Popular Portland routes

What a route page tells you

Each route page covers the typical drive time, the highways a chauffeur is likely to use, the traffic windows that matter and where the pickup happens at each end. For airport routes that means the lower-level commercial curb at PDX; for intercity trips it means planning a comfortable stop on the longer drives.

If your trip has several stops, or you need the chauffeur to wait, compare the route fare with an hourly charter. For a single leg, a point-to-point ride is usually the better value.

Matching the vehicle to the route

The fares above are for the E-Class sedan and the Cadillac Escalade. The sedan suits one to three travelers with up to three bags; the Escalade seats up to six with room for six bags, which matters on PDX runs with golf clubs or winter gear. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class and the Sprinter are quoted per route in writing, or can be booked by the hour at $230 and $240 with a three-hour minimum. A Sprinter carries up to fourteen people, so a wedding party or a team flying in together can travel in one vehicle instead of three.

Traffic windows that shape a route

Your fare is fixed, but the pickup time is planned around Portland’s recurring slowdowns. These are the ones dispatch watches most closely:

• I-5 through the center of the city at the Marquam Bridge and the I-405 interchange, southbound from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and northbound from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays.
• US-26 inbound from Sylvan Hill through the Vista Ridge Tunnels during the morning rush, which affects Beaverton and Hillsboro rides into downtown.
• The I-84 and I-205 interchange on the Banfield Corridor near PDX, busy from about 3:00 to 6:30 p.m. and the main variable for airport runs from the east side.
• Seasonal closures on SW Naito Parkway for the Rose Festival and Saturday Market, when downtown pickups detour via I-405 or SW Front Avenue.

For a departing flight in one of those windows, the car is scheduled earlier so the buffer comes out of the drive, not your check-in time.

Pickups at each end

At PDX, prearranged cars work from the designated commercial curb on the lower level of the terminal roadway under a Port of Portland livery permit, so arriving passengers collect their bags and meet the chauffeur there. On the west side, Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton and the Intel campuses in Hillsboro require visitor placards or license-plate pre-registration, and chauffeured cars use the designated guest lots. Mention the host and building when you book, so the plate can be registered with the campus before your visit.