Trimess

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Trimet Supervisory reports

AT 5th and Couch St., the runners started to appeared at 0820a. List of trains were 9067, 9061, 9062 and 9064 with minimum delays not more than 2 minutes. All runners were cleared at 0910a and 5th and Couch station was back to normal operations.
No other incidents to report at this time.

1 TPD officer Rob, 1 G4s officer Kim and road supervisor T
 at 5th and Couch St.
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Interstate and Greeley

We only had to bump two trains, and were able to do that at the same time.  Between the Portland Police officers, G4S, 9522, and myself we were very well equipped at this busy intersection and there were no problems.
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 while I was at Gateway today, I was approached by two women both had valid day tickets, however, one of them had been given a ticket that was torn at the appropriate 2:30am time. The second one was torn at the top perforated area, not valid. A 19 bus at Gateway told the woman that it was not valid and would not let her ride. I gave her a courtesy ticket for the day so she would have no further problem. Then while at Gresham T.C. doing code, I had a man with a D-A ticket with the date of 9-7-12. I explained to him that was yesterday’s ticket. He said that he bought if out of TVM #5, right here at Gresham T.C. earlier, then went to his destination; then got on another train eastbound (with the same ticket), and rode to Gresham T.C., which is where I encountered him. I called control to see if there were any problems with TVM #5, the only problem was that it was not accepting coins,  (however when I physically walked over to the machine, I saw no problems whatsoever). I also encountered a man who had no fare at all. When I asked him why he did not have his fare, he “said that the TVM at 197th eastbound, was not accepting bills. I asked him if he crossed over to the westbound side and tried the TVM there. He said no that the train was coming and he had an appointment to go to. I asked him if he tried any TVM’s at Civic Drive or Gresham City Hall, he “said no he did not want to be late for his appointment”. I tried to explain to him that he is expected to do those things to try to purchase his fare. He became understandably irate, and “said that we should fix our ticket machines”. I explained to him that the judge would ask him if he tried these things and that ultimately it was his responsibility to have a valid fare. Before I could give him a courtesy ticket he left. The last person that I dealt with at Gresham T.C. was a white female sitting on the bench, on the westbound platform, smoking a cigarette. I asked her for identification and she “said that she did not have any.”  I was going to exclude her for smoking, I asked for her name and she refused to give it to me.  I asked her if she was planning to ride a train or bus, she “said that she was waiting for someone and then was going to take a westbound train”, because a westbound train came and went, and she did not board. I asked her to put it out and let her know that she could smoke in the island area across the street. She had a brace of some kind on her ankle and was on crutches.  She went to the island area and sat on a bench to smoke. Another west bound train came and went and she did not board that train either. I explained to her about non-transit use that she had to be boarding a train or a bus to be on our property. She called for a cab and then asked me for my name, I gave her my badge number and she walked away from the transit center. She had a white male that was sitting with her the whole time that this was occurring. They both left.
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  I encountered two people on the Red line who had honored citizen fares, but, did not qualify. One was 64 I gave her a verbal warning. The other was 61 I gave her a written warning. I explained to both of them that our senior age is 65 and proof of age is required. On the green line I encountered no fares and I had two people today on red line and one on the green line, tore just enough of the time off of their ticket (hour portion), so that the only thing left is the date and minutes. Both were cited as this is not valid fare. Just a new game coming to light, to try and get out of paying. On the mission tonight downtown at Pioneer Square, we rode up to Galleria and then over to Library and back down to Pioneer Square. I noticed a lot of people were hurrying off the train, every time they saw us on the platform as we boarded. I suspect that they had not paid. Thanks
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I did approximately 4 hours of fare checks/education in the CBD.
I checked about 350+ passengers
Total written during that timeframe was:

3 written warnings
3 citations
1 Exclusion
Approximately 35 verbal warnings
Numerous Jumpers

The citations and exclusions were for violations other than that associated with the end of the free rail zone.

Same problem of too many TVM’s down 
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Mission at Lloyd center tonight at 1900. Rode trains from Lloyd platform both east and westbound checking fares. I gave 5 verbal warnings, 3 written warnings, seen 45 people. Mission for about 1 hour.
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I encountered someone at Parkrose today that had a transfer, a day one that was torn in the wrong place, at the perforation. He said that is what the bus driver gave him. I let him walk. Two people got off the Red line train and walked half way up the sky bridge, got half way up and saw John and I there checking fares. They stopped and just stood there for a long time talking. Then they turned around and went back to the platform area to ride another train. (2 jumpers). I am amazed at how many people have their fare now and the trains seem much calmer. I think that the honest paying passenger will continue to enjoy rides with less problems and conflict on the train. 
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Fare education duty CBD to Lloyd Center

Hours performed 4
Verbal Warnings – 16
Written Warnings 8
Citations 2
Exclusion 2
Custody 1

Same problems as the past few days
TVM Problems and Operators doing their transfers wrong
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On 9/5/12 at 7pm to 8pm I rode trains from Lloyd center to Rose Quarter for FARE information.

Made contact with 25 people- 6 verbal, 1 cite, 1 exclusion.
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Tonight I rode trains in the CBD for approx 4 hours and checked approx. 300 people and gave 25 verbal warnings. Surprisingly, only about half of the fare evaders I contacted tonight used the reason they thought they were in the free zone. The one citation I wrote was for a gentleman who lied about his age while displaying a Youth Monthly Pass. I did not receive many complaints from those I contacted, however I did only issue verbal warnings with the one cite. I also participated in the mission riding trains from Lloyd center to Rose Quarter from 7pm-8pm. During this time I contacted another 50 people and gave another 10 verbal warnings.  
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About 4 hours in the CBD.  I checked about 400.  I found about 40 fare evaders.  I wrote one exclusion during our informing phase.  
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this is for 9-4-12, I worked the mission in the CBD last night, riding trains I encountered people with no fares who said that our TVM was not working and they were not able to by a fare. I had them exit at the next stop and purchase (or not) a ticket. The vast majority of people had their fare and any necessary I.D.. I helped other people with the machines to get their fare and advised youths to carry some qualifying identification. I gave out a total of 7 verbal warnings
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 3pm to 6pm ( Concentration in the  CBD )
             7pm to 8pm ( Rose Quarter T.C to Old Town )

During these times, I checked approximately 325 passengers
There were approximately 14 people that jumped off when they saw me board.
I gave about 40 verbal warnings.
I wrote 3 written warnings, 2 citations and 2 exclusion ( People that had invalid fares, riding to or from outside the former free rail zone and those that had multiple priors for no fare )

The were a significant number of TVMs not functioning.
Pioneer Square North had no cash machines working and the 6th and Morrison TVM was taking to bills or cards.
The TVM at 5th and Glisan was still down as was the TVM at 5th and Oak st.

Of the folks that I contacted without fare, only a half dozen or so said that they were unaware that the Free Rail Zone and been eliminated.

Another problem was a large number of invalid transfers. There were day ticket given out that were just torn from the book.
Others were torn at the time they were purchased and a number of the day tickets only had the day punched and the day code.
They didn’t have the punch needed to designate which type of day ticket was purchased. 
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Risky pedestrian behavior in that area, especially near the EB platform as trains are rounding the corner.  Would be good to have a signal of some kind to help alert people, especially when we’re not staffing there.
  First game we’ve covered with only four On-Street CS staff (since  recently moved on to his new TriMet job and Merlin moved on from TriMet).
·     Galleria cash/card TVM was not printing tickets. Wish that we’d had an OOS sticker.
·     Was helpful to be at Galleria for fare sales and service information, along with our Rail Supervisor, G4S Security officer and PPI assistant. We actively informed customers  on trains about that being the last stop in the FRZ and fares being checked at JELD-WEN.
·     Express buses were fairly well used, but some folks chose instead to wait for the train.
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st EB extra arrived at 21:38, just as the event was ending.  It was held by supervisors until the back car was filled & front car was about 1/3 full.

2nd EB extra arrived at 21:55, after most of the crowd had already departed.
  There were fairly significant MAX delays midday & PM peak, due to President Obama’s visit & fundraiser at OCC. Ed assisted customers at downtown MAX stations before reporting to Galleria.
·     Galleria: Some trains opened and closed doors quickly, limiting people’s ability to respond to the announcement re: end of FRZ and fares being checked at JELD-WEN.
·     JELD-WEN (WB booth):   got an earful from several customers who were cited for not having valid fares, including groups of international visitors.
·     JELD-WEN (EB booth):  A few folks waiting to board trains were upset by the delays, due to the earlier MAX disruption. A few others were upset that they missed the train because they couldn’t squeeze through the line of people who had deboarded and were having fares checked.

Post-Event:
WB Booth –    WB Mid-Platform -
     EB Booth –     EB Mid-Platform -     

·     Small numbers of fans left between 9:15 and 9:30p, but the bulk of the crowd stayed until the end of the game (9:38p).

·     JELD-WEN (EB):  Red Line delays caused angst for some customers who were heading to PDX.  I advised about a half dozen customers to take the BL to Gateway and get the RL from there, thinking that RL service might be a bit better on the east side of the river.
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Being a Saturday night and Brewfest weekend with nice summer weather, I think we had more folks than usual who drank a bit too much and had challenges with directions, losing their MAX tickets, etc. Main concern, as always, was keeping people safe as they crossed from JELD-WEN to the MAX platform
   Galleria: 
o     Scheduled Rail Supervisor called in sick, no replacement assigned.
o     G4S officer provided fare sales oversight. Had 1 more officer join us mid-shift.
o     TVMs were working.
o     Light activity until around 7p, then picked up a bit until almost 8p.
o     Very packed trains frustrated some commuters who didn’t have room to board,
o     especially for those needing a BL who had a longer wait.
o     Train announcements were pretty clear re: end of FRZ, but verbal messaging to
o     customers onboard who didn’t hear the recorded messages was somewhat challenging,       
o     as the doors opened/closed pretty quickly.
o      Express Buses were fairly well used, with an average of 10-20 customers each trip (counting both Mall/5th & Galleria).
·     JELD-WEN:  Still a fair number of citations/warnings being issued to those w/o valid fares.
was asked to help with post-event fare sales at Hillsboro Fairplex, due to the Washington County Fair and TVMs not working well at that MAX station. This left 3 of us for post-event at JELD-WEN, so the WB mid-platform entrance was closed. (Ed’s fare sales at Fairplex = 161)
·     Bulk of the crowd came out right around 10p in a pretty big burst. Very busy fare sales!
·     Timing of the Extra Service trains maybe could have been better. It seems that they sometimes arrive right before the event breaks or right after most of the crowd has cleared.  ???
·     Things generally went well from my perspective, despite quite a few folks being fairly heavily intoxicated.  
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  It’s amazing how skilled our bus operators are in navigating through that area, with such narrow roads and so many cars, bikes, motorcycles and pedestrians.
·         Bus arrival times didn’t match scheduled times or Transit Tracker times.

Archery Range
Time
Bus #
# of Customers Boarding
5:02p
8367
1
5:28p
8368
0
5:51p
8367
0

Zoo Station
Arrival Time
Departure Time
Bus #
# of Customers Boarding
4:40p
4:52p
8368
9
5:04p
5:12p
6367
2
5:08p
5:10p
8367
11
5:32p

8368
8
6:02p

8367
45

Post-Event (7:15-9:00p):
·         Staffing:  Up near tennis courts –              Below tennis courts –                      Top of amphitheatre stairs – 
·         A-Board signage adjustments were needed in terms of where the signs were placed.  Directional arrows could be improved on a few of the signs to give more flexibility in positioning them.
·         Bus arrival times matched with Transit Tracker times on PDX Bus app.
·         Estimated concert attendance, from our perspective, was around 2,000. Concert ended at 8:10p. 
·         Bus Zone only parking spaces below the tennis courts should be repainted so they’re more visible; a few different cars parked there until we informed them that they shouldn’t
·         Foilage should be trimmed back on the corner to reveal the Line 83 bus stop pole below the tennis courts

Upper Level – Across From Tennis Courts (for service to JELD-WEN)
Time
Bus #
# of Customers Boarding
7:47p
1103
23
7:51p
1101
1
8:11p
1103
6
8:18p
1102
7
8:25p
1101
8

Below Tennis Courts (for service to Archery Range & Zoo)
Time
Bus #
# of Customers Boarding
7:25p
8368
5
7:28p
8367
0
7:53p
1102
8
8:08p
1101
4
8:31p
1103
18

Fare sales were very minimal.

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Post-Event:  All 3 buses sent from the garage were 40’ vs. 30’, according to Road Supervisor  who was onsite with us at Wash. Park shortly before 8 pm. Two of the three were sent back to swap for the shorter buses.  The other bus operator felt comfortable with the bigger bus, as he had driven the Line 63 route before and lives in that area. We had pretty big gaps in service both directions. Toward the end of our post-event shift, drove one customer to the Zoo, and drove six customers there.

Pre-Event Staffing:  Zoo Station Line 83 stop -
                                  Zoo near TVM/elevator – C

·     On our way up to the Zoo station,  & I stopped briefly to guide the Parks volunteers in where to place the A boards above & below the tennis courts, which they appreciated.
·     We didn’t have a Road Supervisor onsite during the pre-event.
·     Hot weather caused switch/signal problems in the RQ area. We informed Rail Control that we would be prepared to redeploy and help with bus bridge duty if needed.
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  On the way up to the Zoo, I retrieved the A-Board that was left at the Archery Range and posted that near the Zoo TVMs/elevators.  
·     Road Supervisor joined me around 5:30p and worked on lining up buses for post-event.
·     Had more bus boardings than yesterday and several very appreciative customers.
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Our presence was helpful to a fair amount of customers pre-event, though many questions were unrelated to the concert at the Rose Garden. TriMet service both pre- and post-event was regular and predictable—we didn’t run into any of the problems encountered on previous nights (40 ft buses, etc). One of the planned extra service buses I believe broke down; however, the four buses we had in the rotation was more than sufficient.    
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When off loading passengers on S.W. Morrison st. at S.W. 18th ave. there is a long bike rack and parked bicycles which is a safety hazard when off loading passengers from the shuttle buses. There is approximately 1 foot of side walk then the parked bikes. When off loading the shuttle buses from the rear door passengers are sent into harm’s way and directly put into the parked bikes which may result in an injury.
I even got into a discussion with two operators when I told them not to use the rear door. I told them to use the front door only because of this safety hazard and they thought that I did not know what I was talking about and just wanted to change procedure in which opening the rear door and letting passengers disembark into the parked bicycles has been done for the last two years and no supervisor has said anything about this hazard.

I am requesting that on S.W. Morrison st. at S.W. 18th ave., the shuttle buses be “front door only” when off loading passengers from these shuttles. This is because the parked bicycles do not allow both front door and rear door clearance of the parked bicycles and sends our passengers directly into the parked bicycles which may result in injury.
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 Service was appropriate for demand.  spoke with and I at the Zoo before the event to discuss timing for the last buses headed out of the amphitheatre.  offered to make an announcement during the show that the last buses would be leaving the park at 10pm, and we would stage buses at the Japanese Gardens and the Rose Garden to fill up as the event broke. It broke a bit earlier than 10, and the park cleared much faster than previous nights, presumably being a late Sunday night.
A customer informed , the supervisor onsite during the event, and I that a woman at the Japanese Gardens Line 83 bus stop reported that she overdosed on her prescription. and I found the woman in question, and she requested medical.  called it in, and the first responders were there within minutes. Our service was not disrupted.
Service was adequate for our customers tonight. We weren’t that busy pre-event, perhaps because of it being a late Sunday night and customers not planning on having access to the bus so late. Having the organizers of the concert announce when the last bus would be (and tell them an earlier time, of course) helped make sure we got our customers home. 
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