Trimet

I saw this picture in a Matt Yglesias post and it made my heart aflutter with missing Portland. Portland was my introduction to good (i.e. usable) public transportation, so Trimet has a special place in my heart.

The public transportation in Korea is fantastic, by the way. Daejeon has roughly the population of Portland (though it is much much denser) and its transportation infrastructure is better (again, easier because the city takes up less area) and cheaper. It costs less than a dollar to go anywhere, and the subway runs about every seven minutes. I'm not sure how often the buses run since everywhere I have wanted to go is on the one subway line (more lines are opening soon, but maybe not before I leave). The only problem I have is the grammar of their English (all announcements are in both Korean and English), such as 'the door is close' at every subway stop when they mean 'the door is closing'. The grammar nazi in me flares up at that one, but other than that the infrastructure is wonderful. Sometime I will do a post about the bikelanes here, which would be the envy of Portlanders (keep in mind that Pdx is by far the most bike-friendly city in the US).