Friday, September 27, 2013

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

TriMet ridership declined 5 percent over summer, even as more workers took WES | OregonLive.com

TriMet ridership declined 5 percent over summer, even as more workers took WES | OregonLive.com

You don't really expect to get any actual objective information from Trimet right? There is always an external scapegoat for every one of their failures. The numbskulls in charge don't want to admit they made riding Trimet for short trips ridiculously expensive compared to other transit agencies, a nazi like fare enforcement and horrible bus service in the suburbs have contributed to driving people back into their cars.

I can't tell you how many tweets I see everyday from people saying they cant wait to get their cars back or get their license.

Trimet may have max but if you cant get to or from max what good is it?

Interesting observation about STREAM and its 100% subisdy. There are so few riders on WES that even a few hundred extra riders bump that by a decent percentage.

And when the new stats start coming out which take into consideration the end of fareless square that will give a very clear picture of what is going on.

The bus service decline cannot be explained by fare less square however, Trimet has done itself in, and the execs gave themselves a raise for the wonderful job THEY ARE NOT DOING.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

TriMet to fare app users: Dead battery? Good luck with that | OregonLive.com

TriMet to fare app users: Dead battery? Good luck with that | OregonLive.com

Usually I agree with most everything that chwherittakesu writes, however not this time.
However you do agree that the fine is excessive, so you do have some understanding of the plight of the vast majority of citizens out here.
The way things are set up now is a clear example of government 'predation' pure and simple. The fine does not fit the crime, there is no possible way to justify it either. It's completely wrong and immoral.

The reason I call inspectors Gestapo , I actually don't use that term any longer I call them TRISTAPO is because they use the exact same techniques as the Gestapo used in Germany. Boarding trains and checking papers randomly without probable cause. The inspectors make the assumption that everyone is a fare evader and everyone that is inspected is expected to give up their rights and comply. That is fascism, you have no rights in the face of random inspections.

Let me take this one step further, I assume you have been working at Trimet at least 15 years so you are fully aware that for 10 years prior to Herr Mcfarlane showing up there was a large fareless square and minimal investment made to enforcement. Trimet did not make the necessary obligations to secure their transit system but decided 'walk on' was somehow preferable.

Then Mcfarlane shows up and decides that everything needs to change, except the securment of the stations. If Trimet was serious about fares rather than intruding on peoples lives they would have secured the stations, heavens knows they spend multimillions on everything else.

Mcfarlane then raises the fares to the level of highest in the country for short trips and hires dozens of white shirted Tristapo  to plague riders. Add to that TVM's that don't work and what you have is one of the most abusive transit systems in the world. Ridership has plummeted under Mcfarlanes iron fisted rule.

You comment that 'trimet doesn't get rich off the fines'. What you forget to understand is that Trimet is a cog in the thing called 'government machinery'. The fine is used to pay for other governmental operations. You hear Trimet big shots always referring to their 'partners'. Well those 'partners' are other governmental units and you may be aware that there are constant 'intergovernmental agreements' between them. In other words, THEY SUPPORT EACH OTHER.

And in regards to this comment:
""They should know they are taking the risk. You don't charge a shoplifter who steals a pair of jeans just the price of the jeans if they are caught. You charge them $250-500 plus the possibility of jail time so they think twice about doing it.''

But then you make this comment: 
"""I've watched many of these guys who cite the fare evaders. ON AVERAGE (not every day) out of every 10 people stopped; 7 are prior offenders with MORE than 1 prior offense (so they havn't learned their lesson),"""

You've just proved yourself wrong, THE FARE CITATIONS DON'T EVEN WORK AS A DETERRENT TO REPEAT OFFENDERS! REPEAT OFFENDERS OBVIOUSLY ARE NOT WORRIED AT ALL ABOUT THE STUPID FARE EVASION RULES BECAUSE THERE IS NO REAL PENALTY FOR IGNORING THEM. So they go to jail for a night, they obviously don't fear that much, the probably brag about it. 

Monday, September 16, 2013

TriMet smartphone fares app getting not-so-rave reviews from frustrated riders | OregonLive.com

TriMet smartphone fares app getting not-so-rave reviews from frustrated riders | OregonLive.com


I'm beginning to think that this is more a scam in which TriMet can claim infallibility if something doesn't work - because it will distance itself and say "Call GlobeSherpa...and, by the way, here's your citation. See you in court."
~~~>WOW, no wonder its 'privatized'. I was really curious why Trimet is allowing a for profit company to make money on this rather than having this app created directly by Trimet, and ERIK just hit the nail on the head. This is indeed the beauty of PRIVATIZATION, government can pass the buck while filling cronies pockets.

I knew this latest propaganda bonanza was just the usual Trimet nonsense. And as they always do, TRIMET points the finger at everything else but themselves for the blame.

"""The most common rider mistake, Altstadt said, is entering a credit or debit card without checking the box that says “store card for future purchases.” “If they do not do this, the app will not remember the info,” she said.

Meanwhile, app crashes, Altstadt said, are likely related to older phones running older operating system versions. She suggested riders with Android phones go into their settings and make sure “developer options” is turned off."""

Always somebody else to blame, A-L-W-A-Y-S!

And I know your poll is unscientific but it does denote a 30% failure rate with is HIGHER than the TVM's. Don't expect Trimet to ever mention anything that even hints of failure when it comes to their operation.

None of this is surprising to me, not at all, saw it coming from a mile away.

Friday, September 13, 2013

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OPAL's Pitch to TriMet - Portland Transport

OPAL's Pitch to TriMet - Portland Transport

Actually I believe transit should be free, a publicly provided service like police/fire/sidewalks/streets etc.

The problem has always been, and will continue to be, that transit in this country makes too much money for the people that are involved in it.

It shouldn't cost 100k a year to operate a bus (with overtime), executives shouldn't be making mid six figure salaries and obscene pensions. Layers and layers of bureaucracy exist now with each layer siphoning off money that could be used to transport people

Transit funds lately in this  country has been more about building things than transporting people, billions are made available for capital projects but nothing to move people around now.

And I just don't believe what the Trimet executives say, we have no way to prove or disprove their budget analysis.

Last year Mcfarlane claimed the sky was falling cut routes and raised fares, all the while he hid $970,000 in raises for himself and his executive staff that will continue in perpetuity. 

This year he says there is money to restore something, but in 20 years 70% of everything will have to be cut.

How can anyone believe anything that comes out of Trimet?

Sunday, September 8, 2013

MaxRedline: More Union Thuggery

MaxRedline: More Union Thuggery



Shoving
attendees, spitting on a speaker, barging into a room rented by the two
libertarian organizations with bullhorns - really? Yeah boy, makes me
want to sign right up. Not.


~~~>No not good at all. My experience at Trimet makes me more pro union than anti union. I had some protections as a result of the union. We also had a good contract because of the union.



It is a fact that GENERALLY speaking union employees get better wages and benefits than non union employees. Not always but most of the time. Collectivism does work occasionally. 

MaxRedline: More Union Thuggery

MaxRedline: More Union Thuggery

So, letting union workers decide if they want to be in a union is cutting half their wages?
~~~> I support allowing workers to decide for themselves if they want to be in the union

Yes. But if I'm on the public payroll, and have a vastly better deal than the taxpayers, I could see their point.
~~~>Understood and agree, as I said I am on the fence with this issue.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Human Transit: portland: TriMet's new mobile ticketing app reviewed (guest post)

Human Transit: portland: TriMet's new mobile ticketing app reviewed (guest post)

This telephone app is indeed a positive development for Trimet riders who for years have suffered the horrible Trimet ticket machines and the brutality of Trimet's policy forcing riders to get off at other stations and buy tickets if the machines are not working at the embarking station.
That truly is a fascist policy if there ever was one, placing the responsibility on the rider to cover for Trimet's failures.
So in that respect this is a giant step forward.

I do have some problems with this however.
First there are ex trimet executives that stand to make a quite a bit of money from this.  I am never pleased to see ex government officials enter into that 'revolving door' of public/private enterprise.
These connected people (already wealthy) get themselves richer from their inside connections, its a societal problem but should not be so readily acceptable.

Secondly as the author noted, many people do not have a smart phone, those people will still have to suffer the brutality of the TVM policy. Trimet has created a sub class of riders now, transit equity this is not. This is another example of catering to the so called 'choice rider' which is code for UPPER CLASS WHITE PEOPLE.

Third, Trimet has been paying for all the advertising for this. Since when is it appropriate for a government agency to use tax funds to advertise  a 'for profit' company?

Fourth, the hype was way over the top. Completely blown up into some sort of major earthshaking event which it is not. Mobile ticketing has been around for a long long time, especially in Europe and it is used at other transit districts here in America. Sure Trimet is the first to allow it on its buses and trains instead of just the trains. But the reason for that is Trimet is a relatively small system compared to places like NY or Boston. Those places have multitudes of fares and many different types of services. Trimet basically has only 3 fares, Disabled, Youth, and Adult, and only two types of services, bus and max (WES doesn't count its ridership is so tiny and its fare is the same)


And we shall see how long it takes for some highly intelligent computer geek to counterfeit this software into a look a like app.  Are the fare inspectors going to have time to scan all the QR codes for each person that has this app to verify it? I doubt it.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Post-CRC Transit: Time for (Real) Commuter Rail? - Portland Transport

Post-CRC Transit: Time for (Real) Commuter Rail? - Portland Transport

I feel like I keep repeating myself I guess that's cause I keep repeating myself.

This is not complicated folks, high capacity transit can be available tomorrow.

All that's needed is to buy buses,lots of them,  high capacity buses, that have nice interiors with nice comfortable seats and simple amenities like high speed internet, run them frequently (as in every 10 minutes all day long) and people will use it.

No turmoil or construction needed. One 60 ft bus can haul 200 people comfortably that's 200 cars off I5. If you had a whole fleet of those  you can remove thousands of cars from the existing roadway.

 Planners like to plan and providing reliable and frequent bus service in big buses doesn't employ any planners and makes no money for construction outfits nor does it make profit  for developers.

Why are people attached to the complicated. The solution lies in the obvious.