Dave Knows Portland

Finally: One day train service from Portland to Vancouver, BC

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Update: The second train starts running August 19th.

Amtrak CascadesStarting in August, two Amtrak Cascade trains a day will make the cross border journey to Vancouver, BC. This means that, finally, Vancouver bound Portlanders won’t have to transfer to a bus or wait until the next day for the final leg of the trip after Seattle.

The service was supposed to start last summer, but Amtrak wouldn’t agree to the additional fees the Canada Border Services Agency wanted to impose for the second train. The Canadian Government has agreed to waive the fees . . . until after the 2010 Winter Olympics, and which point they will be reconsidered.

May 30-31: A beautiful weekend for Timbers soccer (x2)

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TimbersSaturday May 30th will be a lovely day for a tailgate. And then at 7pm the Vancouver Whitecaps visit PGE Park to face the Timbers in the teams’ second match up of the year. Vancouver, perennially a good team, is one point behind Portland in the standings. This will be a great match.

The Timbers return to the field Sunday, May 31st at 5pm to take on the Club America Reserves in a friendly exhibition match. Expect, and enjoy, a large, raucous crowd – these exhibition matches against Mexican teams always deliver in that department. We’ll probably get to see all the way to the end of the Timbers’ bench for this one, due to the rather important match against Vancouver less than 24 hours earlier, so study up!

The Timbers are coming off a fantastic weekend in Puerto Rico. La Tropa Naranja was sin suerte ante Portland – the teams drew in the first match 1-1, but the Timbers snatched 3 points in the second in Bayamón 2-1 – our first win in Puerto Rico since the Naranjas entered the league.

The other big Timbers news this week was the official announcement of a July 25th friendly against the recently promoted Burnley Football Club of England’s Championship League – next year they’ll be playing against the big boys in the Premiership. This summer they’ll be facing the Timbers at PGE Park!

StreetFilms extolls Portland transportation planning for 30 minutes

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You’ve probably seen bits of this before, but here it is all together in a 30 minute production.

StreetFilms is a project of the New York City Street Renaissance, “a collection of non-profits geared towards re-imagining the city’s public spaces and making our streets safer for pedestrians, bicycles and non-vehicular modes of transportation.” Portland gets a lot of attention on the site for obvious reason.

Portland to Vancouver, BC by train in one day?

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Update 7/6/09: Finally: One day train service from Portland to Vancouver, BC

Summer of 2008 Portlanders will be able to take the train up to Vancouver, BC without having to stop overnight in Seattle (and vice versa). At least that’s what this article seems to be saying:
Amtrak Cascades Map

When the new service begins operations, Amtrak Cascades will depart from Vancouver, B.C. in the morning, travel to Seattle, and then continue on to Portland, Ore. Each afternoon, another train will depart Portland, travel to Seattle, and then continue on to Vancouver, B.C. This service will supplement the existing train that makes a round trip between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., departing Seattle in the morning.

I’m planning my trip already!