The Portland Streetcar is a streetcar system in Portland, Oregon, that opened in 2001 and serves areas surrounding downtown Portland. The NS Line runs from Northwest Portland to the South Waterfront via Downtown and the Pearl District. The Loop Service, which opened in September 2012 as the Central Loop (CL Line), runs from Downtown to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry via the Pearl District, the Broadway Bridge across the Willamette River, the Lloyd District, and the Central Eastside Industrial District and added of route. In September 2015 the line was renamed as the Loop Service, with the A Loop traveling clockwise, and the B Loop traveling counterclockwise. The two-route system serves some 20,000 daily riders.
As with the heavier-duty MAX Light Rail network which serves the broader Portland metropolitan area, Portland Streetcars are operated and maintained by TriMet. But unlike MAX, the streetcar system is owned by the city of Portland and managed by Portland Streetcar Incorporated, a non-profit public benefit corporation whose board of directors report to the city's Bureau of Transportation.
Like some of Portland's original streetcar lines, redevelopment has been a major goal of the project. The Portland Streetcar is the first new streetcar system in the United States since World War II.
Routes
Since September 2012, the Portland Streetcar system has three services, which share a section along 10th and 11th Avenues in downtown, through the West End.
Name Commenced Last extension Stations Length Termini A Loop 2015 55 — B Loop North South Line 2007 17 Northwest 23rd & Marshall Southwest Lowell & Bond
As of mid-2015, the two-line streetcar system measures , measured in one direction only – not round-trip lengths – and counting only once the section served by both routes. The end-to-end length of the original route, now designated the "NS Line", is since 2007, and the 2012-opened "CL Line" added . The total one-way length of the CL Line is , for it shares of route along 10th and 11th Avenues in downtown with the NS Line.
Of the NS Line's round-trip length, are one-way operation along streets which are mostly also one-way and with the streetcars following parallel streets in opposite directions. The remaining of round-trip route length are sections where the NS streetcar route uses a single street (or private right-of-way) for both directions of travel. The CL Line, similarly, follows separate streets in opposite directions over most of its length. The only exceptions are a length of about near the OMSI terminus (mostly on a streetcar-only viaduct over the Union Pacific Railroad main line) and the route sections nearest to, and across, the Broadway Bridge. With the opening of the second line, the system now has 76 stops.
The steepest grade on the system is 8.75% in the block of SW Harrison Street between 1st and 2nd avenues, which since 2015 has been on a section of track used by both routes.
Service
Streetcars are scheduled to arrive at 15-minute intervals at most times, with a 20-minute frequency in the evening and on Sundays. Every stop is fitted with an electronic reader board giving real-time arrival information to waiting passengers, using the NextBus vehicle tracking system. This was first brought into use on March 25, 2002.
As on TriMet's MAX line, the streetcar's fare system is a proof-of-payment (or "honor") system, with random inspections of passengers' fares, which minimizes wait times at stops by allowing boarding to take place simultaneously through all vehicle doorways. Streetcar operators do not collect or monitor fares. Although the line is not part of the TriMet system, the city honors TriMet's fares for the streetcar, for simplicity and convenience of transferring passengers. Alt URL Streetcar-only fares are available, but are not valid on TriMet, unless using a Hop card, which will charge the difference in fare upon transferring.
The portion of the streetcar route within Downtown and the Pearl District of the streetcar route used to lie within TriMet's Fareless Square, later known as the Free Rail Zone. Rides within that area were free at all times. TriMet ended the Free Rail Zone on September 1, 2012.
Passengers not already in possession of a valid fare when boarding are required to use their credit/debit card on the hop card readers on board each Streetcar. Portland Streetcar used to have ticket machines on board but have since been removed and replaced with machines outside the Streetcar. Each vehicle also carries a ticket validator machine, for stamping "unvalidated" TriMet tickets purchased in advance. TriMet and Portland Streetcar have agreed to honor one another's fares, which means that TriMet passes, tickets and bus transfer receipts are accepted on the streetcar, and tickets purchased or validated on a streetcar are valid for travel on TriMet services (bus, MAX or WES Commuter Rail). To facilitate this, the ticket machines on board the streetcars and at streetcar stops sell TriMet tickets – covering both the streetcar fare and any TriMet rides the purchaser makes within the ticket's period of validity (2.5 hours or all day) – as well as streetcar-only tickets. For the same reason, prior to September 2012, the streetcar ticket machines offered all-zone (three-zone) and two-zone tickets, despite the fact that the streetcar system was located entirely within TriMet's Zone 1. TriMet tickets and transfers were valid all-day on the streetcar prior to that change, which also coincided with TriMet's elimination of the Free Rail Zone (Fareless Square). Since September 1, 2012, TriMet and Portland Streetcar tickets have an identical period of validity, of 2.5 hours (except for all-day tickets).
NS Line streetcars enter service on westbound tracks (at NW Northrup and 16th streets). Service starts at NW 23rd Avenue at Marshall. Yard-bound trains make their last stop at NW 18th Street and Lovejoy before entering yard via Lovejoy.
Loop Service streetcars enter service on eastbound tracks (at NW Lovejoy and 15th streets). Service starts at NW 9th Street and Lovejoy. Yard-bound trains make their last stop at NW 14th Street and Northrup (which is a NS Line stop) before entering yard via Northrup.
Portland Streetcar launched a new program in 2022 called Rider Ambassadors. They are groups of streetcar personnel who help people on board, give directions and connect people to resources, and help keep the riders safe. They ride the trains throughout the day and can be recognized by their purple vests
Rolling stock
, the system's active fleet includes 15 cars.
Manufacturer Model Year built Fleet nos. Notes Current fleet Škoda 10T 7 2001–02 001–007 Inekon Trams Trio type 12 3 2006 008–010 United Streetcar 100 5 2012–14 021–023, 025–026 Originally six cars in series; no. 024 was retired following major accident damage from a 2023 collision. Total 15 Former fleet Gomaco "Council Crest" Brill replica 2 1991 513–514 Provided Vintage Trolley service on the Portland Streetcar line 2001–2005, weekends onlyUnited Streetcar10T3 (prototype)12009015United Streetcar10012013024Retired by 2025 with major damage from a 2023 collision with a MAX light rail train.Brookville Equipment Liberty NXT32023031–033Out of service pending implementation of a planned swap with Sound Transit's T Line fleet, in Tacoma, Washington, for three Skoda-Inekon 10T cars similar to Portland's 001–007
Current fleet
The streetcars are a Czech design, and the first ten – which is all cars purchased before 2009 – were built in the Czech Republic and shipped to the United States complete. Streetcars added to the fleet after the first ten were built in the U.S. by United Streetcar, to basically the same design. All have a low-floor center section between the trucks, and at one door on each side they are equipped with a MAX-like bridge plate—a short ramp that extends from the vehicle doorway—to allow wheelchair access. Compared to MAX cars they are shorter and narrower, a result of having to run in mixed traffic on neighborhood streets, alongside parked automobiles. The cars are lighter than those used by MAX, allowing cheaper, less-intense track construction. Furthermore, couplers on the streetcars are hidden behind bumper skirts and only used to move disabled units back to the yard.Portland Streetcar - Yards & Misc from ktransit.com (updated December 27, 2009.
From spring 2007 until fall 2012, the serviceable fleet included ten streetcars. An 11th car was delivered in 2009 but did not enter service until September 2012 (see next section). The 11 cars were supplied in four batches between 2001 and 2009, built by any of three different manufacturers. However, they have nearly identical dimensions and are similar in all respects, since the design used for all eleven cars was developed by the same two Czech companies, Škoda and Inekon.
Cars 001 through 005 have been in operation since 2001, while cars 006 and 007 were added in 2002. These seven were built by a now-defunct joint venture between Škoda and Inekon, and are Škoda's 10T model, originally also called Astra 10T. Inekon performed most of the design work, while Škoda carried out the construction, in Plzeň.
Three additional cars, numbered 008–010, were ordered for the expansion of service to South Waterfront. By that time, the partnership between Inekon and Škoda had dissolved in an "ugly divorce", so these cars were constructed in Ostrava, Czech Republic, by a partnership of Inekon and the Ostrava city transit agency, Dopravní Podnik Ostrava. This partnership was originally named DPO-Inekon, but soon adopted the (English) name "Inekon Trams". Portland cars 008–010 are model 12-Trio (a particular version of Inekon's Trio series of streetcar designs) and have a high degree of spare parts compatibility with the existing fleet. They arrived in Portland in January 2007, and after a period of street testing, entered service in late May 2007.
U.S.-built streetcars The next delivery, on May 15, 2009, was effectively another Škoda 10T, but built in the United States under license, rather than by Škoda itself. It entered service in September 2012.
Under a 2005 federal transportation bill, $4 million was allocated for construction of a U.S.-manufactured streetcar vehicle. Congressman Peter DeFazio indicated that the contract would go to Oregon Iron Works in Clackamas, Oregon, and that Portland would be permitted to keep the prototype vehicle permanently.
This special federal grant was intended to foster the creation of a domestic manufacturing industry for modern streetcars, which was non-existent at the time. This lack had forced streetcar systems to turn to overseas builders as the only source of the type of railcar needed. The first Portland Streetcar project had not used any federal funds. However, for any future streetcar projects desiring to obtain federal matching funds, among which were the planned future expansion in Portland, the vehicles would need to comply with the minimum 60% U.S. content provisions of the "Buy America" Act ().
In February 2006, Škoda Transportation established an "exclusive technology transfer agreement" with Oregon Iron Works (OIW) to build streetcars meeting "Buy America" rules, and the two companies jointly prepared a detailed OIW submission when the city of Portland (owner of the Portland Streetcar system) issued a request for proposals in mid-2006 to build one new streetcar for the Portland Streetcar. In January 2007, OIW won a contract from Portland to build the prototype streetcar, to the Škoda design, and reported that it had established a new subsidiary, United Streetcar, to perform the work.