I'm not sure why they would need to spend all the effort and $$$ to try to shoehorn a station into downtown Portland. As others have said, it's very convenient having the connections with the buses, and there's lots of parking at the sire, too, which is essential for a station that probably serves mostly passengers coming from suburban and rural areas. The location is also an easy drive from the airport (where one can get rental cars) and the Turnpike. While a $20 taxi fare seems stiff, perhaps Uber or Lyft are cheaper, but, in any event, wherever the station is located, taxi rides to somewhere will be expensive. What if the station were downtown, and I needed to get somewhere in the suburbs. The current site is conveniently located near I-295 and fairly close to downtown. I know there's a city bus that goes downtown, but I'm not sure of the frequency when the trains are running. Again, I think most passengers aren't riding transit to or from the final or originating destination, but rather getting dropped off/picked up or just parking and riding. Perhpas they should think about doing some transit-oriented development around the station, though I'm not sure who owns the property around it, and they could ensure that there's frequent shuttle bus service into the downtown/old Port neighborhoods. I would also think that some of the downtown hoteels may offer shuttles, just as they offer shuttles to the airport.