so the max to the bus to ohsu is not that quick (about an hour door to door) but it is a good option. Anytime you have to transfer the trip gets longer
I did the max/ bus thing for a year and it was ok but I had enough bad days where I missed 8am lecture because of trimet delays so I decided to drive in. Of course I had a three mile drive to the max and live near the end of the line so a little more painful than Thrall's trip sounds like it will be.
The 68 is the bus that goes from the goose hollow max stop (if you take the max from the west side) to ohsu but it is an express so it only runs up to ohsu in the am and down to the max in the pm (not round trip ever). You can also take the max all the way into downtown and catch the 8 which runs up to ohsu and back all day long. However, the 8 is notorious for crazy people and is not always on time.
There is a starbucks at the max/68 exchange and four coffee places that carry starbucks coffee on the hill. The coffee cart that has starbucks coffee is just inside the BICC, the building just next to where you get off the bus at school. The only fully operational starbucks is in dornbecker children's hospital which is on the opposite side of campus from the som. But there are some die hards that get off the bus early to get their coffee and then walk across campus to get to class.