Clackamas Town Center Transit Center – Max Station

The Clackamas Town Center MAX Station is just a few steps away from the mall that bears it’s name.
It was certainly wonderful that MAX extended itself south on the I-​205. Lots of people live way out there in Clackamas and many of them work in Portland. They pay taxes which frequently benefit Portland and so it is fair that a station near where they live reaches out to them and let’s them go directly downtown in a fairly efficient way despite the distance. The Green Line is a tremendous success.
The Clackamas Town Center MAX Station is okay. You exit and you’re two minutes walking from the mall. Once you walk down a small path after exiting the train, you see a range of big box stores which means that you are at the mall.
When returning, since this is a terminus, you may have to wait at least ten minutes in addition to the typical arrival of the train, for it to make the opposite trip towards Portland State University and downtown Portland. That wait should be a little bit shorter.
The Clackamas Town Center MAX station makes inexpensive shopping accessible to many more people.
For that, this station can be recommended.

I had planned on writing a review for the Clackamas Town Center Transit Center a while back. To me, this place is more than a light rail station or a major bus stop. It’s a success story.
For years, I-​205 had large expanses of grass in the middle of it and at its sides. It was supposed to be for a train down to Clackamas that would «someday» come. People who were married to their cars commented on what a waste of money that would be. The real waste would have been further clogging up I-​205. Not only that, MAX had addressed east-​west movement across metro Portland and did quite a good job with that, spanning from Hillsboro to Gresham, and even including the airport. While it has not addressed getting down into SW, it addressed getting down into SE with the arrival of the Green Line to Clackamas. The Green Line actually starts further out from downtown, at the PSU campus, does a jog up to the train station and the bus station, then goes onto the same track as the Red/​Blue lines, and finally goes down into Clackamas on a path in fact using those large expanses of grass. From the junction at Gateway, the trip to this terminus is a mere 16 minutes. If driving along I-​205, it looks to be popular based on the number of people aboard.
Everything about this station is well planned and nicely laid out. It is less than a 5 minute walk from the eastern edge of the mall. It has 3 levels, plus an open upper deck. The ground level is for the Trimet bus bays, operations, and security. There is also some retail space at the ground level. Levels 2, 3, and 4 (the open upper deck) are for customer parking. It is free of charge. The train sits up on level 2 behind a retaining wall and they made provisions to leave the bike path along I-​205 untouched. For those boarding the train from the mall or the buses, there are long attractive landscaped ramps that make the ascent as well as an elevator. For those arriving in a vehicle, a ramp routes drivers up to the 2^nd level, where the MAX trains are located.
Even today, there are people who don’t want the expansion of train service. You might even find them aboard a bus! When once aboard a bus on the West Side, a passenger started talking to me about the bus being on time and whatnot. The conversation progressed to my asking, «So when is MAX coming down the SW side of town and taking some pressure off I-​5?» He went on to complain about how it’s not wanted because it increases crime and inquired if I was a Democrat, telling me that he and his dad had been in the service and that he didn’t like handouts. You really can’t discuss something so complex like this with a reductionist idiot, so I simply responded that I was «pro-​transit.» I could see the bus driver on this route subtly nodding as if in agreement.
Expanding the train and creating a node the likes of the Clackamas Transit Center stimulates the use of transit, and makes it easier to route more buses into a major hub to service other areas more thoroughly or more efficiently. Another thing is that, before the Green Line came along, you would not see much white collar ridership on downtown bound buses from the East Side. With this transit center and the Green Line, that has changed. Studies have repeatedly shown that this segment of the potential ridership pool will not ride a bus but will ride a train. Perhaps it is conditioning from having seen subway/​light rail use by other people in the same demographic in larger cities in the media for so many years. Don’t waste your time judging that. It’s just a basic truth.
Clackamas Transit Center has a positive vibe about it because it’s both attractive and smart. Go green, as in using the Green Line! Go Clackamas Transit Center!

Another win for Portland public transit, a huge gain for the hood that is Clackamas /​Happy Valley.
Because it’s one of the newer stations /​stops, it is one of the cleanest. Stationed just a stone’s throw away from Clackamas Town Center, it is a convenient place for all to hit up the place without having to deal with the crazy parking.
Another plus about this station is the fact it’s both the start (and finish) along the 79-​Clackamas-​Oregon City line. Seats are practically guaranteed at least for an outbound trip. If you’re looking for the bus stop, head toward the parking lot. The actual stop is pretty easy to miss.
Lastly, the Clackamas stop is not home to skeevy hobos or nutty hipsters but don’t be surprised if it’s teeny boppers looking to escape the confines of Clackamas for some downtown Portland action.

Easy to navigate #Trimet terminal.
The MAX Terminal: Single island platform, trains pull in on both sides. Staircase and zig zag ramp for wheelchair access. Ticket machine and validator are on the side, Not on the platform, (so validate your ticket before going onto the platform and keep your ticket handy when arriving here on MAX, cause the inspectors will catch you). Wish there was an electronic sign pointing out Which is the next train to leave, Track 1 or 2, (have gotten on one train, Just to see the other pull off 1^st).
The Bus Terminal: Under the parking lot, (so your sheltered from the weather). For the amount of buses that terminate here, the waiting area feels small, but the buses move frequent enough one isn’t standing waiting too long.
Easy to navigate transit center :)

How do you rate a MAX Station?
I like that this station is the first and the end on my route. I can always get the seat that I want to sit. :)