davidavid237

I'll be riding from PDX - SEA and will be away for about 36 hours. Does anyone have any tips on convenient and/or cheap parking near PDX station?

Thanks a lot.

jef7

Just want to share what I do on occasion that I take the train to SEA from PDX. Since I am coming from the West hills, I simply park my car at Sunset transit center, take the MAX to Pioneer Square and then walk to the station. I know the MAX stations usually have signages for 24 hour parking, but I've never ever had any problems for 48 hour trips. The garage in my experience, is secure, easy to get to, and most importantly, free.

davidavid237

Thanks, Jef. I'd considered this. Am I right it's about 12 blocks walking? Is 20 minutes enough for that? Also, would you be comfortable making that walk alone at 10pm?

jef7

Yeah, sounds about right. In fact, within 10-15 minutes from station to the Square is doable.

Now would I be comfortable making that walk alone at 10 pm? You see, I've never had to be around that area at that time but I probably would. My recommendation would be for you to walk one block east from the station to Broadway Street, where there would be lots of traffic and head south towards Pioneer that way (Or which ever direction you're going). I wouldn't have any inhibition going this route. My typical 5th or 6th Ave walk would probably be a bit of a concern since that area gets pretty dead.

In any case, hope this hepls a bit to give you some ideas

davidavid237

Thanks, again. I've just found that there's a Smart Park right next to Union Station, and it's only $4 a day (weekend). This option saves me MAX fare, an hour of extra transit time, and that potentially sketchy walk after hours.

jef7

Excellent ^

I'll definitely try that next time as well.

BobH

Not bad advice.... but....

You can get closer than that by transferring to a bus -- Portland has two streets that are dedicated to just transit bus use and that last time I was there, they were in the free zone.

You may have to walk the first/last two or three blocks.

Bob H

davidavid237

I parked at the Smart Park as planned and it worked out very well. I parked at 8:00am Sunday and returned late Monday night and it cost $12 total.

The short walk between the garage and the station is along a deserted road under a highway overpass - so some might be hesitant to do this alone and/or in the dark.

This was only my second time riding Amtrak and I am sold. What an enjoyable, easy way to travel. And for trips like PDX-SEA I find it totally practical, and it was [I]far[I] less expensive than flying. I only wish it penciled out for longer trips (total transit time being the big limter there).

jackal

I almost wish I could drop a link to your post here into the AS forum, but I'm sure it would be knocked down as off-topic (nevermind that I'd get chewed out!). As much as I love AS and as good of a job I'm sure QX does on the PDX-SEA shuttle, I wish more people would discover Amtrak and gain the same positive impression of it that you have gained so that perhaps political will in this country can be changed so Amtrak is given the attention and funding it needs so it can run services as they should be run.

I'm on Amtrak now between DEN and SLC and having an awesome time. While this corridor would be almost useless for a business traveler, it's an incredible part of our nation's heritage and a treasure that should be maintained and improved, not kept starving for funding. It's sad to see the state Amtrak's trains sometimes run in because of a lack of funding--today, the diner car is broken and so the only food available on-board is the unhealthy cafe car's microwave meals, and the P.A. in the lounge car is broken (so no one who was sitting in the lounge to enjoy the absolutely stunning scenery knew about the broken diner, leading to mass confusion when we all started getting hungry). On top of that, the bathrooms in my coach were not working (fortunately, the other two coaches were working fine). And Amtrak's not just a minority travel option that only poor people or foreign hostel-staying student travelers use--my very full train today is full of people from all backgrounds and socio-economic strata, and it would probably be even fuller if Amtrak had the funding to obtain more cars (and maintain the ones it already has well).

Debates about high-speed trains and corridor improvements aside, Amtrak's system is no less deserving of funding than our air transportation system, and IIRC, Amtrak receives 1/40 of the funding the country's ATC system and government-owned aviation infrastructure and public airports--not a good number considering that Amtrak would have, if counted as an airline, in 2007 account for 4% of the nation's airline passengers and would be the 8th largest airline (beating, I believe, Alaska and Skywest) in the country. I'd bet if Amtrak were given the attention I believe it deserves, that number could jump significantly and therefore reduce the subsidies given to other forms of transportation (aviation and highway, primarily), perhaps reducing them even more than Amtrak's would increase. (My stats may not be perfect, but the general idea, I believe, is...)

essxjay

Not even that, if you grab the #9 Broadway, which stops right in front of Union Station. (Starting June 1, five or six other lines will also stop there as well.)

essxjay

I'm a woman and lifelong PDXer. Walking down Broadway (just "Broadway," not "Broadway Street") from Pioneer Square to Union Station doesn't give me the least bit of pause for thought.