Cool read, BTike, thanks! ***kim***

A tram with an observation deck up there in the sky! What a great way to see Portland from above, and it's only $4 RT? Too bad it's closed on Sun and holidays...

Yep, only $4 RT, which I heard won't be sufficient to even cover operating costs, not to mention the $57 million construction costs. Sometimes, you just have to laugh.

BTW, nice photos, Andrew.

Well, 2 comments/thoughts after looking at Andrew's photos:

1) great way to see the city

2) what??????? you have SNOW in Portland????

Beachbum--Yup, there is a lot to laugh about with some of this

Yes, sometimes we do have snow in Portland

They've cut back on operating hours, because of the cost. But if they want to lure more tourists in, they'd better open the tram on Sundays. I hope they change the schedule, come summer.

Once again, if being on the tram makes you nervous, you can always drive up to the hospital (or take the bus!), and view the city that way. You can only buy tickets for the tram at the waterfront station.

merseyheart , I find the drive up to OHSU heartstopping also lol...I kept thinking of what the doctors and nurses do when it snows and at night, going up that winding road...

Faina, I have a nice photo of pup and I playing in the snow in the North Park Blocks, to look at some winter in sunny Argentina

Presumably, a lot of people take the #8 bus (chained tires) from downtown up to OHSU in bad weather; I'm sure many take the bus anyway as it's pretty convenient. Now they can take the streetcar from downtown to the Tram stop and take the tram up, although the #8 bus would probably be faster overall.

Scarlett--My husband has weekly meetings up there. He has been on the tram, but most of the time it will be quicker/easier for him to just drive. So on the dark nights, think of him driving, lol!

Well, I finally rode in the tram yesterday. Wow, the views are spectacular! Not just from the tram itself but from the top. I got some neat shots of the bridges w/Mt. St. Helens that I'd never been able to get quite the same way before.

I don't know if the tram itself was all that scary of a ride - I was so busy snapping pictures off that I was hardly even paying attention to that!!! But it did seem really smoooth.

It seems odd that it is closed on Sundays and holidays. That will have to change! (Can you imagine a better vantage point for checking out the fireworks on July 4th???) Tourists are going to want to use this thing, and the city/OHSU should exploit that to recover some of the cost of building it.

I highly recommend a ride on this thing if you get the chance. Visitors can just drive down to the South Waterfront and park near it (mostly pay parking on the street and in a lot, but there is some unposted street parking nearby). You can also take the Portland Streetcar (not the MAX) directly to it.

My DH would love it! Me not so much, as I'm prone to vertigo.

Once again, that tram was directly overhead of me today as I was driving. I swear it happens every time, lol! My husband had meetings up there again, and I asked if he took the tram this time like before. He said no, because he has a parking spot there now, so he was happy to not have to deal with it.

Hi Andrew, nice to hear you got some great photos from the tram. We will be in Portland in a few weeks and we are compiling a list of things we want to do this trip. Sounds like a nice way to get some cool photos of Portland with our new camera.

The Portland Art Museum is also on our list. Lovely Hula Hands sounds like a nice place to try for dinner. ***kim*** )

Kim--Interesting that you posted today about this. As you know, on TA you posted about the tram and were told what it was for. Stirring the pot a bit?

Either that or what I refer to in my teenagers as selective hearing, mms. ;-)

Try not to knock over too many patients in your efforts to get those photos, kimamom. It's not worth it. I've seen your work.

http://tinyurl.com/36m5aa

As I said on the above thread, the tram is primarily transportation for hospital staff and patients.. they make Saturdays free for people who visit patients in the hospitals..
Commenting today , on Andrews post from January, is questionable, since a poster on TA was advised that they were being irresponsible in recommending taking rides for sightseeing, especially since that poster has never been on the Tram or seen the Tram and is not even in the state of Oregon.

I don't understand why tourists should not use the tram.

"The Portland Aerial Tram is part of Portland's public transportation system, and is owned by the city" - so it's like taking a city bus.

If bicycles are allowed on the tram, it's not only for sick people or doctors!

And if you read the website further, there is another way to get to the hospital for urgent care patients.

That's only part of the story, Faina. OHSU had to agree that the tram be publicized as part of Portland's public transportation system in order to get the city to finance the deal. So like with every other mass transit vehicle, it was a city requirement that the tram accommodate bicycles. But the fact remains that it was planned and built for the employees, patients, and visitors of OHSU.

I see this as similar to the city's requirement that Costco have a rack for customers to park their bicycles. Nobody ever uses 'em. And why should they? Ever tried to haul a 42" plasma TV home on the back of a bicycle? ;-)

OHSU is a teaching hospital, many students ride bikes in town, taking buses, and streetcars and leaving their bikes on the rack on the front of the bus, inside the streetcar etc.
People visit patients in the hospital...there is a huge population of people here who do not own cars..the Tram is brilliant as a means of transportation for everyone that needs/wants to go to the Hospital.
The only point is that while yes, everyone/anyone can ride the tram to the hospital and back, it is not a tourist sightseeing tram.
If someone were to ask one of the people who lives in Portland , how to get to the hospital, they would probably suggest the Tram if you have no car.
But if someone is coming to Portland as a tourist, no one would suggest taking rides on the Tram..

Scarlett, did you mean to say that the tram is free every Saturday? I thought it was just free last month so people could sample it. I agree with Andrew that they should open it on Sundays, at least during the summer. The view from the hospital's observation deck is stunning!