Best of the Trimet tweets!

And Trimet may have broken records for pissing off people today! These tweets are all from today!

The Trimet way!

TRIMET RAIL MELTDOWN-JUNE 30

Another massive Trimet fail this morning

We love the light rail cause when it fails it really fails! Nothing makes a person feel quite so helpless as being stranded at a transit stop. I'm sure glad they just gave that dickhead Mcfarlane another nice $6000 raise, he sure has earned every penny hasn't he.

 So, what exactly was the "power issue" that led to Monday morning's MAX meltdown.
Over the weekend, crews spliced existing electrical wire to allow for the tie-in of the new MAX Orange Line at the Jackson Street terminus of the Portland Transit Mall.
"They thought they had it all worked out," said Roberta Altstadt, a TriMet spokeswoman. "But when they tried to turn on the power this morning, something failed. We're still trying to troubleshoot it to try to figure out what's going on."

TriMet experiencing systemwide MAX meltdown, morning commuters report (updates) | OregonLive.com

One last mediation, what current and future Trimet retirees stand to lose

In May, TriMet declared impasse and moved the contract negotiations into interest arbitration. Despite doing this, TriMet also agreed to another mediation session. We had that mediation session with TriMet on June 24th.

As you know, the big issue is health care coverage for both active employees and retirees. We were able to show that currently, TriMet pays more for health insurance than every other local government. We also showed that TriMet retirees receive only 32% of their final salary in pension. For those newer employees forced into the defined contribution 401 plan, the percentage is even smaller. Other local public employees on PERs receive 43% of their final salary as pension. We also showed that PERs retirees vest in five years while TriMet employees don't vest in their pension until 10 years. This is a huge savings for TriMet.

Trimet sock puppet Prosser explains how Trimet was hijacked from a transit agency to a development agency

Trimet's argument that it is cheaper to run light rail than bus is flawed

In terms of operating costs, it is often argued that light rail is cheaper to operate than buses because the fact that the capacity of light rail is so much greater than buses allows for fewer light rail trains to be run than buses operated along a corridor for the same number of passengers. It is true that one light rail train consisting of three sixty feet long cars can carry as many people as four and one-half regular buses. What this means is that assuming passenger load remains constant, a light rail train that has three-car consists operating every ten minutes would need to be replaced by standard buses operating almost every two minutes (six light rail trains per hour = 27.5 standard buses per hour). If there is enough demand along a corridor to operate buses every two minutes, then a light rail train would have lower operating costs than buses.
Unfortunately, with few exceptions - including almost none of the cities shown in the accompanying table - American cities do not have bus corridors that have sufficient demand to operate buses every two minutes. Instead, cities are choosing to operate their light rail lines as often or more often than existing bus service. Replacing a bus route operating every fifteen minutes with even a two-car light rail train operating every fifteen minutes is the equivalent of increasing corridor capacity by three hundred percent (a two-car light rail train is the equivalent of three standard buses). While ridership is likely to increase due to the introduction of trains, it is unlikely to increase by three hundred percent.
Bus vs. Light Rail: Which Is Cheaper to Operate?

MENTAL HEALTH PDX RAILS AGAINST TRIMET 'ANTI HOMELESS' BENCHES

They are indeed an abomination.

Dear Trimet- how many bus stops actually violated the ADA?

Dear TriMet, how many bus stops actually violated the ADA? (The reason given for the new "leaner" benches.) - Imgur

KPTV HAD DECENT COVERAGE OF THE LATEST MAX CRASH

TriMet the master of 'spin'

In a ridiculous piece of spin doctoring, TriMet has announced on its website that, in exchange for free advertising, Lamar Advertising is providing 600 “upgraded” benches at bus stops. What “upgraded” means is that the benches have a raised rail in the middle, so that there isn’t enough room for a person to lie down.
The purpose of these benches (which are also used in Phoenix, AZ) is to make it impossible for homeless people to sleep on them.
Mental Health Association of Portland has started a hashtag on Twitter:
#hurtsthehomeless @trimet @LamarOOH

Illusory Flowers in an Empty Sky — TriMet teams with Lamar Advertising to make life even harder for homeless people in Portland

Did TriMet misrepresent the reason behind their new “leaner” benches? | Village Portland 

Go celebrate Neil's robbing your benefits package to pay for MLR

And of course NO RETIREES are invited. 

The people that built Trimet are not welcome. 

Neil (the dickhead) Mcfarlane continue his low ethical administration with the full support of the sock puppets (aka board of do nothings) and that piece of shit governor.

Trimet employees can speak with the people intent on destroying them

Come shake hands with your oppressors Trimet employees

Come work for the most oppresive public employer in the state of oregon

Trimet will make you eat shit and when you're done eating shit they will make you eat more.

Lane Jensen classics

I know I shouldn't post this but this video made me laugh when I originally saw it and it still makes me laugh. These are the type of productions that made Lane famous. 

How is this safe and why does it happen so often?

I DON'T KNOW HOW TRIMET CAN FUNCTION LIKE THIS http://t.co/tbZ0LQRzLz #fail #trimess

— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) June 27, 2014

Bus 99 suffers major change

I originally thought that Trimet preserving the 99 bus was a good thing. But now after looking at the new routing I am having my doubts that the 99 riders are being well served. It appears that the 99 express is being turned into a local bus that will go over the Sellwood and into town via Mcadam and Corbett.  That's a shame

Not much media coverage of this event

A 58-year-old cyclist was seriously injured after crashing into a TriMet train Thursday evening, Hillsboro police said.
The crash occurred at about 8:30 p.m. on Southeast 10th Avenue and Southeast Washington Street in Hillsboro. Police said the cyclist was riding his bike southbound on 10th Avenue as a TriMet train was traveling westbound on Washington Street while crossing 10th Avenue.
Police said the cyclist was riding on the sidewalk when he ran into the side of the train and fell onto the roadway.
The man suffered serious head injuries, and he was taken to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. No other injuries were reported.
Roads will be closed for about four hours while authorities investigate the crash. Tenth Avenue will be closed between Baseline Road and Main Street. Washington Street will be closed between Ninth Avenue and 11th Avenue, police said.
TriMet blue line service in Hillsboro has been disrupted, and shuttle buses are serving stations between Hatfield Government Center and 12th/Washington.
-- Kasia Hall Woman sues TriMet for $251,000, blaming malfunctioning MAX train doors for broken hip (video) | OregonLive.com

Woman falls out of MAX - sues Trimet

The horror

This MAX operator sheer emotion in speaking with Dispatch after the train hit a bicyclist

A CAREER AT TRIMET AWAITS YOU!

Work in the agency that publicly  calls you UNSUSTAINABLE! 

Work in the agency  that makes false promises to you about your retirement package! 

Watch the movie below to find out what your missing by not being a Trimet bus driver!

Milwaukie TC name is changed

Mr Ferguson replied to this post in the comments section.

As you can see Jeremy is just 'one of the boys'

What used to be called Milwaukie Transit Center is now called Milwaukie City Center.

Trimet employee(moved to st car cause it was a 'conflict' haha!) Jeremy Ferguson has made that decision.  

Jeremy just happens to also be the mayor of Milwaukie.

 Lots of people (including myself) wonder about that and the obvious conflicts of interest but this is Portland and Trimet so this sort of thing is common. It seems to be a culturally acceptable situation actually. 
(this is an unconfirmed report)

Trimet announces service cuts due to MLR

There are some surprising things here.

Doubling service on 28+34  line:

• Maintain existing days and hours of service (weekdays about 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.).
• Increase frequency from about every 70 minutes to about every 35 minutes.
• The proposed routing change occurs into downtown Milwaukie; the line then becomes Line 34-River Rd with regular routing service to Gladstone and Oregon City.
• Riders can transfer to the MAX Orange Line at SE Tacoma St/Johnson Creek or Milwaukie/Main St stations.

Line 31-32-33 will no longer go downtown:(this is a drag for riders)

 Maintain existing frequency, days and hours of service.
The proposed routing changes would end service in downtown Milwaukie.Riders can transfer to the MAX Orange Line at SE Park Ave and Milwaukie/Main St stations.

And the biggest surprise at all is that they are not eliminating the 99 line!

Maintain existing frequency for the weekday rush-hour only service
The proposal would add service from downtown to the south during the morning commute and from the south to downtown during the afternoon commute. Service in both directions during weekday rush hour runs between about 5:30 a.m. until 8:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. until 7 p.m.
The proposed routing change would shift the line from the Ross Island Bridge to the Sellwood Bridge with new limited stops on Tacoma Street, Macadam Blvd, Corbett Street and then existing route on the downtown Transit Mall. The move would occur after the Sellwood Bridge construction could accommodate bus traffic. In the meantime, potential interim routing is being reviewed.

Bus service changes proposed with the new Portland-Milwaukie light rail service – give us your thoughts! | TriMet News and Media Releases

Steve Rands Retirement Ceremony from TriMet at the Merlo Garage

LANE JENSEN VERDICT SHOULD BE REVERSED

The supreme court (as in the highest court) made the following ruling:

The Supreme Court reversed as to Riley and affirmed as to Wurie. The police generally may not, without a warrant, search digital information on a cell phone seized from an individual who has been arrested.

The exception for searches incident to arrest does not apply; such searches must be limited to the area within the arrestee’s immediate control (the cops also violated the law in seizing Lane's computer) where it is justified by the interests in officer safety and in preventing evidence destruction.
 Read the case here!

Tribute to Trimet's Electric Bus Fail

Tribute to Trimet's electric bus from al m on Vimeo.

Clackastani update

 

 

Nobody like Lane Jensen

TRIMET FAIL

All the grand hoopla and media propaganda and the whole thing goes bust. Typical in so many ways.

On Wednesday, Oregon's largest public transit agency announced that it had taken the plug-in vehicle out of service.
"There was an issue during charging last night and BYD technicians are responding," said Roberta Altstadt, a TriMet spokeswoman. "Essentially, we weren't able to charge the bus."

Story here

C-TRAN GAVE AWAY THE STORE

Last fall, the C-TRAN staff signed a horrible contract with TriMet that no Southwest Washington citizen, nor the C-TRAN board, saw prior to its signing. That contract ceded eminent domain authority to unelected bureaucrats in Portland’s TriMet. No Southwest Washington citizen wants an unelected, unaccountable person or group in Portland, to have the ability to take their personal, private property.

Furthermore, that contract included a $5 million penalty clause. This meant that if C-TRAN failed to live up to the terms of the deal, Southwest Washington taxpayers would be on the hook for $5 million. How come the taxpayers weren’t told about this?

HOTT BUS DRIVERS

I've always hated doing posts on really bad bus drivers but every now and then there is one that is so bad it becomes blog material, such is the case of Trimet line 57 train 69 leaving Beaverton 1:33 each afternoon. A minute early is not early in my book, 2 mins early is early but not punishable especially if the company gives the operator no recovery time at the end of the line. But 3 minutes and hotter is actually hurting people that don't deserve it. Like riders who are actually on time but have been left behind. And the follower bus which gets creamed doing the work for 2. This has been reported twice but as of today the rogue continues in his ways.

Speaks volumes about the culture of apathy that exists at Trimet, both from the operators and on the management side. Nobody anywhere cares enough to bother dealing with it. Sad state of affairs.

PART 1 HERE

PART 2 HERE

Trimet excitement

Dogs and guns on Trimet!

That Trimet bus your driving is a cesspool

Upset driver sends me pictures of her working conditions

LATEST EDITION OF SEEN AND HEARD ON TRIMET

But not seen on TRIMET'S HOW WE ROLL BLOG!

 TRIMET SCANNER TWEETS HERE!

@ceeweb

@trimet the "bus is turning" alert is annoying. it wakes me up every morning and goes off in front of my house every time a bus goes by.

It's always f*kn something

Westbound MAX trains are experiencing delays up to 25 minutes due to a signal issue at Rose Quarter.

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Oregonian editorial board calls out the ruthless Trimet board

And the cutthroat dictator Mcfarlane who directs the puppets.

While Grew may not have bought the ATU's argument that the new smoking policy should be hashed out at the bargaining table, the brouhaha certainly reflects badly on TriMet's board. It chose to inconvenience the agency's employees by adopting an unworkable policy from which neither TriMet nor the public will derive any benefit whatsoever. That's a strange way to win cooperation from people whose benefits costs TriMet famously seeks to control.

 TriMet union wrong on cameras, right on Camels (poll): Editorial Agenda 2014 | OregonLive.com

Classic comment on Oregonian site!

'Secret" union communications re:contract

I was on the fence about posting this since I  support the union in the battle against Trimet. But at the same time I have the same issues with ATU757 that I have with Trimet, namely SECRECY!
Both institutions operate in an unacceptable manner when it comes to keeping things hidden from the public and its members.
So here it goes....I took the names off the actual communicators so as to not embarrass any union member .

This can't be true can it?

Trimet apologist Bob Richardson's electric bus video

Good old Bob is not much for free speech but at least he makes a decent movie. This whole thing is just another distraction as I've said in previous posts.

Anthrax scare at Trimet

Yes there was white powder on the MAX!
The picture is of a actual anthrax victim, its pretty brutal.

Of course it was nothing but this is AMERIKA now where we need to be SCARED!

NO MEMBER PARTICIPATION REQUIRED

I have no opinion about this but not everyone is happy about it

Injured by a Trimet seat

@trimet told bus driver as best i could i have larengitous i didn't realize till afterwards that it actually cut me like a papercut scratch

— ann marie (@ann_marie_79) June 23, 2014

Joe Rose story on Trimet big brother

These are a couple of the important abstracts from his article

Administrative law judge B. Carlton Grew ruled that TriMet could continue to train the so-called "eighth camera" on the agency's newest buses on drivers.
Grew said the ATU knew at least six months before they filed the complaint that the cameras would be turned on. So, the judge dismissed that piece of the union's complaint as "untimely."
~~~The union screwed up and didn't file the complaint in a timely manner. Unacceptable.


However, Grew concluded that direct audio recording of bus operators during work time -- and direct audio and visual recording of bus operators during break time -- are mandatory subjects of bargaining. He ordered TriMet to negotiate those decisions with the ATU. 
 In the wake of the ruling, "we are recording both audio and video from the eighth camera but we are not using it to either exonerate or confirm an incident involving an operator," said Mary Fetsch, a TriMet spokeswoman.  "We hope to work with the ATU to negotiate the use of the camera and audio." 
~~~>So Trimet once again is ignoring a lawful order. This is what they do, ignore lawful orders. And there is not a damn thing anyone can do about it. Remember who you are working for Trimet employees.

Bruce Hansen, ATU 757 president, said he would respond to the labor board's latest ruling in an email to The Oregonian. But he didn't send the email or respond to text messages.
~~~>Bruce is using the Jon Hunt technique of communication, which is no communication. Unacceptable!

TriMet violated law with cameras, microphones recording bus drivers, Oregon labor board rules | OregonLive.com

Another MAX crash in downtown Portland

Another Trimet propaganda event

Put a Trimet sticker on it and let the mainstream media do the rest. Yes its the 'electric bus' which is being used in some places and tested by many places already. Neil's pal Bob Nelson (200k on top of his existing Trimet pension)  hosts this little piece of propaganda with his usual 'we are greatest' nonsense.

TRIMET STUPID SHIT

Henry Beasley

Brothers and Sisters,

 

If members want to get the attention of the company, the simplest way is to: WORK TO YOUR JOB TITLE and nothing more, why should members feel like we are not part of the decision making process.  We are the "front line" of the company and we should be respected as such; often we are described as "liabilities" and made to feel like non-essential employees.  We are people that have families and lives outside of work; we should not be treated as machines that do not get stressed or sick, and lay down their lives just to have a job. We are a Union; we need to act that way.

Put the 'public' back in public transit

Patrick Stanley on the Trimet-union strife

TriMet fighting the Union is not like fighting an external agency; it is literally fighting your own people. No, the Union is not perfect. But they certainly have done nothing wrong to make management take it to them like they have. It's hard to bargain in good faith when you can't have faith that the other person is going to not stab you in the back.
Read the entire post HERE!

Macfarlane just gave himself another $6000 raise at the same time he destroys the people that created Trimet

And every single of his overpaid henchmen will be getting an extra 3% on top of their already six figure salaries. This man does this at the exact same time he is destroying his union retirees. Jim Fowler spent his life building the nuts and bolts that make Trimet a transit agency, and now that same agency is trying to destroy him.

What do local reporters think of Trimet and their procedures

Joe Rose of the Oregonian and Aaron Mesh of Willamette week

This is our Cadillac insurance that Tri Met keeps bitching about.

Trimet said they were refunding us the money they stole in 2009-2010

But alas it was all empty words as it always is with the pseudo criminals that run Trimet
From Trimet press release:

As part of the original arbitration award, Arbitrator Gaba ruled that TriMet must refund $3.6 million in premiums that employees paid prior to the arbitration award. (notice how Trimet ignored Gabba's order)

OPAL MEMBERS FINALLY FED UP WITH THE TRIMET BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tired of talking to the Trimet board and getting the run around, OPAL members decided to speak in their native tongues since the board doesn't listen to them anyway.
The following is their protest. The translations are below the video.

ATU President Addresses TriMet Board About Health Insurance

    Thank you for allowing the Union the opportunity to address this issue. I want to speak very briefly about the Other Post Retirement Benefit situation. Known as OPEB this is retiree health care.

    In 2006 a federal guideline was published called GASB 45. First time OPEB unfunded obligations had to be shown on government books.

    For TriMet that was a huge number. For over 44 years  TriMet put not a single cent aside to fund the retiree health care they promised to provide.

    Neil McFarlane has said that, in the future, TriMet has no intention of putting any money aside to reduce the amount of the OPEB unfunded obligation.

    TriMet uses its 44 year failure to honor its OPEB unfunded obligation to justify deep cuts in retiree and active health insurance.

History of TriMet economic trends

Performance and financial statistics graphs found on pages 268-272 of the TriMet FY2015 Adopted Budget.

History of TriMet fixed-route costs and ridership

Performance and financial statistics graphs found on pages 268-272 of the TriMet FY2015 Adopted Budget. Note: I believe the first graph actually shows vehicle hours (as in including deadhead and possibly break time) instead of in-service hours, and that the rail "bus equivalent" may be based on capacity and not actual ridership.

History of TriMet LIFT costs and ridership

Performance and financial statistics graphs found on pages 268-272 of the TriMet FY2015 Adopted Budget. "Cab" refers to taxi rides that augment regular LIFT service.

STATE RULES AGAINST TRIMET FOR SPYING ON ITS EMPLOYEES

Over and over and over we have seen clear factual evidence of the wrong doing by the people in charge of Trimet . 

And the mainstream media and the public with their glazed look in their eyes while they watch boondoggle bridge get built. 

This one almost slipped under the radar.

 How come the union didn't publicize this?
This is a fascinating read, I'm even mentioned in this case.

Click to expand

Really, how many transit apps are enough?

You think this is enough yet?

Trimet, the master of Propaganda techniques

Trimet is in the middle of another BLITZKRIEG propaganda attack. Along with their partners in crime (the mainstream media)  they are making news out of all sorts of things that have NO EFFECT on transit riders.

Like  TRIMET IS TESTING AN ELECTRIC BUS which means absolutely nothing to any current Trimet rider. Trimet is way behind other transit districts in looking at this technology.

Or  We have 100 DIFFERENT TRANSIT TRACKERS big freaking deal, how many transit location applications are necessary for crying out loud.

And everybody's favorite distraction the TILL-I-CUM BRIDGE (aka the Kirk Reeves bridge) which is rolled out several times each month to distract the public from real transit issues.

And  don't leave out TRIMET ANTI UNION PROPAGANDA which is oh so important to keep the lies and distortions about their union employees current in the public's mind. These phony law suits serve no purpose other than allow Trimet officials to publish even more anti union baloney.

Trimet is constantly pumping out useless propaganda disguised as news to influence the minds of Portland area citizens. It's vitally important that the CULT OF TRIMET continue to exist is most people minds. Its how they can get away with all the other abuses.

Nonpartisan on a Trimet twitter rant

Long time no hear from this guy!