Maximizing the MAX

Maxing Out the MAX

By Sam Galvan

Edited by Emma Birckhead

Portland’s MAX Light Rail runs trains on four lines (officially five although the Yellow and Orange Lines operate as one service). All four lines cross the Willamette River on the Steel Bridge, creating a bottleneck and limiting each line’s frequency to once every 15 minutes. The system’s capacity is further constrained by its routing on Downtown streets where blocks are only 200 feet long, limiting train length. The Transportation Research Board’s “Special Report: Making Transit Work” lists frequency and reliability among the first priorities in implementing high quality transit service (2001) and Trimet must be able to increase capacity in order to make high quality service viable in the future. 

A long term solution would be the construction of a subway for the MAX in the central city, with longer platforms and a tunnel under the river. This would allow Trimet to run longer trains at greater frequencies and would greatly improve the system’s overall efficiency. Despite its benefits, such a project is years away at best and would require complex funding and engineering. In the meantime, with a simple realignment of the MAX services, Trimet could increase or maintain current frequencies on almost the entire system. 

Current MAX Map from Trimet

If the Red and Green Lines were combined into a single service, running along the I-205 Transitway from the Portland International Airport to Clackamas Town Center rather than turning west at Gateway and running Downtown, this would free up capacity on the Steel Bridge for additional Blue and Yellow Line trains. The revised system would contain three lines: the Blue Line from Hillsboro to Gresham (as it runs currently), the Yellow Line from Expo Center to Milwaukie (as it runs currently), and the Red Line from PDX to Clackamas. With the Steel Bridge able to handle four trains per direction in a 15 minute span this would allow for frequencies of 7 and a half minutes on each line. Areas currently served by one line would see frequencies double, areas served by two lines would maintain current frequencies and only areas currently served by three lines would lose frequency. Transfers between the North-South Yellow Line and the East-West Blue Line would occur as they currently do, at the Pioneer Square and Rose Quarter stations. Transfers between the Blue and Red Lines would be even more seamless, using the same platforms at Gateway Transit Center. With trains every 7 and a half minutes per line transfer wait times would always be just under four minutes.

MAX Map with discussed realignment

While this alignment would have its advantages in terms of increased frequency, it does have its drawbacks. First and foremost, it would eliminate one seat rides from the airport and Clackamas to the City Center. The easy transfer at Gateway and the increased flexibility of this alignment would address this, but it still could deter some riders. Additionally, the Banfield segment between Rose Quarter and Gateway would lose some frequency, with two trains every 15 minutes rather than three. Still, the increases in frequency on the rest of the system could justify the loss of frequency here.

Although this wouldn’t solve all of the MAX’s long-term capacity needs, this realignment is something Trimet could implement without needing any new infrastructure investments (beyond perhaps the double-tracking of the Red Line already underway with the “Better Red” project).