Category Archives: General Transportation

Fryslân to the MAX

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Riding a bike in the suburbs around Portland is much easier than most people expect.  The trickiest part of cycling for transportation in this area is getting from some of the southerly and westerly suburbs into downtown Portland.  Because of topographical limitations, there are only a few options and most of those are clogged with freeways.

One of the best options is to get on one of TriMet’s MAX lines and ride in.  The trains run frequently and take you right to the heart of downtown.  There’s even bike parking inside the train cars!

Most of the trains (including the newest trains) have four hanging bike spaces per car.  Often this is more than enough, although during commuting hours they do fill up quickly (I’m hoping the Beaverton Bike & Ride will help with that).  Assuming that there’s an open space, it’s pretty simple to hang up your bike, take a seat, and enjoy the ride into Portland.

In the first week of owning the Fryslân I rode it to the MAX line and hopped on, expecting this experience.  Unfortunately I found out that the bike was a bit longer than the parking space on the MAX.  Hanging by the front tire, the rear fender scraped and jammed against the floor and I had to stand the whole time to hold the bike in place.

I quickly realized that hanging it by the rear tire allowed for the front tire to turn to the side, keeping it off the ground.  This solved part of the parking problem (at least the bike would hang there on its own), but the solution was far from perfect.

Tipped to the side, the handlebars either get in the way of the train’s doors or in the way of passengers’ legs as they boarded the train.  It also just looks sloppy.  One of the things I like about the Fryslân is its elegant aesthetic, and having it haphazardly tossed onto the bike rack like this doesn’t pay the bike the respect I feel it deserves.

Even with all these draw backs, this was the only option I was aware of for quite some time.  There were dozens of trips with an askew front tire until one day when stepped on the MAX, hung up my bike, and it slid right into place – vertical front tire and everything.

I took a step back a examined the situation in more detail.  Drawing on memory and using the top of my head as a measuring tape, I realized that the train I was on had taller bike parking spaces than most others.  I later found out that a number of the newer MAX lines have these taller spaces.  Was this done on purpose? I’m not sure, but I’d like to thank TriMet for the change, be it intentional or accidental.

Newer train cars don’t run often on the lines I frequently travel, but I’m hoping that as the MAX fleet ages and is slowly replaced we’ll see more and more of these larger spots.

The taller parking space may cause some trouble for shorter riders, but the trains also have folding seats that can be moved to accommodate wheelchairs.  The space the seats create (if not in use by a wheelchair) can be used for a bicycle easily enough.  That solution isn’t officially sanctioned by TriMet, but I can’t imagine them having too much of a problem with your bike being parked there if you physically can’t reach the hanging bike space.  You would obviously need to sufficiently secure the bike, and would need to yield the space if someone in a wheelchair comes on board.

After finding out about these taller spots, I was starting to feel a bit disappointed whenever one of the older trains would pull up in front of me.  Contorting the Fryslân into a smaller space was even more frustrating when I knew there was better parking out there somewhere.  That all changed when I boarded one older train and, once again, I hung up my bike and – ta-da! – it slid right into place.

This really confused me because I could see that the hook for the bike was in the lower position, much closer to the top of my head than on the newer cars.

It turns out I had accidentally stumbled on a better solution than an askew tire: turn the front tire around a full 180 degrees!  The frame geometry of the Fryslân causes the front tire to sit much closer to the frame when it’s turned completely around.

The switch is a bit tough to see in the picture on the left, since the handlebars are not visible, but compare it to the photos above and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit I didn’t think of this sooner and only found it worked by accident.  But the end result is still the same and now I can fit the Fryslân on the MAX with no trouble.  I even think that, with the front tire flipped around, I could fit the Fryslân on the bike spaces on the front of TriMet’s buses!  If I ever need to give that a try, I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Transportation in Difficult Circumstances

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The trouble in Libya and elsewhere has many people in the US worried about gas prices. That got me to thinking: if there were a fuel shortage, not much in my life would change. My bicycle provides reliable transportation without needing constant refueling or maintenance. If there were a 70s-style fuel crisis, I’d keep biking to work and the grocery store just like I do now.

Two years ago I experienced a snowstorm that stopped motor vehicle traffic nearly everywhere in Portland.  Traffic became so snarled that people abandoned their cars right in the street, hoping they could come recover their cars after the snow melted, but before a tow truck came by.  Getting around in that weather was no trouble on a bike though.  I was content to ride by all the idling, snow-covered cars on my bicycle.  I even was able to help a woman push her stuck car off some train tracks, and helped another gentleman replace a dead battery in his car.

A more recent, and unfortunately very tragic, event that demonstrates the great power and flexibility that comes with having a bike is the earthquake in Japan.  The Urban Country has an article on how the bicycle is playing an important role for people stranded without the use of cars or trains.

And here’s a video showing the power of bicycles to help people with a difficult personal circumstance: limited physical mobility.  The freedom, confidence, and independence that bicycles provide the people in the video can’t be matched by any other form of transport.

TriMet’s New Bike & Ride

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On the way to the Tweed Ride this past weekend, I noticed a new temporary chain link fence around some grass at the Beaverton Transit Center (TC). It wasn’t immediately apparently at the time, but after reading an article on BikePortland I realize that the fence was around the site of TriMet’s new Bike & Ride!

I was very jealous last year when the Sunset TC received their first take on this type of project.  Although the I probably won’t park at the Beaverton Bike & Ride myself (I usually ride there from Tigard, and then want to have my bike in Portland as well), I’m hoping that some commuters will choose to ride to the Beaverton TC, leave their bike parked, and then continue to their downtown office on the MAX.  This would alleviate some of the pressure on bike spaces on MAX trains during the morning and evening commutes, and that would certainly make my life easier when I (and others) need a bike in Portland on a weekday.

Then the only challenge will be fitting my Fryslân in some of the MAX trains’ bike parking.  (I have some ideas on how to better hang the Fryslân in those tiny spaces, but I’ll need to get into that another time.)

Pizza by Bike

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This is neither the pizza, nor the bike involved in the robbery.

One point I try to stress to people I speak with is that bikes are just another form of transportation.  If I want to get groceries I should be able to choose to walk, drive, or bike and be able to get there safely no matter my choice.  And one tactic I use is to try and explain that people from all walks of life – rich, poor, tall, short, whatever – are all represented somewhere in the tapestry of cyclists.

When I read an article about a man who robbed a pizza store and then fled on a bike I wasn’t sure if it helped make my point, or if it just painted a poor image of cyclists.  But then I realized the point of the article isn’t the bike, it’s that a store got robbed and police need help finding this jerk.  If he had been walking or driving it wouldn’t reflect poorly on pedestrians or motorists, so why should I hold back sharing this odd little story?

I’m Your Density

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I recently wrapped up reading Green Metropolis by David Owen.  It’s a really great read and introduced some new perspectives even with my existing knowledge of city planning, environmentalism, and other related topics.  The book makes a compelling argument for the positive economies of scale you can achieve in larger, denser cities.  A similar case can be made for encouraging cycling: a denser city naturally increases the number of cyclists.

That’s a theory that I’ve held to be true for a while now.  It makes sense if you do a little math.  Less dense cities have longer distances between destinations so trips people need to take are longer.  Cars are quicker over longer distances.  More people choosing to drives leads to more dangerous roads.  Increased danger (perceived or actual) causes fewer people to want to ride a bike.

That’s why I was so interested to read this comparison of city density and cycling rates.  It does an excellent job of showing that there isn’t much of a correlation between a city’s density and the rate at which it’s citizens cycle.

The article also mentions Portland explicitly, pointing to the city’s (relatively) low density yet (relatively) high rates of cycling.