RANTINGS OF A FORMER TRIMET BUS DRIVER: 05/01/2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

What Trimet executives have in store for the public

Trimet and its mainstream media stooges are making a big deal that they are not having a fare increase two years running now. What they neglected to tell you is that the hacks that have just awarded themselves another million dollars in raises after the million dollars they gave themselves the year before last have fare increases for everyone next year and every year after that!

page 11 of the Financial Forecast

Correction

Fair and unbiased? I'm having doubts lately

Joe Rose investigated the allegation that Trimet paid for the limo for Bill Clark to get to the CNN interview. Apparently CNN paid for it. If only Joe Rose would investigate stories that are not so complimentary of Trimet executives we may have an actual fair reporter out there

@AlYourPalster @lanejensenpdx CNN paid for the car service #trustbutverify
— Joseph Rose (@pdxcommute) May 31, 2014

TRIMET MANAGERS TRYING TO LIMIT INTERNET FREEDOMS OF ITS EMPLOYEES SHOULD LISTEN TO HILLARY | Internet Site Law

CLICK HERE
I have no idea who's behind this site

Friday, May 30, 2014

The Trimet board handles dissent well

ABHORRENT

Abhorrent is the correct word to describe Neil Mcfarlane and his little band of personal pals that comprise his executive ranks.

This is a man that is bringing hardship onto his retirees at the same time enriching himself. He does it without any remorse or shame.

Mcfarlane and his cronies are what is wrong with this country. More for them less for everyone else.

This dickhead has no shame and no morals

Joe Rose can really get a story wrong

"Keeping pace with the marketplace

For only the second time in five years, non-union employees will see an average of 3 percent wage increase. There will be no automatic cost-of-living increases. The wage increases will be based on performance and overall compensation. A total of $1 million has been set aside for wage increases and are included in each division’s budget."
SOURCE

Second set of $1,000,000 of raises for management in three years and you FAIL to mention it.
So that is $2,000,000 per year going forward for management raises while the union is killing the company by trying to have the company honor, (a word TM mgt. has no clue about) prior agreements. You know, the union employees that have had no raises for two years and 3 pay cuts in that time. We know you hate the union but come on Joe, pretend you are a "reporter" for once and get your nose out of McFarlanes behind. The truth is good for the soul Joe. Try it for once. pdxdriver

If I get sick, my Trimet pension will be worth $89/month

I will use my personal information to illustrate the Dilema

-I worked 15 years at Trimet, I am receiving a $950 mo. pension from Trimet before taxes.

-That's 11,400/year gross.

-After taxes that leaves $9120 for the year or $760/mo

-Now lets look at Mcfarlanes proposal

Random acts of kindness by Trimet employees happen hundreds of times each day

Most drivers do their jobs with heart and genuine caring.

You don't hear about these because these acts can't be quantified into a written form.

ANOTHER ACT OF RANDOM KINDNESS BY A TRIMET EMPLOYEE http://t.co/iAJSPyAPo8 http://t.co/7Yxn1v4z9U
— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) May 31, 2014

Travis Stoval attempts to defend the honor of the Trimet board

RIDER SPITS AND HITS 94 BUS DRIVER http://t.co/lPYRCfyduo
— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) May 31, 2014

Henry Beasley-"non funded obligations"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Unfunded liability, what is in a name; for which describes our current contention with the company (the definition: Potential or actual debts for which no current funding is available.). This word has been used in a manner that is demeaning to the situation that we find ourselves in. This obligation or better yet Non-Funded Obligation was created when the company decided to expand the system without planning for a way to pay for the expansion long term, instead of paying the obligation entirely; they siphoned money to continue the expansion while making only current payments on the obligation (PayGo). In our current situation as is, they had no intention of paying the obligation (thus Non-funded), as we move along into mediation then onto arbitration, they plan to cut their way out of paying for promises they had no intention of keeping.

Yet, in the bigger picture; no one has asked the question, “When the obligation reached 1 million dollars, why didn’t the company stop the expansion?” “When the obligation reached 10 million dollars, why didn’t the company stop the expansion?” “When the obligation reached 100 million dollars, why didn’t the company stop the expansion?” “When the obligation reached 500 million dollars, why didn’t the company stop the expansion?” “When the obligation reached 900 million dollars, why didn’t the company stop the expansion?”

It's bad enough that Trimet bus drivers are constantly under stress from the public but they have to survive the hostile work place that Trimet management creates for them.

These 'talking buses' are yet another example of this sort of brutality that Trimet operators are subjected to. One of the more idiotic ideas, these buses disrupt neighborhoods and are a form of torture against operators who are forced to listen to this over and over.
And operators have no choice but to accept this psychological torture

Heard on Trimet scanner

May 29th

Bill Clark saves toddler

The mainstream media is picking up on this story so much so that Mr Clark is apparently going to be interviewed on CNN tonight.

It's interesting because Trimet is footing the bill for Mr Clark to get to the network affiliate via Limo.

Why else is this interesting other than its getting national attention? Because there is an apparent LANE JENSEN connection regarding the Limo transport.

This quote comes from a document about Mr Clarks transport services;

Got a call from XXXXXX at XXXXX Transportation around 5:30PM asking if we could do a ride at 7:15pm. Got XXXX limo to cover it, everyone else was booked up. Anyways, got a call around 6:20pm saying that they don't want ME (Lane Jensen) driving the car. I informed XXXX that I would not be driving, I'm part of the office. Come to find out, the passenger is a TriMet bus driver who saved a toddler from the middle of a road in Gresham. After further questioning, I found out that XXXX was told NOT to use XXXXX because of me. After he told TriMet that the only option he had was XXX, that as long as I wasn't the driver, it was okay.

Lane Jensen not invited

May Trimet Board of Directors meeting

@tehnick have you tried using Trimet's new boat service? #pdxtransit #transit pic.twitter.com/5iXl9AlkM3
— pdx boats (@pdxboats) May 29, 2014

Why is it that everytime there is something positive about Trimet bus driver some executive has to be in the picture

Why is Aldstadt in this picture with the driver that saved the child?

Combined stories on the Baby Bus Driver

I've been watching OPAL pretty much since their inception. And they have been right on about their observations from the start. While OPAL has gotten some media coverage the mainstream media pretty much ignores them unless they can use them in a story that the media themselves are working on.

One of the biggest triumphs of OPAL has been the calling out of Trimet on their phony budget projections. Two years ago they said that the Trimet service cuts were not necessary and today we are seeing the full vindication of OPAL's projections. Trimet had pleaded poverty when there was no justification for it. They did that at the same time they hid raises for themselves.

Congratulations OPAL members for getting it right, too bad the mainstream media completely ignored this incredibly accurate analysis.

Trimet headquarters is all of a sudden rolling in dough, after years of pleading poverty. Now I've been watching the financial forecasts as Double Dipping Dave has been presenting them to the board of puppets and the last I heard they were behind on their forecasts.

But apparently none of that makes any difference now in this years budget. 'They' are planning on bringing back all the bus service to 2008 levels and even want to buy 2 more vehicles for that WHITE ELEPHANT WES.

Party time at Trimet, except for the employees and especially for the retirees some of who will experience true hardship due to Mcfarlane's ruthlessness.

Plans for WES expansion: The staff recommends purchasing two additional vehicles for WES, at a cost of $8.5 million, or $13.2 million over 20 years of debt service. All of those costs will cannibalize other general fund programs. I’d suggest that this proposal be pulled from the budget and possibly added back later, after further public vetting

Joe Rose spits back Trimet press release

If Trimet says it, Joe will reprint it. (most of the time)
Fares, fixes, union fights: 10 takeaways from TriMet's just-approved $607 million budget | OregonLive.com

Trimet bus driver good deads

GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN 6) — A TriMet bus operator says he is “no hero” and “did what anyone should do” when he stopped his bus to prevent a toddler from wandering onto a busy street.
TriMet bus operator Bill Clark was driving a Line 20 bus westbound on NE Division Street in Gresham around 8:15 a.m. last Friday when he saw a small child walking in the middle of Linden Avenue and heading straight for Division, according to TriMet officials.

There was a MAX crash today

Trimet said zero about it, of course

MAX IN CRASH http://t.co/9GlRzMXKkK
— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) May 29, 2014

Mcfarlane's a cheap skate

Blumenauer gets billions for Trimet and Mcfarlane donates a paltry $250 to his campaign. Heck 1% of Mcfarlanes income is $2,223 so he gave 1/10th of 1% to the man who basically keeps money rolling in for Trimet capital projects.

Of course Blumenauer doesn't actually need any cash contributions since he has that seat for life if he wants it. Just another example of the power of incumbency.

Neil S Mcfarlane pours money into Democrat Congressional campaign

Classic tweets

Portland: no money for street maintenance, yet @trimet has money for boats #transit #ourstreetspdx #stoppdxstreetfee pic.twitter.com/5FT9nCwrxm
— pdx boats (@pdxboats) May 28, 2014

Sounds like OPAL gave the sock puppets hell this morning

This New Jersey Transit activist wants NJT to take twitter seriously

And if Trimet actually cared about public input they would take it seriously themselves.Unfortunately, of all the transit districts that I have monitored, Trimet is the least likely to actually open up their complaint process. Trimet is scared of all communication that they themselves cannot control. New Jersey transit seems to be the winner when it comes to complaints on Twitter. Trimet's not that far behind.

I notice stuff like this. I'm sure that both Roberta and Mary knew this 'leaning bench' thing was gonna go over like a lead balloon so they made sure their name wasn't attached to it.

They let Jennette Zarko (never heard of her till now) handle the PRESS RELEASE!

Trimet facebook fans slam the advertising gimmicks disguised as benches

Advertising pretends to be a 'bench'

MICHAEL ANDERSON did a post at BIKE PORTLAND to which Jared Franz made a very interesting comment worthy of a blog post here:

Jared May 23, 2014 at 11:53 am

OPAL is listed as a promoter of this survey and we continue to be involved in it’s development, but we also want to continue to be vocal about our concerns over the survey process and current product. We sincerely respect the hard work that many people put into this. But without getting into too much detail, it’s sufficient to say that TriMet effectively vetoed important transit questions regarding satisfaction, coverage, affordability, and community members’ preferred transportation trade-offs (such as creating dedicated bus lanes by removing on-street parking and/or bike lanes and/or etc). The two transit questions that did make the final version of the paper survey are either redundant considering existing data, or quite narrowly framed and therefore limited in their usefulness.
The online version includes slightly more/better questions about transit, but not the questions community members most advocated for. They have also found this version very difficult to use and time-consuming, raising additional flags about how representative online survey responses will ultimately be.
Again, we respect the hard work that so many have put into this effort to collect better transportation data. Projects like this are very important. But we hope that this particular product can be improved moving forward.

This is significant because its even more evidence ( like we need any more evidence when we already have volumes of stuff about Trimet manipulations and lies) that documents the complete and total lack of honesty that comes from Oregon's largest transit agency- TRIMET

Al Sharpton on transit workers

I'm not a big fan of Mr Sharpton but in this case he makes very good sense

Hi everyone as most of you are aware I am no longer overseeing all the tournaments however I (the writer of the memo) am some of yours only update information contact. Also TriMet is once again holding all the rec funds back so once again no monies are available for golf

Monday, May 26, 2014

Trimet made $10 billion for someone

"TriMet’s transportation and environmental leadership has helped spur $10 billion in transit-oriented development along MAX Light Rail lines."

Trimet whines about its 'unfunded obligation of $800 million forty years in the future.

They also say that they brought in 10 billion dollars!

Anybody have any idea what happened to that $10 billion?

Who exactly received $10 billion dollars?

Now this is one thing that has definately changed at Trimet-1972

Nothing ever changes at Trimet-1969

NOTHING EVER REALLY CHANGES AT TRIMET-1980

Trimet rolls out 'pay to sit' benches

Trimet Replacing Benches with Medieval Torture Racks

Rantings of a Trimet bus driver from 2009-health care

Anti union public relations blitz against Trimet union members past 5 years now

Here are some of the stories that were published more than 5 years ago on the subject on squeezing union employees health care.

RESPONSE TO THE LIES OF KATU AND JOHN CHARLES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpQ-Xhv7t2I

FRIDAY JULY 17, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNmf4i-YDTI

SUNSET BOB FOR KOIN 6 ON THE HEALTH BENEFITS CONTROVERSY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06UC31fhS5k

DRIVERS DISCUSS THE MEDIA STORY ON BENEFITS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGSHxs_x6Bw

DRIVERS DISCUSS THE VARIOUS BENEFITS AT TRIMET

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48BUuAUBStw

ATU 757 PRESIDENT JON HUNT RESPONDS TO THE HEALTH CARE CONTROVERSY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZuU09NDaN4

JEFF ACKERSON ON THE HEALTH PLAN UPROAR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMlNkTxBN0s

WHERE IS ATU 757 IN ALL THIS MESS?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzpPoJ9bDsI

IS STEVE BANTA GUILTY AS CHARGED?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF6A9Qokmeg

ONE OF TRIMET'S MORE ARTICULATE DRIVERS BLAMES MGMT FOR THE HEALTH STORIES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3BgWE-oPOY

THE PATHETIC MARY FESTCH OFFERS NO DEFENSE OF OUR HEALTH PLAN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-ibO6EmN5g

DRIVERS DISCUSS THE ATTEMPTS TO STRIP OUR HEALTH CARE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC6HdRcP068

SUNSET BOB HOSTS ROUND TABLE ON TRIMET HEALTH BENEFITS

http://vimeo.com/5674113

Remember this guy?

Photo gallery: More Buses campaign celebrates victory

AAATA CEO says he hasn't made decision on accepting RTA job yet | MLive.comI sure do, its Michael Ford, the guy that Fred Hansen hired as the Director of Transportation. After a year or two Fred made him his "special assistant" and after a little while after that he vamoosed to Michigan. This quote from one of the local periodicals out there expresses what I thought of Mr Ford while he as at Trimet.

the AATA board assessed CEO candidate Michael Ford’s interview responses as “mushy” and not as “crisp” as they’d ideally prefer, with board chair David Nacht describing Ford’s communicative style as “modern management parlance.” Source

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Been a couple days since the last max screwup

#Breaking Portland, Oregon @trimet train with a man stuck after train rolled him and he is trapped. @KGWNews pic.twitter.com/gPvtOtColF
— Scott Ford (@ScottFordTVGuy) May 26, 2014

What bus drivers have to deal with

Crazy man with wig terrorizes bus driver

Good bus video from Australia showing how crazy cars and bicyclists are

Trimet bus massive graffiti

http://t.co/azPbQrPJQU

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Double Dipping Dave says Trimet revenue not meeting expectations

Trimet projections are too high to meet expectations

Comment worthy of its own post

Why is this bus beeping pulling into a stop?

Is this something new?

Friday, May 23, 2014

Trimet finally gets around to posting April ridership numbers

This has been in the media for a week but not posted on Trimet's website till today. I wonder why they would do that? It appears that the boost to the rush hour service has resulted in increased ridership over last Aprils ridership. However peak ridership was up last month before the increased service by 6.3% so the increase could be attributable to the time of year. Of course WES keeps gaining but the total numbers are still tiny compared to the rest of Trimet service.

If you cut services people stop riding, its simple logic. The harder it is to use a service the less people will use it.

The big question, that nobody is talking about is, WHY IS MAX RIDERSHIP STILL FALLING?

So what do we really know by these statistics?

"There are Lies, damned lies, and statistics"

Mcfarlane explains that the $800 million 'liability' number is a 40 year number

This is a significant admission because this number has nothing to do with today. Let's say that the number is calculated on 30 years. That would mean that Trimet would be paying $26.5 million every year for the next 30 years for health care. I have no idea how many union retirees there are but the number can't even be 1000. Once a retiree hits 65 the main coverage is now medicare which reduces Trimet's cost significantly. The Trimet figure is based on the highest level of blue cross coverage when the facts are that about 1/2 the employees are on Kaiser, significantly cheaper. The figures are also based on a full family coverage when most of the union employees don't have families, especially since they have retired.

Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.

I. F. Stone

This information was originally posted HERE!

Hairy Supporter pussywhipped by Roberta Altstadt

Trimet pork

Start at a higher wage than a bus driver end higher wage than a bus driver, no nights, no early mornings, no weekends, air conditioned environment. This position is paid by Portland tax payers

TriMet: Jobs - TriMet Career Opportunities

For ATU 757’s Final Offer Costing Spreadsheet:

ATU says Trimet 'more reasonable'

It appears that Trimet has 'dropped' some of its demands before presenting its final offer for arbitration. ATU is reading this as some sort of victory but anyone familiar with negotiations knows that the parties always come in with extreme demands so they have room to bargain.

The issue with Trimet has always been the health care, they want to eliminate it. They have already won one arbitration but that was not enough for them, they want more. And if they win this next arbitration they will most likely come back at the end of the next contract and demand even more.

Double Dipping Dave Auxier has stated publicly (recorded on this blog) that Trimet seeks to END THE 'OPEB' BENEFIT. Luckily for union employees Trimet cutthroats won't be able to get rid of it completely because they would have to get rid of their own healthcare also. Trimet executives certainly won't allow themselves to suffer, its just OK for everyone else to suffer.

Trimet and its corporate media stooges have waged an unrelenting war of disinformation against its union employees going on 5 years now. While it has been accepted as gospel by the anti union crowd as well as the church of light rail cultists much of the general population are suspicious of Trimet claims having seen for themselves how often Trimet officials lie and distort to manipulate public opinion.

TriMet Finally Sees the Light

Given the fact that most ATU members are or have been bus operators at one time or another I don't see the need for any apologies.

I would like to make a correction to the Press Release that went to our members and media wide where it stated "Today, the bus operators union filed unfair labor practice charges against TriMet charging that the agency's top managers have bargained in bad faith." Because it was aimed at the press, and because that is what the press calls the ATU that term was inadvertently used. It was a mistake. We'll take care not to use it again.

In the future we will use "transit workers" union or “the Amalgamated Transit Union who represents TriMet employees." I apologize to those folks who are not bus operators but who are just as important to this union and our community.

Bruce Hansen

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Best of the tweets!

Sorry but not everybody is enjoying the Trimet system.

Trimet bus 3204 studied

@KATUNews Tell that to TriMet. Ask about the driver that plowed into a parked car in Ladd's today while on the PHONE to a supervisor!
— Aaron Bong (@aaronbong) May 22, 2014

Trimet 'test buses' creating safety hazard

The test buses that are emitting various noises (other than human) are bothering drivers with hearing aids and assistance dogs. Trimet expects that all its bus drivers put up with all these buses with no exceptions. Driver's who refuse to drive these buses are forced to take a leave day (same as sick day).
The union is dealing with this latest Trimet tyranny.

Double dipping Dave ready to go back into 'retirement'

David Auxier, who was hired as a 'temporary' director of finances several years ago, must have made enough extra money now to add to his already nice fat pension (I'm sure this will also add more to that fat pension of his) that he is ready to go back into the peaceful life. The only problem I have with Auxier is Mcfarlane's passion for hiring his old pals as his executives.

Hey its not really Trimet,it's Portland government in general. That's how they both roll