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“If you ride to your neighborhood, you meet more people in your area, which feels like a big positive for community building.”

Bill R.

Where I live:

In North Portland.

Why I ride:

My daughter and I ride the bus every morning—we board in North Portland and hop out in NW Portland to bring her to school. Once she’s in class, I walk back to the MAX and take that to work in SW.

This daily ritual not only offers a convenient, cost-effective alternative to driving, it gives us a more enjoyable commute together—we’ve been doing this for four years and have created numerous “spotting” games (numbers, letters, colors, words) that have been both learning opportunities and great fun.

I then take the bus or MAX home at the end of my work day. I enjoy talking with neighbors and fellow commuters, interactions that simply would not be available if I were confined to a car.

What modes I use:

Buses mostly, MAX regularly, the Streetcar sometimes. Because I work downtown and have a pass, I appreciate all of the options that are available.

My favorite things to do while riding:

Talking with fellow passengers, eavesdropping and playing games with my daughter.

My insight:

I work with people who have opinions about the bus despite not having ridden regularly—or at all. I’ve been riding every day for years and the biggest challenge I have encountered is an occasional boring story. If you ride to your neighborhood, you meet more people in your area, which feels like a big positive for community building. (Plus, I know most of the people at my local dog park from my daily bus rides.)

The thing I like best about living in the Portland area:

I love the small bits of creativity that appear all over town—funny “lost” signs on telephone poles, tiny little “lending library” cabinets on residential streets, pickle bucket drummers and on and on. The city can seem like a giant art project sometimes and that inspires and amuses me to no end.

What I’d like to share about myself:

I’m a writer, so I look for inspiration everywhere—and I find a lot of it on TriMet.

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“The thing I like best about living in Portland? The people.”

Laura B.

Where I live:

In NE Portland.

Why I ride:

I ride TriMet everywhere! That is what I love about it. I can get out to school in Tigard, downtown or even IKEA if i’m feeling brave enough to juggle boxes of furniture! Since moving here from London last August, using TriMet every day has helped me learn my way around the city pretty quickly. I use the bus, MAX and Streetcar. I reckon TriMet could give Transport for London a run for it’s money! All that’s needed is a lick of red paint…

My favorite things to do while riding:

People-watching! I usually bring a book but more often than not get distracted by the interesting things going on around me.

The thing I like best about living in the Portland area:

The people.

My advice:

Approach your journey with an open mind! You never know the people you could meet or the weird and wonderful things you may see. (I’ve found it helps to turn off my music and take the number 15 bus— it’s the friendliest around!)

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Raymond B.

Why I ride:

I ride TriMet to avoid the problems and costs of a car.

“Most people spend 10-15 percent of their income on cars.”

I am a recovered car addict. I live in the Pearl District, and I use buses, MAX, and Portland Streetcar to get around.

My insight for non-riders:

People have no idea of how much they are spending on cars. Most people spend 10-15 percent of their income on cars, and that doesn’t count the hassles of car ownership—vandalism, finding and paying for parking, dings, getting it in for repairs.

My favorite things to do while riding:

Reading and checking email.

The thing I like best about living in the Portland area:

Public transportation.

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Jan M.

About me:

I’m a vendor at Saturday Market. I sell hand-bound non-adhesive blank books in 13 different sizes, with paper, cloth and leather covers. I make linoleum block designs which I use to create the prints on the paper covers, and I sell prints of those designs too. (My niche is “kick it across a soccer field” books.) I have two Maine Coon cats, and I’m proud to call Portland home.

The only part of the TriMet system that I haven’t used is the WES. To be honest, I have become a terrible car rider; they are too low to the ground and don’t have a signal to pull when I feel the need to get out!

Why I ride:

I retired from my position of Radioman First Class (RM1) in the Navy in 1993. I decided when I retired that if I was going to go into debt, it would be for an education, not a car or a house. I am so fortunate to have gone to school—I graduated from the Oregon College of Art and Craft—in a city with the TriMet system.

This is the only city that I have ever lived in that will allow you to work at a temp agency and not have a car. That is because TriMet can put you within blocks of any job. I know, because during the summers, I would temp at jobs all over the city, and I always arrived on time.

Last year I did a temp job in the industrial section of Beaverton and once again arrived on time by bus and MAX!

“To be honest, I have become a terrible car rider; they are too low to the ground and don’t have a signal to pull when I feel the need to get out!”

My favorite things to do while riding:

Read a book, catch up on my journal, and watch for changes that have happened in the city.

My story:

When I first started riding I would hear people saying “thank you” whenever they got off the bus. I had never heard that before on any other system in the states or overseas.
Over time, I began saying “thank you.” “Thank you for doing this job, for calling out streets and letting me know where to get off, for keeping your temper when cars and bikes get crazy, for continuing to drive in heat, cold and crazy rain, for delivering and picking me up 365 days a year! Thank you!”

The thing I like best about living in the Portland area:

Being able to live without the car payments, license costs, gas prices and car maintenance and still do everything I want to do and haul everything I need (although I won’t buy drywall again and bring it home on the bus again, I promise).

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