Trimet management wasting money on stupid frills
- In case it slipped your mind, TriMet’s launches its new Tickets app from Globesherpa on Wednesday morning. As if the fare-machine-in-your-pocket technology hasn’t already received a crazy amount of press andpositive reviews, the struggling transit agency has been able to scrape up the money to throw a launch party at Portland State University’s Urban Center Plaza, complete refreshments and live music. “TriMet staff, the app developers from GlobeSherpa and beta testers will be on hand to help customers download the app and get riding,” Oregon’s largest transit agency said. No word on how much the festivities will cost the budget-battered agency (we're waiting for a call and an email to be returned), but these expenditures always raise Hard Drive’s eyebrows, especially when the current budget contains nary a dime for student passes and it appears opposed to increasing transfer times. Oddly, I couldn’t find a line item in the TriMet Public Affairs budget to fund such shindigs. Maybe it’s coming out of the general manager’s $25,916 “awards and banquets” budget, which is up nearly 3 percent from last year.
- JOE ROSE BLOG
2 comments:
UPDATE: Roberta Altstadt TriMet just sent this response: "The estimated budget for the launch party is about $7000. We feel it is a good investment as the TriMet Tickets app – and the popularity of it – will save the agency money by reducing the operating costs associated with printed and cash fares." Altstadt said the money came out of the agency's marketing budget.
(Gawd how sickening)
That's some funny math... If I put $5 in a bus farebox for an all-day, TriMet gets $5. If I spend $5 through GlobalSherpa to buy an all-day, Visa takes a cut and GlobalSherpa takes a cut, and TriMet gets less than $5. The more people buy fares with this instead of at the farebox, the less money TriMet gets. Which has it's own appeal, come to think of it...
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