Readership not bad for holiday week

Last 7 days

Snow at Fuller Road MAX

Nicely filmed movie of snow at Fuller is HERE!

SUNSET BOB MADE THIS CLASSIC MOVIE 4 YEARS AGO THIS DAY

Latest "seen and heard on Trimet"

But not seen on TRIMET'S HOW WE ROLL BLOG!

Wow, #trimet supervisor busting @AJHTriMet over a hat ...but he boarded the trolley in center lane? AND let cars drive in bus lane?

 TRIMET SCANNER TWEETS HERE!

LOOKING BACK FIVE YEARS ON THIS DAY

ONE YEAR AGO TODAY
2 YEARS AGO TODAY
3 YEARS AGO TODAY
4 YEARS AGO TODAY
5 YEARS AGO TODAY

Mary Fetsch and Roberta Altstadt: Here's a new job JUST FOR YOU!

'Brave soul' needed to become Michael O'Leary’s spin doctor at Ryanair (and even he admits it is 'the worst job in PR')

Ryanair's loose-cannon boss Michael O'Leary is looking for a 'brave soul' to become his new spin doctor and take on what he calls the 'worst job in PR'.

The outspoken Irishman is well known for using madcap schemes to chase publicity and his current Director of Communications Stephen McNamara is leaving after 'four years of being battered and abused'.

There is an upside, however, as Mr O'Leary says the successful candidate will be 'high profile and incredibly overpaid'.

But the new man or woman faces an uphill struggle as consumer champions Which? have just named Ryanair the least-popular short-haul airline based on baggage allowance, boarding, seating allocation and food and drink.

 

 

In other words, working for a transport company that's just as bad as TriMet, but at least you get the luxury of living in Ireland, free flight privileges anywhere in Europe, "incredibly overpaid", and you don't have to worry about transit tweeters like me (there are an incredible number of Ryanair bashers in Europe, but it's OK to use the official Twitter account to blame the rider, ridicule them, even cuss at them, and just plain make fun of them.)

Todays DISPATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Including clips from both MAX breakdowns today1

TRIMET SUPERVISOR TRIES TO SEIZE ALEX'S PERSONAL PROPERTY

Those of us familiar with the inner working of Trimet know there is no shortage of ego maniac stupid people in positions of authority at Trimet.It turned out that they didn't seize anything after checking out the situation but I'm somewhat shocked at the supervisor involved in this incident. I always knew that supervisor to be very cautious when playing 'big man on campus'

SAFETY ON TRIMET HAS NOT IMPROVED

Bus collisions

MAX collisions

MORE MAX BREAKDOWNS TODAY

Incident #2
Incident #1

And you say TriMet is supportive of buses...

A quick look over at TriMet's website finds this little jewel:

A History of Public Transit in Portland

 

 

Now as we look at that last bullet point it reads:

 

By 1958 Portland's extensive rail transit system was gone, replaced by a floundering bus transit system fostered by the "Good Roads Movement."

 

Floundering?

 

Let's look up that word, shall we?  Courtesy of Google and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

 

floundering present participle of floun·der (Verb)

Verb Struggle or stagger helplessly or clumsily in water or mud: "he was floundering about in the shallow offshore waters". Struggle mentally; show or feel great confusion: "she floundered, not knowing quite what to say".   So, TriMet has decided that the 1950s/1960s era Rose City Transit buses were "struggling or staggering helplessly" or "strugging mentally", despite the fact many Portlanders actually have fond memories of the bus service provided by Rose City Transit.   And, never mind that this "History of Public Transit in Portland" (not "History of Trains") is awfully biased and only tells the history of streetcars and trolleys, but not the vast and rich history of bus service in Portland - including Portland's trolleybuses, or any of TriMet's own bus history.   And...this "history" is on a government paid for web server, hosted at www.trimet.org.  Not an advocacy group, but TriMet.  So it's clear TriMet is itself advocating for rail which is in direct conflict with its roles and duties as a government agency whose only mission is to serve the public in a fair, unbiased, and universal manner.