Riding the Catbus
Sep. 2nd, 2024 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petrea_mitchellOkay, technically the CAT bus, run by Columbia Area Transit. But their domain is
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Okay, technically the CAT bus, run by Columbia Area Transit. But their domain is <a href="https://www.ridecatbus.org/'>ridecatbus.org</a>, so you know what you're supposed to think. (Not the only pop culture reference floating around in the regional transit infrastructure; there's also a bus that runs to the west of Portland called <a href="https://nwconnector.org/agencies/columbia-county-rider/">CC Rider</a>.)
With a long weekend coming up and nothing much to do, I decided I really wanted to visit Multnomah Falls, and I had a vague recollection that one could get to it by bus. It turns out to be the <a href="https://www.ridecatbus.org/columbia-gorge-express/">Columbia Gorge Express</a>, $10 each way, or you can pay $40 for the <a href="https://gorgepass.com/">GOrge Pass</a>, which is officially capitalized that way, which is good for a whole year on all the transit systems in the Columbia Gorge.
Since the Columbia Gorge Express leaves from a MAX light rail station on the other side of town, this seemed like a good excuse to also check out the new improvements to extend the MAX Red Line, since the expansion officially opened just this past Wednesday. And if I was going to go check out the Red Line, which runs to Portland's main airport, I might as well go check out the newly remodeled public concourse there.
<cut text="A day out">So that was yesterday's adventure. The bus was on time and fairly comfortable, though the seats are crammed together like economy class in an airplane. Tall people are going to want to be at the front of the boarding line to grab one of the few seats that doesn't have another seat right in front of it.
Multnomah Falls is still huge and majestic, and the parking lot is still tiny, so definitely recommend taking the bus there. I thought I might try the trail up to the top of the falls, but only made it about halfway-- the trail is very steep, it was too warm a day to be wearing shoes, and I did have my sandals with me for later, but they're not appropriate for hiking. But it was further than I've gone up the trail; without the health improvments I've had in the last few years I'd never have even considered it.
So I retreated back to the bridge over the lower falls, admired it from there for a bit, had lunch in the shade, checked out the gift shop, and took the bus back.
The new concourse at PDX is very nice, and the much-ballyhooed wooden ceiling is actually pretty impressive. The shops in the public area include a vegan chocolatier, which gave me the first chance to get truffles that get along with my immune system ever since I started figuring out my food issues. Expensive, but yay!
The Red Line improvements are working smoothly, but there's still a fenced-off area by the new Gateway North station where they haven't finished building all the pathways yet. Thanks to the extension, it's now a single-seat ride to the station nearest my house, clocking in at 72 minutes yesterday. It can be a lot faster in a taxi when traffic is light, but it will be 72 minutes by MAX even when the freeways are at a standstill. So that's going to be useful.</cut>
With a long weekend coming up and nothing much to do, I decided I really wanted to visit Multnomah Falls, and I had a vague recollection that one could get to it by bus. It turns out to be the <a href="https://www.ridecatbus.org/columbia-gorge-express/">Columbia Gorge Express</a>, $10 each way, or you can pay $40 for the <a href="https://gorgepass.com/">GOrge Pass</a>, which is officially capitalized that way, which is good for a whole year on all the transit systems in the Columbia Gorge.
Since the Columbia Gorge Express leaves from a MAX light rail station on the other side of town, this seemed like a good excuse to also check out the new improvements to extend the MAX Red Line, since the expansion officially opened just this past Wednesday. And if I was going to go check out the Red Line, which runs to Portland's main airport, I might as well go check out the newly remodeled public concourse there.
<cut text="A day out">So that was yesterday's adventure. The bus was on time and fairly comfortable, though the seats are crammed together like economy class in an airplane. Tall people are going to want to be at the front of the boarding line to grab one of the few seats that doesn't have another seat right in front of it.
Multnomah Falls is still huge and majestic, and the parking lot is still tiny, so definitely recommend taking the bus there. I thought I might try the trail up to the top of the falls, but only made it about halfway-- the trail is very steep, it was too warm a day to be wearing shoes, and I did have my sandals with me for later, but they're not appropriate for hiking. But it was further than I've gone up the trail; without the health improvments I've had in the last few years I'd never have even considered it.
So I retreated back to the bridge over the lower falls, admired it from there for a bit, had lunch in the shade, checked out the gift shop, and took the bus back.
The new concourse at PDX is very nice, and the much-ballyhooed wooden ceiling is actually pretty impressive. The shops in the public area include a vegan chocolatier, which gave me the first chance to get truffles that get along with my immune system ever since I started figuring out my food issues. Expensive, but yay!
The Red Line improvements are working smoothly, but there's still a fenced-off area by the new Gateway North station where they haven't finished building all the pathways yet. Thanks to the extension, it's now a single-seat ride to the station nearest my house, clocking in at 72 minutes yesterday. It can be a lot faster in a taxi when traffic is light, but it will be 72 minutes by MAX even when the freeways are at a standstill. So that's going to be useful.</cut>
