Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Mcfarlane explains why contractor needs more money

Interesting explanation that almost makes complete sense even if I don't trust a thing that guy does

Trimet job opportunites

Trimet is rolling in dough as was evident in Double Dipping Dave's financial report.
Capitalizing on the anti union sentiment around the world where workers have been pitted against each other they have been able to con many citizens in Portland into believing that Trimet health benefits will destroy Trimet.
Through this phony distraction the Trimet oligarchs have been able to focus the public's attention away from their own absurd pensions, salaries, bonuses, and useless pork barrel job positions.

Look at this list of jobs below, there are 10 positions open currently.
All but one is for direct service to the public.

And this is the real problem with Trimet, the problem that the press doesn't cover.
An overly bureaucratized agency with too many chiefs and not enough Indians to actually get the work done.
Trimet-we have money for everything except your good health care coverage
If you wanna get in on the pork apply HERE!

They are a bunch of smug bastards


In response to the email I received from TriMet, today:
Dear TriMet,
Fuck you, you smug bastards.
Of course you sold over 1 million tickets! You are the ONLY game in town!
What, I should join in your self-congratulatory back-slapping because I have to schlepp out 5 fucking dollars (and likely to raise again very soon "because", knowing you) every time I need to go somewhere because of your "take it or leave it" fare choices? Are we cheering the pervasive odor of urine, vomit and feces that only you, TriMet, have a patent on? Shall I help you celebrate asshole drivers that cannot be bothered to stop and allow a mobility device-user on said shit-wagon because you are too behind schedule, in the dead of winter with 5" of snow and ice? Maybe I should help you applaud the nazi-Germany security checks on Max platforms by hostile and rude transit "cops"?
Fuck you so much, TriMet. I hope you get hit by a bus.

TRIMET TRYING TO DRIVE ITS BUS DRIVERS INSANE

Tigard, Tualtin, Light Rail, Oh my?

Ogden weighs in on Southwest Corridor Plan

As Tualatin Mayor Lou Ogden sees it, funding the Southwest Corridor Plan is a lot like a college savings plan.

“It’s like having a 1-year-old, and you decide your 1-year-old is going to go to college,” he said. “You decide you want your kid to go to (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Now you’ve got the next 17 years to figure out how to afford it.”
That’s part of why Ogden isn’t yet worried about Tigard voters’ March approval of ballot Measure 34-210, which gives the city veto power over the future of high-capacity transit passing through its town as part of a system connecting Portland, Tigard and Tualatin. While the measure focused on Tigard, its ripples are felt in every city in the Southwest Corridor, including Tualatin, where city officials say they will continue to study the project along with Metro and other regional planners.

Intentional?

Several people have noticed that while Mr Newell (bus operator) was addressing the Trimet board both Mary Festch and Roberta Aldstadt were in the visual.

As you know Mary and Roberta are the two leading  Trimet cheerleaders in the Trimet propaganda department. Coincidence or plant? Your guess is as good as mine.




We love light rail

Especially light rail designed to run on a street with all the other vehicles!

YAWN

Here is one of several new MAX trains that were purchased instead of new buses. 
Turns out mirrors work better for visibility than cameras. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT????


Communication breakdown between mgmt and staff

'Bus operators continuous improvement team'

This was part of the board meeting, relevant to current bus operators at Trimet

Money money money

That's one thing that Trimet has, is bucket loads of money. (except to pay for their promises to their retirees).
Trimet is the 'pass through' agency for lots of federal money.
Here they fund various small shuttle services:

Trimet bus driver tribulations

Threatening behavior aimed at drivers is the norm. This is a letter to all Trimet managers and the governor about a situation that is currently happening.

John Oliver nails Oregon PR vs its REALITY

Not Trimet related but is of great significance since it nails the propaganda vs the reality. So where did 1/4 of a BILLION dollars go anyway?

Trimet loves to cooperate with the police state

Hell Trimet is its very own police state with its very own police state type rules!
Very funny video from the Oregonian is below the break!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Trimet-Title VI-OPAL-Retaliation

I had high expectations of Esmonde, it didn't pan out of course

Trimet still has not complied with this court order


Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.
(Thomas Jefferson)

Portland Transport Nazi's

I peruse as many sites as possible looking for interesting material. Of course that includes Portland Transport since its the 'establishment' transit blog for the area. Having been kicked off there myself I am always amused when I see good old Bob Richardson threatening others.
It's definitely collectable!

Saturday, April 26, 2014

WE LOVE LIGHT RAIL

Weird TriMet service alerts

#72 Line 72:

#4 Line 4 and line 9, The line 72 is back to regular route on 82nd. at 10:46 am.
[but]
#72 Line 72 Northbound 82nd, is back to regular route to 82nd & Divison, detour right Division, left 92nd, left Stark, right 82nd then regular route until further notice.
[and later]
#72 Line 72 Northbound 82nd, is back to regular route at 11:09 am.
#72 Line 72 Southbound 82nd, is back to regular route at 11:08 am.

#72 During the 82nd Ave of Roses Parade from 9 a.m. Saturday until about 12 p.m., no service to stops on SE 82nd between Stark and Holgate.
[no mention of any temporary stops on 92nd, which have been done in the past]

TRIMET white shirted management makes it virtually impossible to claim a safety hazard

"Safety is a value" the slogan says. And that's all it is, a useless slogan at Trimet. In this audio dispatch clip we will listen to the controller strong-arming the max operator to keep driving the train even though the operator clearly has expressed his concerns about continuing.

Trimet's expanded light rail isn't working

How did Trimet pay for its expanded rail network?

Friday, April 25, 2014

Stupid 'talking' buses

"PEDESTRIANS," says her younger, bossier friend. "BUS IS TURNING."
Hear them once, and you'll understand why people who live along pilot routes are pulling out their hair. Hear them twice, and you'll be terrified that TriMet might adopt this technology systemwide.
Still, it's hard to fathom how a "talking bus" system could make the streets safer. In fact, a fleet of talking buses might actually endanger pedestrians in three new ways. For starters, people walking in downtown Portland and other high-transit, sharp-turn areas would learn to tune out the clamor of overlapping warnings: "PEDESTRIANS BUS IS TURNING is turning PEDESTRIANS Caution BUS IS turning TURNING Caution TURNING." 
Susan Nielsen: 'Distracted walking' is a problem, but could that talking TriMet bus please shut up? | OregonLive.com

Trimet oligarchs control the flow of the 'contract' negotiations.

The real shame here is that there is no outside coverage of what's going on there. How can the unions claim be verified without an outside observer.
Trimet is dominating the discussion aided by its lackeys in the mainstream media.
Who's challenged Trimet figures other than ATU 7575?
OPAL has!
And OPAL was proven correct yet they got ZERO media coverage on this issue. Think back, this is the same time Mcfarlane gave himself and his pals 'secret raises' while raising fares and chopping up bus service.
How do we break the grip of the Trimet propagandists?
 NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

Is this believable?

I guess its inevitable at this point huh?

3 months probation for selling stolen trimet passes

Kevin Daniel Mackin also was sentenced to three years of formal probation Thursday for using a stolen credit card to buy the 15 monthly passes -- at $100 a piece -- from a vending machine at Southwest Ninth Avenue and Yamhill Street on Jan. 15.
 Thief who bought 15 TriMet monthly passes, sold them on Craigslist, gets drug treatment | OregonLive.com

Sounds important -another Trimet screw up

BENEFICIARY INFO NEEDED ON EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT PLANS 
When TriMet switched over to ICMA-RC, our current retirement management provider, the previous providers did not send any employee beneficiary information. All employees who switched over to ICMA-RC two years ago need to fill out a change of beneficiary form, if you haven’t already done so.  Anyone who enrolled with ICMA-RC directly after August 2012 would have chosen a beneficiary when they filled out the enrollment form. If you are wondering about what beneficiary information is listed on your account, you should check page four of the latest statement received or call 1-800-669-7400, use 0#, 0#, 1# to speak to a live person right away. ICMA-RC did mail out a reminder letter to all participants that did not have beneficiaries listed. Questions about pension/retirement? Contact Windy Graham at GrahamW@trimet.org.

Most people will not be crime victims on Trimet

Most rational people know that riding transit is relatively 'safe'. Not very likely that you will be robbed or beaten senseless while riding transit. As always, if you are one of the victims what good are the 'statistics'.
Riding transit is more of a stress problem, some of the people you are forced to be with are not people you would associate with given a choice.

WES has no crime, obviously because they have a conductor riding with passengers ALL THE TIME monitoring behavior. Probably part of the reason FTA requires a conductor on board is crowd control.
What's Portland's most crime-ridden bus line? 10 facts about TriMet's latest crime stats | OregonLive.com

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Trimet general manager report

Bureaucracy is what this is all about, useless bureaucracy that only serves the useless bureaucrats

Only 2 citizens bothered to speak to the Trimet board of Directors

When only 2 citizens bother to address the Trimet board of directors it's not because everyone is happy with the way things are going.
It's because the futility of wasting your precious time to speak to a bunch of political hacks who are only listening to you because they have too is sinking in to the public consciousness.

Of course the Trimet oligarchs like it that way, nobody to get in their way!

Bus is turning destroying neighborhoods!

Trimet-"We wake you up"
Trimet is  in your face no matter who you are !

Trimet: Doing the Wrong Thing (again)


TriMet's Double-Standards
author: PoorTransitUser
I realize this may not be the place, But I feel I have little other choice but to put TriMet on Blast. Anyone who still insists that this is the "best" public transit agency in America either owns stock with them, are paid to propagate such LIES, or are simply lying to themselves!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Ben Fein speaks to the Trimet board of directors

Ben discusses all the relevant points that should concern the public. It's absolutely amazing to have a historical perspective on this material having followed it for years now. What we see is that NOTHING EVER CHANGES and the board is deaf to what the speakers are saying.

Trimet golden boys

If you add benefits and pensions these two guys cost tax payers well over a half million dollars a year!

Bob Nelson and Neil Mcfarlane-Long time pals

Cute little Trimet tweet to a rider

$400k talking bus boondoggle

In recent weeks, Portland residents living along bus routes have repeatedly called Oregon’s largest transit agency to complain about the audible warning systems misfiring at all hours.
When the buses turn, a woman’s voice declares, “Pedestrians, the bus is turning.” The warning sounds twice.
“It sounds like a woman yelling in the street every time one of the buses with this technology goes by,” said Dave Anderson, who lives where the No. 75 follows Portland’s windy Northeast Wistaria Drive.
The Federal Transit Administration gave TriMet a $400,000 grant to test emerging pedestrian-alert technologies on the streets of Portland.
JOE ROSE BLOG

Love the light rail




Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Looks like Seattle is saying no to METRO

SEATTLE (AP) - In early returns, King County voters were rejecting a proposed sales tax hike and an increase in the car-tab fee to pay for roads and to prevent cuts in Metro transit bus service.

Initial returns tallied Tuesday night showed the measure was failing 55 percent to 45 percent.
But McGinn, too, pointed at Olympia as the source of the problem — and Republican state senators whose feet are, literally, planted in concrete.
Bike riding "green" Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn
Former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn:  “It is clear our needs have been held hostage to new highway projects.”
“When I met with Senate Republican leaders, they told me bluntly: We’re going to starve transit until you come to the table and support more highways,” McGinn said.  “It is clear that our needs have been held hostage to new highway projects.  This makes absolutely no sense fiscally, economically or environmentally.”
Metro has outlined prospective cuts, from suburban feeder lines to much-used bus lines serving such Seattle neighborhoods as the Central Area, Leschi and Madrona.
Supporters have argued that Metro carries 400,000 riders each day and is vital in transporting people to work and to colleges and universities in the Seattle area.  Service from the Northgate area to the University of Washington is one of the routes facing cuts.

King County voters rejecting road, bus measure | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

Metro bus rescue plan losing big in initial vote count - Strange Bedfellows — Politics News

(Tax  payers have had enough and I can't say I blame them) 

What about our union?

I spend a lot of time beating up on Trimet but When I read Henry Beasley's emails I start  thinking about our union. Things are awfully quiet  over there save for the occasional ad that appears in one of the incidental news papers. I started doing a little research on our union and came up with this little piece of information from the now defunct Portland A-Foot

As reported in 2006 by Willamette Week, ATU officers' salaries have risen rapidly in the last decade despite few changes in membership. Combined officers' compensation rose 74% from 2000 to 2010, according to Department of Labor figures, the equivalent of a 5.7% annual raise each year of the decade.
Over the same 10-year period the union's annual income rose 1 percent, to $2,352,209, and its membership grew 6 percent, to 4,383.

Trimet tweets

Monday, April 21, 2014

Trimet bus drivers are low on the wage scale

And that was because they gave up those wages for what they thought was going to be excellent health care. Trimet wants to break the bargain and give nothing back for breaking it. Our union got suckered and our members are too passive to see they have been robbed

Interesting the CUBIC is questioning Trimet award procedures

CUBIC is actually the largest provider of cell phone ticket technology in the world.

TRIMET PUBLIC RECORDS ARE A JOKE

Why exactly are videos of actual accidents 'exempt from disclosure'. There is no transparency at Trimet and people should realize this fact.
Trimet is one of the very few districts that won't release accident footage.