TriMet Takes the Truth for a Ride-Bruce Hansen ATU 757

As we’ve all learned, just because a public relations department issues a press release that doesn’t make their statements true. A good case in point, is TriMet’s recent press release defending its $35 million radio system. We know it is not productive to engage in a war of words. But what we can do, is give you the information you need to determine which party is the more truthful.

The Union informed the public that the new radio system failed to accurately describe the location of the buses TriMet flatly denied that claim, insisting that its new system is totally accurate. Just a few days later on September 12, 2013, this new system reported that a bus, number 7009, was at NE Sunderland, very close to the Columbia River. In actual fact, the operator and the passengers were stranded in a broke down bus at 32^nd and NE Broadway, close to the Lloyd Center. That same day, at 3:26 a.m. TriMet’s $35 million system showed the bus known as line & train #2037 as being located on Cedar Hill’s Blvd, in Beaverton. In actual fact, the bus was at 98th and SE Powell on the east side of the 205 freeway.

The Union also informed the public that the system was crashing and leaving buses without any radio contact. TriMet’s PR department claimed that was untrue. Yet, on Tuesday, September 10^th shortly after 5:00 a.m. the entire system crashed and was down for 25 minutes. On August 22, 2013, the system was blacked out for 45 minutes in the afternoon. Other instances of radio blackouts can be heard on the blog, Portland Transit Lane http://portlandtransitlane.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/trimet-fact-checking-the-fact-check/

Finally, the Union told the public that dispatchers were having to watch at least two different monitors simultaneously. TriMet’s PR department denied this, saying that the dispatchers only had to monitor one screen. Ask for a tour of the dispatch center. You will see that six dispatch stations have five screens to be monitored and one has six screens to be monitored.

The details of these problems and breakdowns are coming directly from the people who keep the system running and the passengers and their co-workers safe. These same people have been threatened with retaliation if they bring these issues to the public. That is the reason is TriMet’s PR department feels free to make false and misleading statements.

Due to these threats of retaliation, the Union can make people with first hand knowledge available for discussion provided their identity is kept confidential.

End

To verify For each date listed above, request that TriMet provide the following: “ACID” reports, specifically in the category of ITCS (CAD) which should show, among other things, a document known as the block and duty chart and ask for the audio tape records. Finally, contact the Union to request an interview with first hand witnesses.