 4 | 401-422 | Siemens | S70 | 2009 | 68/172[26] | 22 |
Notes on capacities:
MAX uses a proof-of-payment system; riders must carry a receipt at all times. Fares are purchased before boarding, and receipt is retained as proof of paid fare. Passengers must board the train before the receipt's expiration, and are allowed to ride past the time on the receipt, provided the train was boarded before the expiration time. Receipts are good for 2 hours after purchase, and can be used an unlimited number of times, for travel in any direction, as well as for buses, Portland Streetcar, and C-Tran. MAX fares (as of October 22, 2011) are:
Transfer receipts from buses and tickets purchased on the Portland Streetcar are also valid fare on MAX, provided they cover the zones through which the MAX trip is being made and have not expired before boarding. As noted above, MAX tickets are also valid on bus routes, under the same conditions.
Riding is free in the Free Rail Zone which includes all of downtown and part of the Lloyd Center area.[29]
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