A well know name was:

Square-less Fare

So lets make it the actual name, fits well anyway.

Fare mess...Where?

How about:

No-Fair Square?

Pretty much says it all to me.

How about this? Just Portland City Center Transit Center. Or to go by rail, and not to joke how about Galleria Square? All nthe rail seems to confluence around the galleria area by at least a block or two and is the name of a popular station. Pioneer square might work but who here woukd get confused? Imagine the max saying "This is the last stop in Pioneer Square" by Lloyd Center.

Price-reduced polygon?

Sorta-fareless, kinda-square.

homeless square

squareless square

SQUARE-LESS FARE-MESS!

This is a winner, I'm sending this one in!

Wait a minute, I got even a better one:

TRI-MESS'S ONE OF A KIND SQUARE-LESS FARE-MESS

go by streetcar!

"Free Rail Zone"

Add PGE Park Station to Free Rail Zone.

For those with backgrounds in operations management or cost accounting:

"Free On Board".

I *seriously* submit the following:

1. Portland's Square

2. The Love Seat

3. The Square's Republic of People

Yours,
Jason E.

That's all well and good, Al, but it's not four words or less. :-)

(When I first saw the requirement on TriMet's survey page, for a moment I saw "four letter words or less".)

OK Bob;

New logo;

GO BY STREETCAR-FREE!

No really, in all seriousness:

BEST FARELESS NAME CHANGE IDEAS

There's way too much potential for some fun with this (some of these were thought up by the Transit Riders Union, some are my own):

Fred Hansen Money Square
John Charles Memorial Square
George Passadore Zone
James Chasse Memorial Square
Caesar Chavez Worshipers Zone
"Spare Some Change?" Zone
Vagrant A-hole Sales Territory (VAST)
Fare That Isn't Fair
Elect the TriMet Board

Speaking of transit policy, we need some change in our leadership:

JASON BARBOUR TO RUN FOR CITY COMMISSIONER

wow i am getting sick of these aggressively antisocial comments always being posted here. i think i will no longer engage the comments section.

Wow. I had a feeling that was going to come from someone sooner or later. I worry Al M might get to someone soon. No offense. We're all transit geeks here. :)

Thing about this is the process is inherently funny, and Portland is as very much an antisocial city as it is a social one. TriMet will probably simply name it "Downtown Zone," "Fareless Rail Zone," or something nice and sterile anyhow, they're probably seeing if they can get anyone's creative juices flowing.

And with more and more people cramming ever closer on MAX, It's probably a good idea to brush up on some classic "Rantings of a TriMet Bus Driver" videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAepUGRUg0s

wow i am getting sick of these aggressively antisocial comments always being posted here. i think i will no longer engage the comments section.
. I worry Al M might get to someone soon.

Oh jeez, you guys want debate or just passive agreement on everything? Actually those fareless names aren't stuff that I came up with but stuff that has appeared on the internet. But I do find the whole renaming thing a bit offensive. I'm dealing with people that have suffered at the hands of Trimet and Portland, and they waste time on stuff like this?

And you want offensive comments, I recommend you check the Oregonian blog, or the tribune, or the Mercury if you can tolerate a truly free speech blog.

It offends me that my ideas are seen as offensive! People have a right to express their point of view, if you don't like it tough! Nobody is forcing you to read anything that I post anywhere! You can join the others who refuse to read my stuff, does it look like that I care?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAepUGRUg0s

WOW, that's really an oldie, from the very beginning!

Actually this blog played a huge role in my own development and attitude.

My first video might have been made as a result of getting booted here!

Only someone who was really really pissed would make some of those old videos.

There is a "minority" of opinion here in the greater Portland area about the direction of our transit agency. I am in the definite minority and some of my views do coincide with people of the anti rail persuasion, which has unfairly labeled me as being a "right wing stooge".

Right wing thought has at its fundamentals very sound policy around many issues, it can't be dismissed totally as a bunch of zealots trying to impose their morality on others, because at its roots, its completely logical.

I would like to apologize, Mr. M. I had no intention to offend you, I was just afraid that some people didn't like you. You seem nice enough, and very very real. Sorry I Offended You.

"There is a "minority" of opinion here in the greater Portland area about the direction of our transit agency. I am in the definite minority and some of my views do coincide with people of the anti rail persuasion, which has unfairly labeled me as being a "right wing stooge"."

>>>> Well, Al, I am definitely of the anti-rail persuasion regarding Portland, and happen to be an independent who voted for Obama.

It's sad that that the Metro/Trimet rail nuts have bamboozeed his Transportation Secretary, who apparently now believes that MAX is the wave of the future!

Piercings & Pitbulls Square

I was just afraid that some people didn't like you.

LOL!!LOL!! You noticed that did you?? LOL!!

Mothership Polygon!

Looks like "Free Rail Zone" was the winner.

http://www.kptv.com/news/21428698/detail.html

Not incredibly clever, exciting, or surprising. Pretty clear, though.

The days of official second class status for 'the rest of us' are fast approaching.

>>The days of official second class status for 'the rest of us' are fast approaching.

The rest of WHO, precisely? My guess you mean "bus riders"... but you seem to be speaking of bus riders a s distinct class of persons from "train riders", and the removal of busses from the free-fare program is a discriminatory act against the former.

If you are a bus rider who doesn't live downtown, the removal of busses from the free-fare program probably doesn't affect you (unless you like to get a free ride home by cheating). Most trips within FRZ that could be taken on a bus can be taken by rail. I realize that "most" is not "all", of course.

Given the issues with fare collection, I would love to see Tri-Met add a free downtown circulator (bus) to reach those parts of Fareless Square, of Free Rail Zone, which aren't served well by rail--especially if/when we come out of the recession and operating revenues return to prior levels.

As with the great majority of TriMet riders, our local line is indeed a bus. And we always pay our fares...so what?

My concern is not that the 'rest of us' are second class citizens, but that bus service is relegated to second class status. At the very minimum, this revamping of fareless square will bias toward more MAX ridership at the expense of that on buses, and TriMet's reports will dutifully report the widening rift.

Maybe this comes from concerns about the prospects of losing our bus to the LO streetcar. The shoes keep dropping from that puppy and it keeps on getting worse and worse.

Wow, that didn't take long for them to decide.
Perhaps the name suggestions (even more abrasive than some of those that Al and I posted?!) were getting to them.

What's the next to go from Downtown Portland (or Portland entirely)? Catlin Gabel is holding their final rummage sale, many other places are barely holding on, and businesses on 5th and 6th that TriMet congratulated themselves on for helping them stay open during construction are gone. At this rate, soon, there will be nothing to differentiate Portland from, say, Flint, Michigan.

Jason, have you been to Flint? I can guarantee we are a LONG, LONG way from there.

I can guarantee we are a LONG, LONG way from there.

I think ROME said the same thing about GREECE.

So WELLS, did you get a prize or what, since you were the winner?

Must ... Not ... Make ... Joke.1

TriMet is buying two old Alaska Railroad units to "back up" WES.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/after_morning_disruptions_trim.html