CHI '05: Portland's public transportation system

I recently returned from CHI '05 in Portland, OR (more about the conference later), but wanted to comment a bit about the public transportation system in Portland. While it is far better than most, as with systems of any kind, there are a number of good and bad things about this one:

GOOD: The "free square" in the center of town and out to the convention center is a brilliant idea--it makes it so much easier for those of us in town on a visit.

GOOD: The people in the tourist information office at Pioneer Square are REALLY wonderful and helpful with any questions about visiting the place.

GOOD: The MAX system seems to work very well (clean, reasonably frequent, etc.)

GOOD: It's really easy to catch public transit into town from the Airport (I wish this was true in more cities)

NOT-SO-GOOD: It's essentially impossible to read the route maps posted in the MAX cars while you are sitting down. Portland would do well to take a page out of London's book on this one--in the London Underground, there is a system map posted (showing all the lines), as well as a larger strip that lays all of the stops on the line you are on out in a single row so you can figure out how many more stops it is till you have to get off. (This would be particularly useful coming in from the airport with luggage to wrestle to the door.)

NOT-SO-GOOD: As with many bus systems, there's a real lack of information at the stops for Portland's busses. My wife and I only made it to the Japanese garden on our second attempt, as there was no indication on the stop for the bus leading up there that it only comes once an hour. Again, London does this well, with schedules/frequencies that each route will arrive at a given stop. (Aside: It's worth figuring out the bus schedule to get up to the Japanese gardens--absolutely gorgeous!)

NOT-SO-GOOD: The stops on the MAX are awfully close together (there are 3 stops on the same line within maybe 300 yards outside the convention center), which means that it takes a bit longer to get places than it might. In some places I could come close to keeping up with it while walking. Eliminating a few of the stops would speed things up a good bit (as well as giving everyone a bit more exercise, which is never a bad thing.)

I didn't get a chance to see the results of the pre-conference tutorial on fieldwork/ethnography (where they went out and interviewed users of the system), but I'd be interested to see if the people doing this tutorial came up with any of these same issues (after all, the above is just one user's opinion and therefore isn't a good sample.