Trimess

Saturday, June 16, 2012

SUPERVISORY REPORTS




Helped with bike racks at corner of SW 6th and Salmon and then traffic control/crowd control and bus and rail movement at the same corner with Phil Thompson.

The problem we had was the traffic coming into and out of the parking garage on SW 6th Ave next to McDonalds farside of SW Main Street. All traffic was not allowed to travel on SW 6th Ave except for the autos that needed the parking garage. Unfortunately some vehicles did not use the parking garage and continued north on SW 6th Ave toward Parade/Run bump through at SW Salmon where we had to intercept the auto and turn them back. Police helped with it.

Also traffic on SW main was backed up extremely and some line 4 took it upon themselves to reroute off SW Main onto 3rd Ave to Jefferson and then back to SW 6th Ave to go north.

I had to be off by 9pm for HOS so I have nothing on the parade itself.
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My thoughts on the Grand Floral Parade.

I believe that overall the GF went very well. My only question concerns the overflow buses sent to Lloyd Center pre-event to help with overcrowding on the trains. What was the plan for these buses post event? I asked Ryan and he said that was never discussed in any planning of the meetings. I asked Wade and he did not know either. For the last umpteen years we have used these buses to clear OCC or other platforms along Holladay to get customers back to Lloyd Center or even Gateway. But there was no information of any kind concerning this. And no one could tell me who was going to be asking for bus support at OCC either. Ultimately I had these buses go to North Terminal for other assignments as needed. Posting signage for this event should really be done the night before as most routes are on reroute from first service. Given HOS I think this would be difficult but at least something to consider.

Starlight

There has to be a way to know when the City is going to close streets. We go through this every flaming year. Streets are supposed to be open and they close them early. In years past this has been an issue mainly in the disband area. Not so this year. NW Broadway was closed way early and NW Hoyt was closed precluding the use of our reroute for the #9. And why do we keep getting nonsense from everybody on the Fun Run. It is not a timed event so why can’t we get some cooperation in getting trains moving. And this whole business of closing Jefferson has passed the point of being ridiculous. If they are so worried why can’t one of our police units escort buses from SW 13th down to 18th. It’s not like they have tons of other stuff to do. Perfect duty for the guys on quads! You already know about the failure of the City to post No Parking signage. Their attempt to blame the Occupy Portland crowd is weak at best. A lot of my guys have indicated the need for more bike rack at the bus bumps. Some adjustments were made day of that were not exactly according to the maps. The changes had to do extending the bike rack farther away from the intersections to prevent people from spilling out into the streets to view the parades. By all accounts it worked quite well. Post event on 2nd Ave went pretty smooth in spite of the lack of dedicated parking. Pre-staging 2-4 buses at each stop for immediate use and having them return directly to their starting location worked very, very well.


There is one other area of concern. I understand why managers and assistant managers and all manner of office types are asked to volunteer. And to be perfectly honest I will tell you I did not like it when first proposed and I do not care for the idea now. Anybody can be diligent when Hayden or Shelly are around. But what I am hearing from our supervisors is that those folks are less then focused when the EDO and DO are not around. And again, to be truthful here, it is not just folks outside of Field Operations. From what I am being told our own supervisors tend to get distracted. As far as our own supervisors are concerned I think it prudent to have some initial instruction or reinstruction on how to manage a bus and/or train bump. We cannot spend our entire event moving from bump to bump. We’ll get the same results. Focused attention while present, and not so much when we are not present. I would suggest to you that this is a prime topic for rail recert and the next time we have training for the bus guys. It is something we do a lot of and has serious safety implications. I will not suggest this to the EDO as I no longer send her any kind of emails. I would like to have a conversation with you about this idea of employees outside of field ops being at bumps. I don’t know that we will agree but I want you to know this is not just a reactionary idea.
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Broadway/Glisan was closed earlier than usual for line 9. Approximately 1645.
Should run the WB 20’s up 5th to Jefferson to 18th to Burn before the run.
Run WB 20’s on 6th to Station Way, Northrup, 19th to Burn after and parade has started.
Same for WB 17’s on Station Way, Northrup, 21st and regular.

Main problem on 6th was cars making right turns from side streets and blocking the tracks and transit lane from Burnside to Hoyt. Police at these intersections did nothing to help control the intersection.

‘Stay off tracks signs’ would be helpful at Couch, Davis, Flanders, and Glisan along 6th Av.

(Maybe some sandwiches for our police and Stanton yard operators?)
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Parking garage on 6th between main and salmon was insistent on letting cars thru the street closed sign in order to park in their garage, which caused interference with max and buses, there were some near misses. It was very unsafe in my opinion to be allowed to have the cars come thru the barricades and stop on the tracks.
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I found this a good location to control. At the early stages of the morning, NB trains were calling for permission. IT may not really be necessary if trains really travel 5ph from RQ Interstate to Larrabee because the Larrabee pre-empt times out. When they travel faster than 5mph, the pre-empt stays up for the train. I suggest that all trains are clear to proceed to Larrabee with a stop to wait for a time-out and then recall. This will aid in the obeying the 5mph slow order Then no calls are needed and the operator does not feel the need to hurry to make the light.
The same for SB trains. If they stop at Larrabee and recall, there probably will not be a need for a supervisor at Larrabee next year, since no floats crossed the intersection. Drexler was the real busy location this year.

Also, for the traffic at Larrabee, it would be handy to have some suffice street routs to I-5 north and South
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I found this location at SW Salmon to be easily controlled. My only concern was when the resident air gets so busy, the opportunity to control trains from 6th & Madison is limited. I suggest that Green and Yellow trains north bound have a call from SW Madison.

I also found that busses were in general, traveling to fast for the intersection. A speed of 5mph would be suggested.
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You probably heard that there was a significant disruption when the Bridge lost power in the midst of its second lift.

I listened to our phone mail box and we have near a dozen voicing frustration (not necessarily formal reports….more like ‘you guys suck’). I was actually expecting more, so maybe it’s a good sign.

Hopefully MAX operators made good announcements while trains were waiting.

Grant: I took a look at Julie’s notes re: the timing of the lifts, duration of the stuck bridge (about 45-50 mins.) I realize she won’t be in until mid-day, so it would be helpful if you shed some light on how well it was handled? I heard them trying to round up additional buses when things went bad…did that happen in time to make a difference?

Also wondered if there was any discussion in the field re: additional buses as insurance on Monday?

Thanks for all you, Julie and the reps did out there, I heard you doing your best to coordinate shifting info amongst yourselves.
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6:11 am Bridge Lift
EB RL #27 arrived & held

6:27 am RL #27 offloaded for WB turnback
EB customers transferred to shuttle buses

6:32 am EB RL #27 departed for Beaverton

6:33 am EB BL #23 arrived & immediately offloaded for WB turnback
EB customers transferred to shuttle buses

6:36 am Shuttle arrived from RQ
WB customers took turnback train

6:37 am BL #23 departed for Hillsboro

6:40 am RL #46 arrived & immediately offloaded for WB turnback
EB customers transferred to shuttle buses

6:44 am RL #46 departed for Beaverton

6:46 am EB BL #24 arrived & immediately offloaded for WB turnback
EB customers transferred to shuttle buses
Shuttle arrived from RQ – WB customers took turnback train

6:48 am BL #24 departed for Hillsboro

6:50 am EB BL #25 arrived & held

6:52 am Shuttle arrived from RQ & dropped off where our shuttles were loading (Davis v. Everett)

6:54 am Bridge Down

6:56 am EB RL #40 arrived & crossed bridge

6:58 am Shuttle arrived from RQ – Directed WB customers to normal WB platform

7:00 am EB BL #26 arrived & crossed bridge

7:03 am BL to Hillsboro arrived & cleared WB platform

7:04 am EB RL #47 arrived & crossed bridge

7:07 am RL #67 to Beaverton / BL #1 to Gresham
Shuttle bus arrived from RQ – Directed WB customers to normal WB platform

7:10 am RL #41 to Airport / BL #21 to Hillsboro

9:05 am Bridge Lift
EB BL #20 arrived & immediately offloaded for WB turnback
EB customers transferred to shuttle buses

9:10 am BL #20 departed for Hillsboro

9:12 am EB RL #40 arrived & immediately offloaded for WB turnback
EB customers transferred to shuttle buses

9:15 am RL #40 departed for Beaverton

9:19 am EB BL #21 arrived & immediately offloaded for WB turnback
EB customers transferred to shuttle buses

9:23 am BL #21 departed for Hillsboro

9:25 am EB RL #47 arrived & immediately offloaded for WB turnback
2 shuttle buses arrived from RQ – directed customers to turnback train

9:27 am Bridge Down
Had to offload customers from turnback train & redirect to normal WB platform – lots of unhappy folks!

9:36 am Shuttle arrived from RQ

9:37 am RL #44 to Beaverton arrived & cleared WB platform
EB BL #9 arrived & crossed bridge

9:38 am EB RL #41 arrived & crossed bridge

9:41 am BL to Hillsboro arrived & proceeded west

9:43 am Bridge Lift
EB RL#41 arrived & immediately offloaded for WB turnback
EB customers transferred to shuttle buses

9:44 am 2 shuttles arrived from RQ – directed WB riders to the turnback train

9:46 am RL #41 departed for Beaverton TC

9:49 am Bridge Down

9:51 am EB BL #27 arrived & crossed bridge

9:56 am EB RL #49 arrived & crossed bridge
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I felt this parade went very well, the transition to two way traffic on Grand went as good as I have seen it at this parade. I was treated very well in the PPB command center and I was supplied with all the information needed. The TSA bus was on time and arrived at the roll call on time. There was one incident with Occupy but it didn’t amount to much. The command center folks kept me informed when the streets were opened and they had a web page showing street barricades as they were pulled. I need to have a copy of the TPD positions as this helps me when problems come up at bump spots.
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I worked up to 8am before leaving for court cases X7 and only worked the first two ships before unit 9101 took over for mid morning. I used 5-6 buses with full loads for 3-4 max trains(some light loads) while the Steel Bridge stayed up for an extending period of time. The 6am ship went through and instead of letting the bridge go down for the next ship at 6:30am the bridge stayed upright for the 6:30am departure and we got word to start a bus bridge/shuttle.

I called for two garage bound buses at first in case I needed them for additional customers then I called Dispatch back 15 minutes later to call them off for the additional buses. It was a just in case scenario but my customers got taken care of in the short term so I was good with it.

No problems to report. Customers used shuttle buses and others we sent to the downtown buses @Rose Qtr who were good with taking a bus to downtown.

That’s all folks.
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I worked the bump thru for the westbound buses using Multnomah into Rose Quarter crossing parade @MLK.

….for the most part all went well except the corners of the intersection we had some people trying to use the portion of the sidewalk for seating/standing that was for walkway to and from the street to get across Multnomah and or MLK.

I had to remind a few supervisors/asst. manager and one off contract Wackenhut personnel to get more focused with peds trying to walk across intersection in front of a bus being bumped thru and/or let certain civilians not to use portion of sidewalk closed for parade but it is for walking and wheelchairs.

Mr.  and myself had to try to get some others on the same page at the intersection.

I’m not inclined to name anyone other than title but next year the roll call should mention the importance of “focusing on the sidewalk corners and watch for direction of bump thru Supervisors so we have no safety failures or mishaps”.

This would be the one focus I would like to see with our pedestrians.

As for the buses? It went well and delays were not too bad (maybe 2min to 4min) at worst. We had some good gaps in the parade throughout and it took care of the bump thrus. Per Police there were only 2-3 other times we stopped a certain point of parade and ran a bus or two across which worked well and did not affect parade flow in any negative way.

The worst of the bus delays were down at Multnomah & Grand where buses waited anywhere from 2-5 full cycles of the traffic signals. The police were down there but sometimes I would witness not much priority to helping buses get through. It would be good to have a Supervisor man that intersection nearside Multnomah @ Grand to help with flow of buses to cross intersection to continue to the bump thru @MLK ahead.
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Would suggest that all signs closing stops for buses due to the reroutes be in place the day before. Had multiple people complain about the buses not showing up.
The reroutes went into effect at the beginning of the service day. This should be a must.

And the garage between Salmon and Main on 6th street needs to be told that they will not be allowed to take cars in or out during the parade time, they were holding our traffic up on 6th and Main at the 14 stop asking people if they needed the garage and also Northbound traffic on 6th at Main with the same, and then the cars that needed out of the garage were allowed to travel south on 6th out of their drive way causing issues with buses turning onto 6th. The garage at Salmon is not available at the time of parade, so to should this garage, NOT SAFE.
Between the peds and buses and trains several close calls.

And it would have been nice to have a police officer at that location of Main and 6th directing traffic not to turn.
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We had ample help at 6th and Salmon; 4 G4S officers and 4 police to help with traffic. We had minimum wait time and bumped through seemlesly.
Cars turning north onto 6th from Main St., into parking garage. Cars turning south from parking garage on to 6th Ave. People from the parking garage were made aware of problems to help assist with traffic flow.
The crowd was cooperative and not nearly as troublesome long as parades gone by. Phil was the IC and did an excellent job. As did
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If they’re assigning vehicles exclusively to fare inspectors now
Maybe rail and bus supervisors should just all give up their vehicles so
the other important ticket-checking employees can have a necessary vehicle to do their
Ever-increasingly important work. After all, it should be clear to all that checking the
Fares of our customers must now be prioritized over supervisory duties and, as we all know,
Fare inspection is only done efficiently from a TRUCK!
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your bus driver , well he dicided to have a cigarette before picking up his people, its a old folks home, a block down, and pulled it into the fornt of my house where there is a apple tree... trimed up but not to make room for a bus... its residental area.... anyway have branches broken and maybe look at the right hand side of your bus... as a home owner and tax payer of these, not to happy here..
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Customer reported to the driver that he had to use the restroom as soon as she had arrived at the Edwards Center. She attempted to remove him from the bus first however, as soon as he was on the lift he was unable to hold it and urinated on the lift.
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When Rte 358 arrived to drop passengers at Community Inclusion, Megan refused to get off the bus. The staff at Community Inclusion worked at attempting to coerce Megan off the bus for 40 minutes. I called Megan's hoem and emergency contact numbers (which are the same) all I was able to s leave a voice mail. The Community Inclusion staff eventually tempted Megan off the bus with french fries. 3 trips were transferred off of this route to accommodate the time at Community Inclusion.
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Lift busses.

What is up with the exhaust from the Lift shuttles?

The exhaust is terrible and is really noxious.

Do you have emissions controls like catalytic converters to burn up the excess unburned fuel?

Thanks
------------------------------Passenger started sliding down in her wheelchair. Driver got stopped in safe location right away and her PCA was able to get her right back up.
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1
Notes:
We arrived but no one was around to take passenger off bus. I called the lodge and they didn't know anything about it. I called Karen's cell and left her a message . I called her home and spoke with Rick . He checked her schedule out and says she is there for a company picnic. Driver needed to honk a few more times to get someone over there to get her off bus
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Hazel reports they were sent a cab that had no room for 3 riders on 06/03/12. She had scheduled ride to church for three people. Called dispatch and they were unable to find suitable replacement ride to get them to service on time. Caller felt that dispatch made situation out to be their fault. The original ride is down as a no show. She did call in CL to cxl second ride out of frustration and inability to get to church service on time. Caller is very concerned that it will happen again, and does not understand why if she booked for three riders she the cab driver acted as if he didn’t know. She is very upset.
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Additional information: Driver reported that he had seen vomit on Susan’s shirt when she got off the bus. Driver looked and there was vomit on the seat and the seat belt. Driver will go to the yard to get a new bus.
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Driver reported that Joseph and Stephen were seated separately by father. Driver reported that as soon as she pulled out Joseph started screaming hysterically getting the rest of the passengers upset. Soon everyone was screaming and Stephen took his shirts off. Driver arrived at ARC and the staff helped get all the passengers of the bus. James gave the ok for the driver to continue on.
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Mary started yelling at Kathy . Susan started yelling at Gary to do something about it and that got him all riled up . Driver got stopped and waited for Vernetta to show up. Then at 15:17 Kathy requested 911 be called because she fell down the some stairs the other day and her feet were huting. 911 was called Incident # RP 923 is the incident number . Kathy was transported by AMR to Portland Adventist.
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Thank you for your follow-up on Damon's rides. The rides have been as you
said in the email and ironically on the day that you write me, it takes
Damon two hours to get home from work causing him to miss a barber
appointment he had at 6:30 pm. According to Damon, he had to ride while the
LIFT picked up four passengers before he was taken home. We get concerned
over these long rides due to Damon's difficulty in holding his bladder.
This has resulted in his having to use the restroom at other passenger's
homes or urinating on himself because the ride home is taking too long.
Thank you for including the LIFT Rider's guide in your email as that
explains some of the reason why his rides take so long. I appreciate your
working to try to make Damon's rides as short as you can and when the target
time of 90 minutes is met, that makes things tolerable. But, when they take
as long as it took today, that is when problems occur. Thanks Kim for your
follow-up. It is greatly appreciated. Take care!
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: I went to Dorothy’s house to pick her up, rang the door bell. The daughter came to the door and said that her mother would be right out. Two minutes later Dorothy came out. I told her that she is going to have to take her walker down the stairs. Her daughter burst out the door and yelled “I can’t see why you can’t take the walker down the stairs.” I told her if she had a problem with it she needed to contact TriMet. She said I was just being lazy and did not want to do my job. I said thanks for the complement. She told me to shut up. Dorothy started and said she would make a note of it, and if I didn’t want to help her I should not be a LIFT driver. She said I should go work for fixed route and I can sit on my lazy ass and not have to lift a finger. Dorothy’s daughter almost threw the walker down the stairs.
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Driver had stopped in the KMART parking lot to write down some changes. A creepy guy walked up to the bus asking her to open up the door. When the driver wouldn't the guy yelled thru the glass " I see you have 9612 so I'm going to call and let them know. He repeated this several times. Driver pulled off not knowing what he was even talking about.
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Driver reported that Brandon who was sitting behind Hen was going through Henry’s belongings, flipping him off and started hitting the seat. The driver asked Brandon twice to stop. I suggested that she separate the two and put Brandon in a front seat. She did so and reported that there were no other problems.
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Lisa reported that she was turning left when vehicle #2 ran a stop sign and hit the bus. No medical attention needed however the police was called because Lisa reported that the driver of vehicle #2 was under the influence. Police arrived and was unable to provide a sobriety test and allowed the driver of vehicle # 2 to be released to leave the scene. Will Taylor arrived and reported that the driver of vehicle #2 admitted that he was on oxycodne. Will also reported that there is major damage to vehicle #2 front end and the battery box of the bus is hanging on by a wire. Renee and James arrived afterwards.
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Operator stated he arrived to Mr. J , service stop. Operator stated he escorted Mr. to the vehicle and assisted him to his seat. Operator stated he asked Mr. for his fare. Operator stated Mr. did not reply. Operator stated Mr. had on a pair of head phones and the music was playing very loud. Operator stated he touched Mr. on his shoulder to get his attention and Mr. stated that he assaulted him. Operator stated he marked Mr. as a no pay and informed the staff at his residence of the above.
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Operator reports she arrived at Mr. W destination and there was no one available to receive him at the entry door. Operator reports the area inside the building that Mr. goes to is more than 3 feet inside the building and would cause the operator to lose complete sight of the vehicle. Operator stated she notified LIFT Central Dispatch and was informed that they would call the location. Operator stated a staff member came to retrieve Mr. at 9:02 am

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