Trimess

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Testimonies to the Trimet sock puppets

 Very passionate testimonies. 

 Alas they are talking to the aristocracy and the aristocrats view the citizens as something that needs to be controlled not taken seriously.

Henry Beasley



Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Latest Trimet PR stunt-HB2777

I'm sorry I don't see this as anything but a PR stunt because it basically doesn't change anything for the fare evaders. My guess is that most of the people that are fare evading are from the lowest economic strata of our society. I don't think most of these people give a shit weather its in the courts or in the Trimet system.

If Trimet really wanted to do something productive they would lower the fare evasion fine to something reasonable, like $50 and make sure a low income pass is available to low income riders. Right now a fare evader can go to court and have the citation lowered by 1/2.

It was pointed out to me by that with this new law Trimet will get to keep 100% of the fare evasion fines!  Maybe its all about the money! Most everything is in da land of da free!

Furthermore Trimet will need to expand its administrative staff. Adding more bureaucracy to the already out of control bureaucracy can't be a good thing. And this does not replace the current system, it just adds another level to the existing structure. The courts still get these cases if Trimet doesn't get what it wants out of these hapless poor people who didn't feed the monster according to regulations.

Trimet in the news-AGAIN


Friday, June 23, 2017

Chris Day is featured in a story on KGW

Chris and I have been pals for a long time now.
 I have the greatest respect for him. 
When it comes to fares we don't agree.

My objection to the way the media is covering this is the total lapse of any mention of why people are evading the fares.
 I drove buses for 20 years of my 40 years  trying to make money to survive.
 I know first hand how many people are struggling out there to survive. 
I would bet that 90% of the fare evaders are from the lowest economic class of citizens in this country. 
These are the people that you see wandering the streets because they have no where to go.
These are the people that live in and out of the revolving door of the criminal justice industrial complex.  
There is a huge underclass of impoverished citizens in this country  and the media  refuses to cover it.
Mainstream media would rather turn one segment of the population against another.
Divide and conquer.
Corporate Amerika.

A million dollars is nothing to Trimet. 
Check one of my Trimet cash machine posts and see how much money Trimet doles out in corporate welfare.

Monday, June 19, 2017

Oregon governor Kate Brown-Republican pretending to be a democrat

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/06/19/transit-riders-unions-vs-climate-change-white-supremacy-and-disaster-capitalism/

Nationwide, state and local governments are facing increasing pressures in the wake of the manufactured debt crisis, to include public transportation among “assets” to be liquidated in corporate fire sales. The Willamette Week story, and the prospect of the Democratic governor selling off state agencies met with a predictably celebratory response in the conservative Weekly Standard, which responded gleefully to the prospect of the governor “burning the [state’s] household furniture to say warm” , and “rechristen[ing] the University of Oregon ‘Nike U.’” The prospect of the privatization of Portland’s light rail system is a barometer of Brown’s willingness to pursue neoliberal austerity measures, and the power that corporations like Nike and Intel exert in a state with one of the lowest corporate income taxes in the country.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Yet more weird TriMet service alerts

NOTE: Many of these alerts were written by dispatchers who are not expected to be language experts, may not have time to proofread, and make mistakes like all humans.  They may have many other tasks in progress at the moment, such as dealing with buses that are already stuck due to the blockage or situations elsewhere.  While those errors probably should be forgiven, they can cause confusion or problems for those who try to follow them.

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

The Trimet Deacon in Blue

"Operators should be better trained at de-escalating tense situations," said the public several times after the horrific murders on our light rail. As if these things wouldn't happen if only the drivers had better training.

What a load of crap. How about this, folks? We drive a bus or a light rail vehicle. In order to properly handle the mentally ill passengers who ride transit daily, we'd need a PhD in psychiatry. A few classes here and there ain't gonna give us the ability to talk a tweaked-out druggie or a mentally-disabled person out of creating mayhem.


http://fromthedriverside.blogspot.com/2017/06/challenge-to-management.html?spref=fb

Friday, June 9, 2017

Deconstructing the May Trimet board meeting-part 7


Roberta looks like a bus rider for sure

21 year old latest victim of Trimet light rail

What  fascinates me the most about this is how conditioned  we are to except this kind of senseless death and how quick the media drops the coverage. Oh well, she should have paid attention is what you hear from  average citizens.   What the truth really is government doesn't do enough to protect average citizens

http://www.pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/361953-242120-update-max-fatality-victim-identified

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Deconstructing the May Trimet board meeting-part 6

Oregon elites are trying to rob citizens with this phony "transportation" bill


By all objective measures Trimet has been a miserable failure over the last 10 years. 
Billions and billions have been spent on light rail and ridership is slowly declining.
 Service quality is horrendous and the Trimet board and management deaf to the needs of the citizens.

Will the legislature shove this rotten transportation bill down our throats? 
The fact that they are avoiding a public vote speaks volumes. 
They know the public doesn't support this so they are attempting to back door the taxes onto citizens backs to service special interests.
That is what Trimet has been doing for the last decade, serving special interests and filling the pockets of Trimet executives in the process.