TOP COMMENTS ON JOE ROSE'S TICKET MACHINE EXPOSE

What we have here is an incredible collection of highly articulate comments from Oregonian readers on the subject of the Trimet TVM's and Trimet's manipulation of the facts surrounding their reliability. You read through this and you have to wonder how is it these Trimet managers just get away with it all? It's impossible right? Nope, its called GOVERNMENT.

westwoodman

When I'm in Berlin, Germany...which is fairly often...I always use public transportation. In a couple hundred weeks of being there, in all seasons and conditions I've yet to run into a non-functioning machine. Keep in mind the system is ancient by PDX standards, and a lot of the stations and track dates back into the late 1800's. The ticket machines don't (of course) but there are some really old-looking ones around, and some that look like (I'm sure they didn't) survived the WWII bombing. In was was East Berlin there are ticket machines that clearly pre-date the demise of the wall, and East Germany did NOTHING in the way of maintenance on anything, let alone ticket machines. In Portland we "accept" this pathetic level of performance because they know they can get away with it. BTW, fines in Germany for riding Schwartz (riding "black" which means without paying) start at about 70 Euros...or about $100 and when you hit three they can start talking about...yup...jail time. Fare inspectors don't wear uniforms and could be just about anybody...including "hippies" and folks with more tattoos than skin. You really don't want to get caught, and if you said "the machine wasn't working" the whole car would probably laugh at you. 

jr1122

I'm glad to see some real data! I've experienced some failed ticket machines, but I thought it was just my bad luck.
I've had plenty experience with TriMet personnel telling stories that were clearly untrue. About ten years ago, I had a senior TriMet person tell me that she'd had been asked for proof of fare EVERY time she'd ridden MAX.
It's frustrating to me that TriMet is so unbending about their fare enforcement that they won't even give you a break when you explain that the fare machine was broken.
I've given up on TriMet and ride my bike. It's more reliable.

z97221

Ha! Too bad we can't fine Trimet every time the machines don't work.

 You like this.

SP Red Electric

Why hasn't TriMet moved to electronic fares, like most LEADING transit agencies?

Heck, even Spokane (yes, little po-dunk Spokane, with its bus-only transit system) has electronic fare cards. So does Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, London...the list goes on and on.

And they work.

Unlike TriMet.

The Rampant Lion

Because they recently signed a new 20-year contract with the private firm that still maintains the old bus fareboxes...you know, the ones that can't distinguish the difference between a dollar bill, a $5, a $10, or a $3. Yeah, the same old fareboxes that constantly get jammed, to which adding fancy new printers is a worthy expense.

700rpm

"We want to encourage riders to pick up some extra tickets when buying their groceries," Altstadt said, "so they'll have tickets on hand and won't have to rely on the machines."

You can translate that as, "Buy a bunch of tickets you may lose or never use before fares go up again. That's free money for TriMet."

SP Red Electric

Maybe TriMet should "pick up some extra" buses when they buy stuff, so that TriMet will have adequate vehicles on hand and won't have to rely on turning away riders due to crush load buses or mechanical failures.

What's good for us to plan ahead, is good for TriMet to plan ahead. But as TriMet will blame the economy, labor, healthcare, etc., as to why they can't afford buses - not everyone can afford to buy extra transit fare.

justthinkin'

TriMet apparently was going for the triple crown of infuriating responses with three tone-deaf and clueless responses in the same pronouncement:

1. The machines are functioning 90% of the time. (Wrong).
2. 90% is good. (Not).
3. The solution is to buy tickets elsewhere. (Seriously?)

Randolph

Trimet is the worst run government organization in Oregon, yet many believe the fantasies generated by their public relations / damage control department. Those in charge of propaganda must be working a lot of overtime. overtime.

It's time to get real and admit we've been taken for a ride; one that needs to end soon.

59er

The ticket machine at the Tualatin Wes station was 'broken' for 4 weeks, covering parts of March and April this year. Trimet said they were waiting for a part. There were ongoing problems before that as well.
So far so good the last couple of weeks. 

MMencken

As a former telecommunications analyst, I can tell you that the telephone network standard for landlines and the bulk transport network is not 99.9%. That level of performance would permit 8.75 hours of downtime a year, which would be a real disaster.

The actual performance standard is 99.999%, commonly referred to as "five nines" in the industry. This is 5.25 minutes a year. In operational reality, most of the equipment performs at 10, 11, and 12 "nines" reliability.

Talk to any statistician, and he'll tell you that a 90% record is terrible. The system operates for about 19 hours a day. Is 1.9 hours of downtime acceptable? Even if the outages were evenly distributed, which they never are, that is flatly unacceptable!

Not only is Trimet's spokesliar, Roberta Altstadt, unqualified for her job, but she works for some real slackers.

airneil

In 1997 I visited a city with one of, if not the largest, transit systems in the world. Tokyo, Japan. Even in one of the smaller stations for the subway, there were at least 5 ticket machines. If one machine was down, there was another 2 feet away. The ticket machines were about the size of an old slot machine.

For a transit system with a very small percentage of the traffic that the Tokyo subway has, Tri-met sucks.  

Randolph

Your comments hit home. Let me add that light rail is archaic, and in no way performs like a subway or other high speed systems. Light rail is being used as a way for Metro and Trimet to feed their misuse of millions of urban renewal dollars. Dare I mention that the same entities hijacked the CRC and turned it into an overpriced boondoggle? Anyone can do some on line research and figure out what's going on.

The ticket machines are only one example from a long list of what's wrong.  

SP Red Electric

Earlier this year I travelled down to Los Angeles and took advantage of their transit system. I walked into a subway station and found a row of at least five or six machines. And a very helpful Metro employee. I started poking at the machine but wasn't sure of it...she came over to me with a smile and offered her assistance. In a minute or two I had three TAP cards preloaded with a day pass for use.

rctid_taco

"machines are on average up and functioning more than 90 percent of the time"

Wow... One-nine of reliability!

MMencken

It's beyond pathetic! It's hard to say what's worse, the performance itself or the arrogant disrespect for the public shown by TriMet management personnel who would actually promote that "90% uptime" claim as anything but a seeping wound.

Randolph

Trimet operates in the dark. Why give them consideration that is not due? It only assists them with damage control. 

asone

Here's a novel idea. Put a gate up. No ticket, no entering the gate. That would force people to pay and it would force trimet to keep ticket machines in good repair.

gbudavid

"We want to encourage riders to pick up some extra tickets when buying their groceries," Altstadt said, "so they'll have tickets on hand and won't have to rely on the machines."
How about fixing the freaking machines....

Gresham Girl

it really is ridiculous. With all the budget problems, making sure people can pay properly should be a huge priority. 

"We want to encourage riders to pick up some extra tickets when buying their groceries," Altstadt said, "so they'll have tickets on hand and won't have to rely on the machines."

Wow. I'm not even sure what to say about that. I'm floored that Tri-met's response to their frequently out of service machines is to suggest that I *pre-buy* tickets so I don't rely on their machines. I know that Tri-met isn't staffed by soulless zombies, but that suggestion...it just sounds ugly. "You can't rely on us to not get a $175 ticket, so please prepay."

MMencken

This is what happens when neither Trimet nor its managers face consequences for unacceptable performance.

SkepticalOregonian

Joseph, I gave up on the Max a few months ago. I arrived at the Gatewa Max station to find both of the machines on the South side not working. I typically use the card machine because it provides the tickets faster than the cash machine. That day, neither machine worked. The max was there and I wanted to get to work. I jumped on and didn't pay. I purchased a ticket home, but I've drove ever since. Driving to and from work takes me about 12 minutes less than taking the Max. Riding my bike takes just as long as the Max. 30 Mins a day is a lot of time to waste. I'm not wasting anymore time having to run around the Max station looking for a working ticket machine. 

GTPYL

Wow! If only I could get away with providing only 90% availability! I have a flame-thrower turned on my rear end when things drop below 99.5% for some clients. Must be nice.

AltheDriver

Wow, And then we have the usual 'its not our fault' response from the people who get paid big bucks to come up with 'it's not our fault' responses.

We want to encourage riders to pick up some extra tickets when buying their groceries," Altstadt said, "so they'll have tickets on hand and won't have to rely on the machines."

Boy Joe you have really been hitting the ball out of the park lately with these investigative stories.