Seattle or Portland, OR: Which city has the best public transit? Best for pedestrians? (Bellevue: condo, transfer)

[Rwarky]

From your experiences or opinion, which city, Seattle or Portland, has the best public transportation? Which of these two cities is the most pedestrian friendly, even beyond downtown?

[FoxyKnox]

Portland, hands down. From experience and opinion. Seattle is behind, but trying to catch up with their new light-rail system near the airport. Portland's MAX is amazing. And Portland is bike and pedestrian friendly all over (not just downtown). Seattle is ok in that regard, but not nearly as much as Portland.

[argo69]

Portland is hands down more pedestrian friendly, with better public transit and a more developed bike-culture than Seattle. This isn't an arguable point really...even people who prefer Seattle would readily admit Portland is years ahead of us in this regard.

That said, Seattle is do-able sans car if you live directly adjacent to downtown and work downtown (what I do). Just about any other setup will be horribly inconvenient with multiple bus transfers and lots of time spent waiting for a bus. Also, unlike Portland the buses only run every half hour after 7pm on weekdays and on Sundays which further slows down getting around. We're moving in the right direction but Seattle is still a "car city" for the most part, more than Portland or San Francisco certainly.

There is something a little ironic in the fact that the cost of living in Portland is 11.5% cheaper than Seattle (see Bert Sperling's Places Rated website) and Chicago 7.5% cheaper and both have much more advanced public transit systems than Seattle does. Seattle is more expensive PLUS most people will feel the need to own a car on top of the already higher COL expenses...

[5chevin5]

Yes , Portland is better for both, but the question is "Where you walking too?"
Though Seattle may be a town that you have to drive too, just to walk around... I would prefer what you walk too and from in Seattle to Portland.
Taking the Max out to Gresham from downtown may be something PDX can brag about....but once you get to Gresham...you just want to come back. Seattles neighborhoods have more identity and reason to walk there so even downtown is not the only place to saunter about....

5

[Condorll]

Originally Posted by Rwarky

From your experiences or opinion, which city, Seattle or Portland, has the best public transportation? Which of these two cities is the most pedestrian friendly, even beyond downtown?

Definately Portland. However, is it worth the Oregon State Income tax you will be paying there? Washington State has no income tax.

[irrational exuberance]

Originally Posted by Condorll

Definately Portland. However, is it worth the Oregon State Income tax you will be paying there? Washington State has no income tax.

Hello Cordorll, I havent forgot about you, by time I got back to respond to our good post discussion it was closed out. And to touch on that knowledge is power, having the knowledge/education over people who dont puts a person miles ahead if they can utilize and apply it.......So while things look good on paper I learn best by doing.

[larrykcragun]

Portland, hands down.

[John Shaft]

Supposedly Portland's.

But over Thanksgiving, I took a bus from the Seattle Library out to somewhere around Bellevue, and it was less than 30 minutes...maybe even closer to 20 mins. $2.50 fare.

On the Max, it would take at least as long to go from downtown Portland out to Hillsboro, probably longer. Not sure of the fare... $2.05 maybe? And a zillion stops in between.

Seemed like the bus was the faster method. Maybe not as "glamorous" as light rail, but isn't the point of mass transit to get people to places quickly?

[scirocco22]

Originally Posted by John Shaft

Supposedly Portland's.

But over Thanksgiving, I took a bus from the Seattle Library out to somewhere around Bellevue, and it was less than 30 minutes...maybe even closer to 20 mins. $2.50 fare.

On the Max, it would take at least as long to go from downtown Portland out to Hillsboro, probably longer. Not sure of the fare... $2.05 maybe? And a zillion stops in between.

Seemed like the bus was the faster method. Maybe not as "glamorous" as light rail, but isn't the point of mass transit to get people to places quickly?

I know a lot of you locals know this but for those of you wondering about the future of transportation in the Seattle area, this project is monumental in my opinion:

Bellevue-Redmond RapidRide (http://transit.metrokc.gov/up/archives/2008/belred-rr-0108.html - broken link)

Personally, I've been an advocate of this type of service even over light-rail. It's fast, efficient, flexible, and doesn't require the capital expenditure that rail requires.

It's being proposed not only between Bellevue and Redmond on the eastside but on Aurora Avenue North, Ballard/Uptown, Pacific Highway South, and West Seattle as well.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by argo69

Portland is hands down more pedestrian friendly, with better public transit and a more developed bike-culture than Seattle. This isn't an arguable point really...even people who prefer Seattle would readily admit Portland is years ahead of us in this regard.

That said, Seattle is do-able sans car if you live directly adjacent to downtown and work downtown (what I do). Just about any other setup will be horribly inconvenient with multiple bus transfers and lots of time spent waiting for a bus. Also, unlike Portland the buses only run every half hour after 7pm on weekdays and on Sundays which further slows down getting around. We're moving in the right direction but Seattle is still a "car city" for the most part, more than Portland or San Francisco certainly.

There is something a little ironic in the fact that the cost of living in Portland is 11.5% cheaper than Seattle (see Bert Sperling's Places Rated website) and Chicago 7.5% cheaper and both have much more advanced public transit systems than Seattle does. Seattle is more expensive PLUS most people will feel the need to own a car on top of the already higher COL expenses...

Interesting statistics!