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.