Getting from Portland International Airport to the city

The platform is in the building

• PDX's MAX station is at the south end of the terminal, and you can reach it from the ticket lobby level or from baggage claim. There is no shuttle and no walk across a car park.
• The Red Line is the one that serves the airport, and trains depart every 15 minutes.
• It runs into downtown Portland and out west through the city, so most of central Portland is a single ride.

The fare, and the thing that makes it cheap

• 2.80 dollars for an adult, and the ticket is good for two and a half hours across TriMet buses, MAX light rail and WES commuter rail. That is a long validity by any standard.
• Fare capping does the rest. Once you have spent 5.60 dollars in a day - two rides - everything else that day is free. Once you have spent 100 dollars in a calendar month, the rest of the month is free.
• You do not have to buy anything up front to get that. Tap the same phone or contactless card each time and TriMet works it out.
• Reduced fare is 1.40 dollars with a 2.80 daily cap and a 28 dollar monthly cap, for seniors 65 and over, people on Medicare, people with disabilities, people who qualify on income, and veterans and active-duty military. Proof is required when boarding.
• Youth 7 to 17 and high school students pay 1.40. Children 6 and under travel free with a paying passenger.

Paying

• The farecard is Hop Fastpass, but you do not need it: tap a phone or a contactless credit card on the green Hop reader as you board.
• A Hop card is only needed if you qualify for a reduced fare and need the eligibility stored on it.

Landing here

• PDX is about 15 km north-east of downtown, by the Columbia River, and the MAX ride in takes around 40 minutes.
• The airport is famous for its carpet, which has its own following and its own merchandise, and which was replaced in a way that made the news.
• Oregon has no sales tax, which is the fact that makes the airport shops genuinely cheaper rather than notionally so.