Trimess

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Trimet cracking down everywhere lately

TriMet: News Release - TriMet conducts WES safety campaign

4 comments:

Erik H. said...

Gee, more spending for WES!

When will the madness stop...can't afford a damn new bus to replace the ones that are 21 years old, obsolete, and will start failing left and right with the warm weather in the next couple of days, but we can blow more and more money down the WES drain.

Jason McHuff said...

Would you rather they let trespassing be a problem, and cause crashes that must be investigated and dealt with?

And has been shown to you time and time again, TriMet is indeed spending money to replace buses.

Erik H. said...

I fail to see the need for a targeted effort. Shouldn't police officers on their routine patrols simply be enforcing the law as part of their normal, everyday duties?

Tigard's Police Station is located a stone's throw away from WES. Tualatin's police station is literally right on the WES route. So is Beaverton's. So why must TriMet spend EXTRA money (that it doesn't have) to enforce existing laws that need to be enforced 365 days a year?

And, how many buses is TriMet buying?

How much federal funding is TriMet obtaining?

And how many buses are beyond the 12 year federal guideline for replacement?

Sorry, Jason. Buying 40 buses when you need 300 is not enough. The 2000s and 2100s are now eligible for federal funding for replacement...so every bus from 1400 to 2199 (or whatever the highest numbered bus in that series is) should be off the roster and in bus heaven, replaced with brand new buses...

Jason McHuff said...

How about you ask them that? But in any case, this appears to be simply allocation of existing resources (e.g. police officers), not spending of additional money. I would think the theater ads are free PSAs. And it could be that regular officers have other duties to do and that transit officers are better able to carry out the mission.

Also, TriMet is buying 55 buses (including 4 hybrid ones), not 40, and has plans to buy more each year. $8 million for them will come from a Federal grant and other Federal funding will contribute an additional $13.3 million.

And has be shown numerous times, TriMet has found that the optimum replacement cycle is around 15 years, not 12. Plus, wasn't it you that said that old buses are still safe and usable?