NOTICE

I have just  been informed by one of my more reliable pals that it is not necessary to work my "one day full time". I still have my birthday and floaters even though Trimet rips off its part time employees by taking away their time off in order to take the "promotion" (from my point of view its a promotion to the end of a reasonable life style) My new plan is to use my birthday (alternate) and not work the one day of hell.


The truth is I never really fit into the Trimet culture, I was definitely Trimet counter culture.
Being treated as chattel as a number and not a human being is not something that I take well to. I knew immediately after undergoing the brutal 'line training' that full time here was not something I would ever be,  the brutality of driving a bus for 12 hours is not something I imagined even existed!


I maintained my sanity and my individuality through my blogging and writing.



Before the blogs I was writing short stories about my experiences.


Then for years I was a major contributor to the TRIMET OPERATORS YAHOO GROUP.

Chris Parker

That group was founded by Chris Parker, who made one mistake in his life, and that mistake ruined his life. He was a great guy and a good bus driver who cared about his passengers. He has faded away and with him the Yahoo group has faded.


But I went off on my own after several years on the Yahoo group.


Being part of the media gave my time at Trimet value and gave me a voice, even a small voice is better than no voice.


Of course I immensely enjoyed so many of the passengers, it was them that gave the work some meaning.


The fellowship  of many of my brother/sister  operators was a joy, so many great operators. (and some not so great)

Peggy Hansen

Steve Banta

My glory days were the Steve Banta/ Peggy Hanson executive leadership. Open minded and willing to  listen.


It all changed for me when Mcfarlane took over, and finally I started hating being a bus driver at Trimet.


When I was hauled into the office over a bogus complaint (which I could prove) and told by a middle manager that "I make myself a target" forced into mindless needless voice announcements because a "trimet spy" might be there is when I developed complete contempt for Trimet, they lie, they distort, they do it to their employees and they do it too the public. There is no better example of lack of transparency that Trimet Transit District.  I follow the bus news from around the country and the world and believe me, TRIMET functions in a world of its own when it comes to secrecy. Fred Hansen was successful at turning himself into a "guru"? It was all propaganda and distortion. There is nothing in Portland that stands out internationally in the transit world.

Fred in Australia-Mr Hero

So they had the first streetcar, so what? Hansen who collects a tidy $15,700/mo tax funded pension is now in Australia "double dipping" on the backs of the Australian tax payers now. I broke the story about his pending employment in Australia, he denied it and he waited but in the end he did what I knew he was going to do. At Trimet everything is for the executive class, to hell with the public and its employees. The managers say "safety is a value" then proceed to write schedules that make their drivers drive like hell with many runs having insufficient recovery time.


I don't want to be associated with an organization that operates like that. I'll take the golden health benefits "till death do us part" (as the liar Mcfarlane says) and go my way.


So my one day full time will NOT BE ME WORKING AT TRIMET.


I AM DONE- WAS DONE ON THE WEEKDAY 67.

Funny, I do not miss it at all, which surprises me, I actually thought I would. Instead I am in heaven knowing that I will never again have to listen to those idiots that call themselves managers lecturing me about bullshit. And never be in a situation where my life literally hangs in the balance of my job. It's brutally dangerous to be a bus driver, Mcfarlane has no clue when he whines about our health care while he hires six figure executives all with golden parachutes.


They have no idea what a good bus driver actually is or what he does.


Adios Trimet, thanks for the tiny pension and the health care, we'll see how long that lasts with that cutthroat Mcfarlane in charge being fully supported by that board of sock puppets and the weak kneed Judas Kitzhaber.  The man is a soulless government bureaucrat, existing on dollars that he never actually earned himself.