Read this article for EXCLUSIVE anecdotes about Mercury staff you won’t find anywhere else!!!! (And to find out who won the race, and which mode of transportation is superior)

🥰

Who will in a battle of transportation modes in Portland?

⚡ Electric bike
🚲 Bicycle
🚌 Bus
🚗 Car
🛴 Scooter

The Mercury's latest experiment pitted these modes against one another in a race from downtown to the Hollywood Theatre (and maybe a twist destination).

Who do you think won?

Thank you Nic 🙏🥲🥲

This was pretty cool to read and @portlandmercury.com should do it again 💁‍♂️

Breezy and approachable is always what I’m going for!! Thx 🤩🤩

Deep appreciation for @taylorgriggs.bsky.social breezy, approachable writing on the state of PDX transportation throughout this @portlandmercury.com special issue.

I didn’t get the sense they were available for petting but I did consider doing so anyway

There is depravity on display at Phoenix Sky Harbor (no indoor trees, everything is too expensive, generally ugly)

The way Portland haters talk about Portland is how I talk about every airport in the US except for PDX.

Echoing everything everyone has already said! You deserve a break! Thanks for all your good work.

Thank you Blazers 😍 life is worth living

PLAYOFFS!!!!!

The Blazers are returning to the postseason for the first time since the 2020-21 season!

What?

It still appears to me that Seattle is at a disadvantage when it comes to grassroots bike culture, but that could change. The one thing they can’t really change are the hills (but e-bikes have gone a long way on that front).

Mayor Katie Wilson Announces a Summer Full of Bike Supremacy - The Stranger On the same day a car went for an unseasonable dip off Lake Washington Boulevard and into the eponymous lake, Mayor Katie Wilson announced the official schedule for car-free weekends along the lakesid...

Seattle has been beating Portland on bike stuff for a while. This seals the deal. Let’s wake up, Portland!!! Mayor Keith Wilson should feel the need to outdo his name twin mayor in the north.

Street View: Lightning Round - Portland Mercury [What follows is one of the many articles in the Mercury‘s 2026 Transportation issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to kee...

The latest edition of Street View is here with tons of Portland transportation news:

How Portland intends to rebuild bike culture, the e-bike rebate program just launched, and the Portland City Council seems poised to adopt a transportation utility fee.

Le Tour de Portland - Portland Mercury What follows is one of the many articles in the Mercury‘s 2026 Transportation issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.—eds. Even the most casual cyclist has, at some point, felt […]

I wrote about the exciting and inviting bike races in Portland this season for the @portlandmercury.com Transportation Issue www.portlandmercury.com/transportati...

For his story in the transportation issue, @jeremiahhayden.bsky.social talked to Council Prez/East Portland resident @councilordunphy.bsky.social. Dunphy didn’t necessarily run as a transpo reform candidate, but he’s been outspoken about street safety in East Portland during his time in City Hall.

Too many of us are intimately familiar with the havoc injury and fatal crashes wreak on families and friends, how they seep unconsciously into a community’s sense of safety, and anesthetize us to the psychological damage caused by witnessing preventable suffering again and again.

📰New Merc out now

The Highway That Never Was  - Portland Mercury [What follows is one of the many articles in the Mercury‘s 2026 Transportation issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.—eds.] Over fifty years ago, a freeway almost destroyed a large […]

Portland almost demolished a good chunk of Southeast for a freeway. Almost! I wrote a bit about the never-constructed Mount Hood Freeway for the @portlandmercury.com Transportation Issue.

Did you know the Mercury’s monthly issues are now delivered via electric cargo trikes?

Today, we rode along with B-Line from SE Portland to downtown see the delivery of the new transportation issue.

The Mercury‘s April issue is called “Joyride,” and it’s all about transportation in Portland.⁠

Included in this month’s print issue: a special edition of Street View, in which I discuss new PBOT funding proposals, Portland’s bike culture, the state legislature’s failures on street safety, and Portland’s brand-new e-bike incentive program, which launched this week.

BikePortland at 21 - Portland Mercury What follows is one of the many articles in the Mercury‘s 2026 Transportation issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.—eds. In 2005, Portland’s bike scene was weird and thriving. Pedalpalooza, […]

Don't miss the article about me and @bikeportland.org in the Portland Mercury!!

Thanks to @taylorgriggs.bsky.social for putting it together and to @aaronkuehn.bsky.social for the amazing lead photo. 🙏🏻

www.portlandmercury.com/transportati...

Without enough money for basic maintenance and operations, it’s been impossible for the city to make a dent in its deferred street maintenance backlog, which gets slightly more unmanageable literally every time a street is used. But every attempt to significantly update the bureau’s funding model has failed miserably. Nearly two decades have passed since then-Commissioner Sam Adams proposed a $464 million package to address Portland’s transportation maintenance and safety needs, with some of the money coming from a new utility fee tacked onto residents’ water bills. That plan failed, in part because oil lobbyists intervened.

In 2014, when Steve Novick was in charge of PBOT, he tried again. His efforts largely failed as well, although Novick did manage to convince voters to support a 10-cent-per-gallon gas tax for street maintenance, just before he was voted out of City Hall for the crime of being a realist about Portland’s transportation funding situation. (Clearly, voters didn’t hold much of a grudge, because he’s back now.) Meanwhile, the condition of Portland’s streets has gone from bad, to worse, to completely dismal. If we were to actually address the city’s street maintenance backlog, it would cost upwards of $6.6 billion. And it’s at this dire point when Portland might finally go for the street fee.

The Portland City Council, with Vice President Olivia Clark leading the charge, appears poised to adopt a transportation utility fee (also known as a “street fee”), which would be added to residents’ water and sewer bills. It’s a similar proposal to what Adams and Novick suggested all those years ago. Many other cities in Oregon, including Milwaukie, Tigard, and Hillsboro, charge these fees, which are intended to treat street upkeep like a utility everyone benefits from. (The city report points out that “even a person who never leaves their residence benefits from the goods and services that travel on the transportation system.”) Portland leaders are considering charging $12 monthly per house, $8.40 per apartment, and $61 per business, which they expect would generate almost $47 million annually.

The city is considering a few other new fees, too, but the utility add-on would generate the most revenue. While these new taxes could be a lifeline for PBOT during a time of financial hardship, it’s not comforting to know that they’d barely make a dent in the deferred maintenance crisis. In order to make a real impact, one would need to build a time machine, travel back to the 1990s, and beg then-Mayor Vera Katz to get a handle on the pothole problem before it spirals out of control. Also, it would help if people drove a little less, or at least, drove smaller cars. You may look like a total badass in your 8,000 pound Ford F-450, and yes, everyone wants to have sex with you because you drive it, but those heavy trucks do some serious damage!

On the new street fee proposal…it comes much too late, considering the horrible conditions of Portland’s streets. But without a time machine, it might be the best we can do. (But the time machine is actually a more realistic option for genuinely fixing the problem.)

Included in this month’s print issue: a special edition of Street View, in which I discuss new PBOT funding proposals, Portland’s bike culture, the state legislature’s failures on street safety, and Portland’s brand-new e-bike incentive program, which launched this week.

The Mercury's JOYRIDE Issue Is Out Now! - Portland Mercury The Mercury‘s April issue is called “Joyride,” and it’s all about transportation in Portland. Whether you get around by car, bus, bike/unicycle/electric tricycle, foot, or any other mode, transportation likely plays a significant role in your life. So you should care about it! And this issue has something for everyone. Get your hands on news […]

The @portlandmercury.com transportation issue is out today, in print and online! I edited this one (with the help of my amazing colleagues) and am very proud of it. Check it out for important transpo news, features on bike racing and skateboarding, and much more!! 🚲🚊🛹🛼

I know!! I love it so much. Dorothy Siemens did it. She’s dorothydotcool on IG

The Mercury's JOYRIDE Issue Is Out Now! - Portland Mercury The Mercury‘s April issue is called “Joyride,” and it’s all about transportation in Portland. Whether you get around by car, bus, bike/unicycle/electric tricycle, foot, or any other mode, transportation likely plays a significant role in your life. So you should care about it! And this issue has something for everyone. Get your hands on news […]

The @portlandmercury.com transportation issue is out today, in print and online! I edited this one (with the help of my amazing colleagues) and am very proud of it. Check it out for important transpo news, features on bike racing and skateboarding, and much more!! 🚲🚊🛹🛼