An epic, carfree, Portland to Seattle, multi-modal adventure – BikePortland

The alarm clock on my cellphone buzzed and made chirping sounds as I rubbed my eyes. It was 5:00 am and we had an Amtrak prepare to catch at Portland’s Union Station. My panniers and backpack had been loaded the night time earlier than with all of our gear for the 4 day journey. I simply wanted to get our six-year-old up and on her bike to journey to the Trimet bus cease. 

This was going to be our first carfree journey to go to my mother and father in Seattle and the primary go to for the reason that begin of Covid. 

The 43 bus to Portland is the closest bus route for us however sadly it solely presents three buses within the morning with hourly service. Solely the 6:17 AM bus (with about an hour journey and one switch) would get us to the prepare station in time for our 8:20 AM departure. Taking the 43 can be handy but in addition a raffle. Trimet bus racks solely maintain 2 bikes and we had 2 bikes to get to Portland. If one different particular person was utilizing the bike rack we’d not be capable of board. The subsequent bus wouldn’t be for an hour, too late for us to make our Amtrak prepare. Not desirous to take that gamble we determined to journey two miles to Pacific Freeway and catch the #12 bus which has frequent service, each quarter-hour for a lot of the day. This was our most secure route in case of canceled buses (which has been taking place typically resulting from a Trimet driver scarcity) or full bike racks. 

You could know from earlier articles that I primarily journey an e-Bullitt cargo bike hauling our child within the entrance field and towing her bike behind when she isn’t using on her personal. As a lot as I’d wish to take our field bike up north, it’s too lengthy and too heavy to placed on the bus rack. It’s additionally over Amtrak’s 50 pound weight restrict, so I contacted Barb at Splendid Cycles to ask about borrowing a loaner bike for the journey. I used to be so completely satisfied to listen to again that they did have an e-bike that was below 50 kilos that I may tackle an prolonged take a look at journey! 

The Tern Vektron Q9 is a folding e-bike with a Bosch mid-drive motor. My panniers would clip on the rear rack simply high quality and there was extra room for an extra bag on high of the rack. I picked up the Tern the day earlier than our journey and it was prepared to assist haul our baggage to the prepare station. (Thanks Splendid Cycles crew!)

Again to the morning of our departure…

Bus to Union Station in Portland

As we rode to the bus cease on Pacific Freeway we had been excited to begin this journey. I hadn’t been on a passenger prepare since I used to be a child and this may be our daughter’s first heavy rail expertise. We arrived on the bus cease at 6:30 am and prepped our bikes for the bus, pulling the panniers off and staging the bikes close to the bus cease pole. I opened the Trimet Hop Fastpass app on my cellphone to triple examine that we had cash loaded on the cardboard.  With the morning solar to our backs we appeared West on ODOT’s Freeway 99 scanning previous the a whole bunch of single occupancy automobiles on the lookout for the #12 bus. We noticed it a number of blocks away and breathed a sigh of reduction. 

The bus wasn’t canceled! However wait, what was this? I squinted my eyes and stood nonetheless. Was there a motorcycle on the entrance of the bus? “OH NO!” I exclaimed. “What? What? WHAT!” our daughter yelled over the sounds of automobile exhaust and tire noise. Because the bus driver pulled in simply 500 ft away on the bus cease simply earlier than ours, I may see that the bus bike rack was folded down and there was a motorcycle loaded. Then I seen an individual that hailed the bus additionally had a motorcycle! Did I make the unsuitable alternative in taking the 12 over the 43? We waved the motive force off and pulled the bikes away from the curb because the bus rolled previous us with a full bike rack. I frantically checked the journey planner on the Trimet app for the following bus. quarter-hour and it was not displaying canceled. However what if the following bus additionally has a motorcycle on the rack? What if the bus will get canceled on the final minute? 

My thoughts raced. Ought to we begin using our bikes to the prepare station? We may make it in time if we had our field bike however with the child rolling on her personal two wheels the journey would undoubtedly take over an hour. We might simply have to attend for the following #12 and hope for the most effective. If we missed the following bus we’d in all probability miss our passenger prepare. I clenched my tooth as we waited. I checked the arrival time on my cellphone repeatedly. 12 minutes. 8 minutes. 2 minutes. Due. My stress stage was elevated by the stench of automobile exhaust as my tunnel imaginative and prescient targeted on the freeway. There it was! The subsequent bus! Squinting once more I may see that the bus bike rack was folded up and empty! “HOORAY!” I yelled as we moved the bikes nearer to the curb. What an enormous reduction! WHEW! 

After the bus stopped we signaled to the motive force that we’d be loading bikes and folded the rack down by squeezing the deal with within the middle. The Vektron simply loaded onto the rack as did the child’s 20” Cleary Owl. We stepped on board, holding my cellphone to the scanner to pay the fare and off we went on our approach downtown. 

West Burnside and SW sixth was our cease. It was a brief, seven-block bike journey to Union Station. We dismounted and rolled our bikes via the doorways of the historic construction that initially opened February 14th, 1896. Checking in was a lot simpler than on the airport. We walked to the bags division, I confirmed my ticket on the Amtrak app and we acquired paper tags for our bikes. That was it! My panniers and backpack had been carry-on and there was no safety checkpoint. When departure was introduced we stood in a brief line, exited the constructing and rolled our bikes to the bags automobile on the rear of the prepare. 

On the baggage automobile the employees advised us to take away the e-bike battery from the bike and carry it on, which I missed within the directions on-line. It was not a giant deal on the Tern because the battery was simply eliminated (don’t neglect your key!) however when you’ve got a baby seat or different equipment mounted to your bike this can be a tough activity, particularly with the stress and haste of needing to board a sold-out prepare. Be ready and possibly take away your battery a lot earlier. The subsequent activity is to raise your bike about 4 ft as much as the extent of the bags automobile flooring. The Vektron was about 45 kilos so not a simple activity however doable for me. I’m stunned that Amtrak doesn’t have a ramp to make this simpler, maybe sooner or later. We scooped up our luggage and boarded the complete prepare. 

On Amtrak to Seattle

It was an uneventful departure as we rolled via the Pearl District on our strategy to cross the Columbia River to our first cease in Vancouver, WA. Selecting up passengers on the 6 stops alongside the best way solely took a couple of minutes at every location, it’s a really quick course of. I take pleasure in staring via the home windows watching the world go by. We introduced loads of studying supplies and coloring/exercise books to maintain the child occupied. 

There’s a 120 vac outlet at every window seat so you should definitely carry your charger and cable on your units. Now that I give it some thought you can cost your e-bike battery if wanted! It was good to have a eating automobile with a good number of food and drinks obtainable. Having the ability to get up and stroll the size of the prepare was useful for the 3-4 hour journey. Talking of time, I discovered that Amtrak passenger trains should yield to heavier and for much longer freight trains. We had a 30 minute delay close to Centralia, Washington as we waited for a miles-long freight prepare to clear the observe and switch off right into a rail yard. 

As we handed via JB Lewis McChord and Tacoma, WA I used to be blown away by all the automobile infrastructure we may see via the home windows: automobile storage, automobile restore retailers, automobile gas stations, automobile lube bays, automobile dealerships and automobile washes. (Did I point out automobile storage?) I believed again to what number of occasions we’ve got made this similar journey in a large pickup truck burning many gallons of diesel gas and getting highway rage within the gridlock on I-5. It was so good to have the ability to learn a ebook and calm down because the miles rolled by. 

We arrived at Seattle’s King Road Station at 12:15 pm, walked to the bags automobile, offered our paper baggage tickets and claimed our bikes. Snapping the panniers onto the rear rack of the bike took 5 seconds as we walked our bikes via the prepare station and out the entrance doorways. Our ultimate vacation spot was Everett, WA. (30 miles North of Seattle) After a brief 2 block journey to the Worldwide District / Chinatown mild rail station we bought our Sound Transit Hyperlink tickets from the merchandising machine. 

On the Hyperlink

I attempted to determine the apps for the Puget Sound regional transit companies earlier than our journey. I downloaded “Transit Go Ticket” from King County Metro and the ORCA app. I appeared on the Everett Transit web site. It was overwhelming and I couldn’t determine the transfers between companies. A paper ticket from the machine appeared to be the best on the time. The primary elevators that we noticed had been damaged and blocked by barricades. (I assume it’s not only a Portland factor!) Driving to the opposite facet of the block revealed one other elevator that was functioning. 

The primary Hyperlink prepare arrived in a short time! Trying via the home windows I may see that the prepare was packed! It appeared like standing room solely, no approach we had been going to suit two bikes in there. Particularly with that being our first time on the Hyperlink. I used to be unfamiliar with the place the bikes go, how they grasp on the hooks and in addition a beginner with taking the Tern on mild rail. I made a decision to calm down for quarter-hour and look ahead to the following prepare to assemble my ideas and make a recreation plan on tips on how to board. This gave us a couple of minutes to discover the station and benefit from the great origami artwork sculptures by Artist Sonya Ishii. The subsequent prepare arrived within the station and the doorways opened revealing fully empty vehicles! Woo Hoo! We rolled our bikes on and I hung the 20” bike on the bike hook. I began to tug the panniers from the Tern in order that I may grasp it as properly however then seen an indication informing us that one bike may stay within the house on it’s wheels with the rider standing with it. 

The doorways closed and we had been on our approach. Now, I’ve been on the MAX (Portland’s mild rail) loads of occasions. That Hyperlink prepare prepare acceleration is approach sooner! The bike nearly fell over taking me with it however I saved it. Then the deceleration is tough as properly! I shortly found out that not solely did I want to carry on tight however I additionally wanted to squeeze the entrance brake of the bike whereas standing on the foot of the kickstand! I wished to take footage of the superb artwork within the different stations however I couldn’t calm down my stability stance for one second! Rotating my head like an owl I used to be in a position to keep watch over our child sitting behind me. 

The prepare stuffed shortly. Many of the route is underground however transitions to elevated observe close to the top at Northgate Station. Two extra working elevators later we had been on the road on the lookout for our subsequent bus. 

Bus to Everett

Sound transit makes use of a bay system which was very useful. I knew that we wanted the 512 bus to Everett however as a substitute of on the lookout for the tiny bus quantity on the bus cease signal from a distance, the app advised me to look for a bigger bay quantity. The bigger bay quantity indicators are simpler to see from a distance particularly at a transit mall or park-and-ride. A number of bus routes cease at every bay, or part of curb. I scanned the indicators and located our bay quantity and our bus was already there! “That’s our bus!” I exclaimed and we jogged with our bikes. Folks had been boarding as I signaled the motive force and lowered the bike rack. These buses are usually not solely double decker, they’ve triple bike racks! As soon as once more I pulled the panniers and loaded the bikes. I gave our paper mild rail tickets to our child then realized that these tickets might not switch to the bus. I requested the motive force as I frantically checked my pockets for money. “Are these mild rail tickets good for this bus?”  The motive force appeared on the tickets within the arms of our six-year-old. “I’m unsure. Simply have a seat.” they instructed.

The child actually wished to take a seat within the higher stage of the bus however I had two panniers and a backpack with a motorcycle helmet flopping round. I didn’t wish to navigate the slim stairs with our baggage. I additionally wished to have the ability to keep watch over our bikes. The specific buses are additionally quick. Touring between the park-and-rides, the buses use left lane exits on I-5 to keep away from automobile site visitors. Between Northgate station and the long run Lynnwood Metropolis Heart Station you possibly can see extra elevated mild rail tracks below building. It seems to be superb and can cut back the variety of single occupancy automobiles on I-5. 

Arriving on the South Everett park-and-ride we reloaded our gear on the bike and deliberate the final leg of our journey. Maps wished to take us and our bikes on a busy road however panning across the map I noticed an Interurban Path proper subsequent to the park-and-ride. (Why wouldn’t Google maps suggest this route over a busy road?) A six mile bike journey and we arrived at our vacation spot at 2:30 pm.  

We Lastly Made It!

Recap: Bike, bus, bike, Amtrak, mild rail, specific bus and bike. Tigard, Oregon to Everett, Washington. 175 miles in 8.5 hours. There’s an Amtrak route that goes all the best way from Portland to Everett however it is a 2 prepare journey with a 5 hour layover in Seattle. Our multi-modal route beat the 2 prepare route by 4 hours.

Sadly over the following two days we skilled extra map disappointments. Desirous to journey bikes to Everett’s Jetty Island Ferry, Google Maps advisable a horrible route on Washington State Freeway 529. I noticed an outdated pedestrian bridge at twenty fifth Road and a sidewalk that appeared a lot safer so we took the bus and walked as a substitute. 

On our two mile stroll we found that there’s a large stunning new ped/bike bridge with working elevators (the Grand Avenue Park Bridge) that connects to a multi-use path resulting in the ferry. That might have been an incredible bike journey however we missed it as a result of we didn’t realize it was there. The subsequent day we wished to journey bikes to the Mukilteo Ferry. Maps advisable a path to maintain us off of a busy road and I double checked it with Experience with GPS. There have been so many stairs! Then the path diminished to an overgrown singletrack the place I used to be really bushwacking the pokey vegetation with a stick! Ha! Ha! That made for fairly the journey however enormously elevated our journey time. 

How can we enhance these maps? Can we get wayfinding indicators to direct folks to those new stroll/roll/bike infrastructure tasks?  

The Reverse Journey

After hanging with household for a number of days it was time to go residence. We kissed our goodbyes and off we went in reverse order. We found that our earlier rush to get on the 512 specific bus was unwarranted. This route has Extremely Frequent Service! (Each 10 minutes!) As we rode our bikes to the South Everett park-and-ride, the bus was pulling up. No biggie as we knew the following one was coming in 10 min. This gave us time to unload our bags and get our new ORCA card prepared! We discovered that you just want a bodily card together with the app. The previous two days we paid all of our Everett Transit fares in quarters as a result of we couldn’t determine the ORCA card factor. Drawback solved! 

We had been first aboard the southbound Hyperlink prepare so boarding was a breeze. Ridership was excessive as soon as once more because the prepare was standing room solely on the best way to Seattle. Somebody made a remark to me throughout our keep that “No one rides the sunshine rail” however I feel they meant that they don’t journey the sunshine rail. 

We had a few hours earlier than our Amtrak departure so we grabbed lunch at Tat’s Deli throughout from the sinking ship parking storage on Yesler Method. Occidental Sq. had video games arrange close to the playground with big Join 4, Ping Pong, big chess, bean bag toss and different video games which was cool to see within the downtown core. Then we rode up the inexperienced cycle observe on 4th Ave to the Seattle Public Library. There are some superb buildings to take a look at and a few large hills! Whereas the child is a climbing machine on her bike I used to be glad to have the e-assist on the Vektron particularly with all of our baggage and an extra bag of presents from Grandma and Grandpa on the rear rack. We had a blast using round downtown Seattle  however it was time to catch a prepare again to Portland.

As soon as once more checking our bikes at baggage was tremendous simple. We walked our bikes via the prepare station and to the bags automobile. I remembered to take away the battery earlier, saving a minute or two. We had no downside discovering two seats collectively on the sold-out prepare. 

After two stops in Tukwila and Tacoma, we had been cruising southbound with the solar shining on us via the window when all of a sudden, CLICK! The lights went out, the AC turned off and every thing obtained very quiet. We had been nonetheless rolling however we had been slowing down. Slower. Slower. We coasted for a couple of minutes. An overhead signal above the toilet illuminated in crimson the phrases “TOILETS CLOSED” however folks had been nonetheless going out and in. I puzzled what they skilled there at nighttime. A single white emergency mild was on close to the entrance of the prepare automobile. 

It appeared like we began shifting below energy once more however very slowly. Fortunately we made it to the Olympia/Lacey station the place the announcement was made that we may get off of the prepare and take a break whereas the crew tried to repair the prepare. I used to be grateful that the crew was in a position to get us to a station the place there have been snacks, bogs and grass with bushes. If we had been caught within the woods and never in a position to get off of the prepare that will have been worse for certain. 

After half-hour or so the announcement was made that our prepare’s engine was damaged and we’d want one other. At this level most individuals deboarded and a few even hailed a ride-share automobile and left. Metropolis transit buses had been coming via repeatedly however I didn’t see anybody get on. I imagine that I heard Amtrak was going to ship a bus to return get us however an engine was on the best way to hook up with our prepare and proceed the journey by rail. Because the rescue engine approached we had been all requested to get again on the prepare so the employees may do the disconnecting and reconnecting. (Regardless that I actually wished to observe!) 

As we waited on board an extended freight prepare slowly handed us on the precise then stopped. After some backwards and forwards movement I assumed that this was our rescue freight prepare dropping off one engine. A slight bump confirmed that one thing had undoubtedly arrived. A couple of minutes later the freight prepare on our proper appeared to begin shifting once more however it was really our prepare shifting! Everybody erupted in cheer! After a two-hour cease we had been on our approach. The brand new arrival occasions had been calculated and introduced as we discovered {that a} freight prepare engine can’t journey as quick as a passenger prepare engine. (Or no less than the best way this prepare was now configured we couldn’t journey as quick.) Our new arrival time was now 9:00 pm as a substitute of 5:30 pm.. This despatched everybody scrambling and scrolling to determine their subsequent steps. I heard folks canceling dinner reservations, arranging rides and instructing folks to select up meals. Some even made plans to remain in Portland slightly than proceed southbound on the late prepare. 

As for us, it was a race to see if we’d make the 44 bus or the 12. In fact we’d slightly take the 43, however as soon as once more it’s solely hourly throughout rush hour with no weekend service.  44 being extra fascinating than 12 as it could get us nearer to residence however rare service would push us to take the 12 to Barbur Transit Heart and journey bikes the final 1.5 miles. 

The solar had simply set as we boarded the bus however we made it residence with a sliver of blue sky displaying. The child was a champ and did an incredible job on this very lengthy multi-modal day.

The subsequent day I folded the Vektron and loaded it into our bucket bike to return it to Splendid Cycles. Thanks a lot to Barb and the Splendid crew! Would we do it once more? YES! Subsequent time we’ll discover the brand new (to us) Sounder Practice N line from Everett to Seattle and have our ORCA card prepared! 

Thanks for studying alongside on our journey!

Shawne is a prolific city rider who has put 1000’s of miles on his e-cargo bike, typically together with his younger daughter in tow. He lives on Portland’s southern border with Tigard and is a member of the Metropolis of Tigard Transportation Advisory Committee. Learn extra of his adventures right here.