Portland Oregon Tourism transport and safety query

Members, I ask your advice please if you are familiar with Portland Oregon. I am looking forward to my first visit in a few weeks. I'll be downtown and don't expect to rent a car.

My Frommer's guidebook doesn't list any taxicab companies; it gives the impression there are not a lot of cabs.

We're big city people but want to take reasonable precautions. I'll be leaving an event around 9 PM near Everett and 3rd Avenue on a weeknight.

Is it reasonable to expect to be able to call a taxi and get one within 20 minutes or so in that part of town? Are there any cab companies you recommend or avoid?

Since the sunsets are now around 9 PM, I think I'll be in before dark the other evenings!

I'm looking forward to it; Portland looks like a neat place. Thanks in advance!

Cab? Take light rail or a streetcar. The People's Republic has an excellent mass transit system.

Downtown Portland is pretty safe from my experience. I wouldn't worry about walking around after dark, personally.

Thanks, I did find numbers for two cab companies buried in the Frommer's guide. The guide says that the entertainment district west of there on Burnside is a high-crime area.

There are cabs if you really need them, but for the bulk of the downtown area I second using mass transit. At Everett and 3rd you're only a couple block away from a MAX stop.

And not to mention that if you are coming here in the next week or so, it is still light out around 9PM. I've never taken a cab here, but we take the MAX and buses all of the time. Just have change with you.

From Everett and 3rd, your just a couple of blocks from Burnside. Burnside at 9PM on a weekday night might be a little sparse compared to a weekend night, but it sure isn't rolled up.

Downtown Portland is not exceedingly large and during the day, good walking shoes is all you need (depends on where you are staying of course)

-jim

Oh yeah, I forgot to recite the town motto: "Keep Portland Beered!"

-jim

gearchow said:

Oh yeah, I forgot to recite the town motto: "Keep Portland Beered!"

-jim

Click to expand...

I like that, especially since I won't be driving! Thanks all for responding. After some digging I found that my Frommer's guide did recommend two cab companies.

NW Everett I assume? I've been to Portland, and as an outsider I can say I felt extremely safe in the Northwestern District. You may see some junkies/homeless on Burnside - but nothing compared to what you would see in an east coast city.

Gentlemen:

Thanks for your help, I really enjoyed my vacation in Portland, especially the Old Rasputin Imperial Stout.

Mostly we used Radio Cab and were very satisfied with them. A few other cab companies were not as good.

The public transportation in Portland is awesome and you should be proud of it. It makes it much more attractive to tourism. If you haven't seen the exhibit "The Allure of the Automobile", catch it before ends September 11th. If you walk across the street to the Oregon Historical Society they have nifty cars on display now also, including a Lotus from Indianapolis and an MG-TC.

I appreciate it!