IS TRIMET A WINNER OR A LOSER

Yesterday Trimet owned the world. The transit app marketing was brilliant and the thrill that Americans have at getting a brand new cell phone app (first world problems its called) combined to produce hysteria in Portlandia, for basically nothing!

It was true however that for years Trimet riders have been tortured by the horrible TVM's and so maybe the prospect of no longer having to suffer that torture brought the hysterical joy, I suppose its possible.

The silly ceremony ushering this cell phone app was over the top and completely unnecessary,  a government show, bragging about itself at the expense of the tax payers, completely unnecessary.

Nevertheless Trimet pulled it off and all people talked about  yesterday was the silly cell phone app, which is a nice feature of course, but not deserving any of that huge marketing expense. Portlandia.

Now today, Trimet MAX hit a lady crossing the tracks to get on a train. She was not wearing headphones, was not fooling around, yet she somehow walked right in front of a MAX. There is no worse safety failure than a death, especially the  death of someone who was just going about their business as any normal human being.


The press has barely mentioned this, just one story 'woman who was hit by max train dies', no inquiries, no investigations , no Shelly Lomax interviews. Nothing.

In that you see the power of the press. They were all over the cell phone story, but can't be found anywhere to talk about the death of a Trimet rider. We need answers as to the facts of that woman's death. I'm sure Darla Sturdy has heard about this and is probably investigating right now.

Then this afternoon, a tour  bus caught on fire at the crucial intersection of I405 and HWY26. This city being particularly poorly engineered for auto/truck traffic, immediately ground to a halt with most everything in a state of gridlock.

Trimet bus service going through downtown basically stopped dead, everything was  running 20+mins late. Some buses were even running more than 100 minutes late. I never did understand why Trimet can't figure out how to deal with bus bunching.

Today was a total failure, a few people were still talking about the silly cell phone app.

What a difference a day makes

Yvonne Osredkar, 62, of Ridgefield, Wash., was the pedestrian struck while in a marked crosswalk about 7:40 a.m. near Northeast 7th Avenue and Holladay Street, the Multnomah County Medical Examiner's Office said. It marks the second TriMet train-related death this year.