Things on this page were removed from my original Yamhill Wine Country Tour, my first attempt at a Transit Tour in July 2019.
That original page was devoid of anything enjoyable about the tour. In place of those details, I added three photos I had taken on the tour - of food and coffee - to the page.
I will augment this page to make it more complete, and generalized somehow as time permits. Next time I plan a tour, I'll take more notes on how I went about it. There are probably many essays and sources on this subject. To be continued.
Since I started this project, Google began offering trip planning across transit systems.
I need to check that out, to see if you can specify points long the way that you want to be 'on the ground', not riding. Feedback on this would be welcome!!
In general, tours will be easier to plan if the frequency of service allows you to not worry about getting stranded, or when you must do the legs of your tour.
My initial diagram
Before the trip, I studied YCTA routes and schedules.
To make this diagram, I simply compiled snippets from schedules for places around the Loop. (Dundee not included.) As you can see, there is a big gap in Tigard... my bus left at 8:44a. The next departure would have been 12:02p, over 3 hours later. This diagram didn't show me the amount of time available on the ground in each town between buses.
THEN, I came up with a diagram that I could use to help make choices and avoid getting stranded.
The RED path is the tour (actually) taken on July 25. Other tours are discussed in the Advice section on the Yamhill Wine Country Transit Tour page
LINK
Trade-offs and options?
I would rather have spent 165 minutes in Carlton than in Forest Grove. That option is in Green. Another possibility (in Yellow) is to spend 328 minutes in McMinnville, and then ride all the way to Hillsboro on the 33 just for the scenery,
These are just some of the possibilities. Note if you leave Tigard at 8:44 and get off in Newberg, you'll be there for at least 200 minutes (3+ hours) before continuing to McMinnville. You could also get off in Dundee for the same kind of layover.
You could of course, go to McMinnville, and return to Tigard. Or you could go to McMinnville on YCTA 44 and to Carlton on YCTA 33 and make return trips, but Caveat Emptor!
I have not worked out the return times... You may also spend additional time in McMinnville when returning to Tigard.
If you want to stop in Forest Grove, the YCTA bus drops you near the Grand Lodge, which is OK, but the good stuff (oldtown Forest Grove, Pacific U) is all a big walk from there.
I suggest using Trimet 57 to get Hillsboro (or BVTRN transit station) from there, instead of walking back to the HWY 47 YCTA 33 stop.
About the Space Time Diagrams
Here we present and explain a simple Tour diagram. ie how to read and use one. It could be that a given tour may have only one possible (feasible) tour, but most will allow tourists to de-board at points along the tour, re-boarding later to continue the tour.
Then the Pandemic happened, and Touring was halted. I wanted to computer-generate a diagram so that the times are all lined up... i.e., each minute of the day would have a time ordinate so that a time bubble (eg 12:45) can be placed in Time, under the Place it belongs to. I don't know if anyone has done a diagram like that before.. Probably. Need to research.
Portland Metropolitan Area Transit Service Coverage Map
This Coverage Map is embedded in various PDFs.
To be determined: How integrated and synchronized are these systems? For example, A while ago, I determined that it was hardly feasible to take public transit all the way to Mt Hood, because you'd have zero time to spend at Timberline before having to head back to Sandy to get the last bus back to Troutdale/Gresham. (Unless staying overnight of course.)