Trimet bus shelter turned into dump

Trimet contractor says the public loves Trimet

This is the board presentation with my comments

This is how my Trimet bus will look after I decorate it

Trimet says they have improved 'reliability'

Then why do I keep seeing this?

How many propagandists does Trimet have anyway

They must have 2 dozen people working over there in 'communications' (propaganda)

propaganda

[prop-uh-gan-duh]

noun

1.

information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

2.

the deliberate spreading of such information, rumors, etc.

3.

the particular doctrines or principles propagated by an organization or movement.

450 feet of track for $3.7 million?

Hey but they didn't take it all, they returned $230k! How generous of them indeed. 

Somebody is making a fortune on this shit

Streetcar project comes in $230,000 under budget

I'm gonna buy this bus and drive it around Portland

I actually drove this bus when it was brand spanking new

How much do ATU international executives make?

SOURCE

This bothers me-A LOT

Erik Halsteads completely reasonable question deserves an answer

Max crash on scene report

A tree once grew here

Trimet said it was a 'safety hazard'

Bus Riders Unite celebrates their transfer victory

Bus Riders Unite is responsible for the extension of transfer times on TriMet, which go live on Sunday, March 1st. The Campaign for a Fair Transfer was a priority for low-income riders, who comprise a majority of cash/ticket riders and were feeling squeezed by unprecedented fare hikes and successive service cuts.
An extra thirty minutes goes a long way.
Help Bus Riders Unite celebrate this victory this Sunday, March 1st! We are planning a fun public celebration and have a big surprise awaiting - to find out what it is, join us!

  Facebook event link here!

Classic Tweets

Trimet delay of the day

Trimet actually answered me on twitter

This is the second time they actually acknowledged my existence. Maybe the person on the tweet desk today didn't realize who I was.

Classic tweets

My puny pension takes another hit

We were promised our health care would be paid when we retired.

 Both the company and the union sold the Trimet retirees out without even a thought. 

The mainstream media as it always does ignored the story of how Trimet actually hurt people with their backdated austerity (austerity that was only imposed on union personnel).

My after tax pension is $760. 

Now I am forced to pay $188 because the union and the company lied to us when we retired. That is a 25% cut to my pension and leaves me with $572 to live on. 

But guess what? I still have to pay deductibles which is another 16% cut from what I was promised. That leaves me with $451 to live on. 

Don't forget these cuts were backdated to 1992. 

What this means for current Trimet union employees is no retiring till you hit medicare age. You're a wage slave and you can't get out anymore. 
The ones that got out and were lied too? Tough luck!

Max operator says 'no more turning and burning'

Cause no one else will!

TRIMET MAX CONTROL HERE!

Try driving a bus here

I would never ride a bus like this never mind drive it!

According to Mcfarlane there should be no more union givebacks

He's wearing his trimet pin

Head sock puppet puts on some facial hair!

LOL! I don't know? Its a different look for sure

Trimet satisfaction survey doesn't add up

Let me say first of all this is a 'study' paid for by Trimet itself. There has never been an instance where a Trimet funded study or examination came back with any negative feedback. Its too bad there is nobody replicating this study that is not paid by Trimet to verify the findings.

 The only problems with studies like this is that they are always based on small samples, this one is of 1000 respondents. I have no idea what the methodology was in choosing who to call.

Henry Beasley announces his candidacy for ATU757 president

Trimet-making enemies daily

Tax funded government monopolies can get away with this shit.

Track signs more important than PA system

Center Street maintenance manger Bob Seeley won't approve purchasing a new PA for the day spotters but Trimet bought new track signs front and rear of the 50 tracks in the Center yards. The PA has horrible audio and creates feedback if the door is open. The door needs replacing because it won't close properly and looks like the door frame is bent a little. TriMet renovated the main building inside and out but only painted the outside of the spotters office. Workers compare the painting of the office to putting lipstick on a pig.

Henry Beasley Interview part 3

Fascist, heartless Trimet making enemies everywhere

What do they care? They are a tax payer funded unaccountable monopoly

Autistic given $175 ticket when he didn't understand what was happening 

PMLR news!

Trimet's Sam Marra acquiring quite a reputation at Trimet

Trimet throws around more numbers

One thing I love about Trimet is the way they make pronouncements and statements of facts. They never provide any detailed evidence to back up these claims. Like the latest 'news release':

 TriMet to roll out $1.6 million in spring service improvements effective March 1

 

These proclamations are never followed by any specific breakdowns of exactly how they are spending this $1.6 million dollars, what we get is this:

A total of 18 bus lines, including 10 Frequent Service lines, will see adjustments that are focused on matching schedules to traffic conditions, relieving crowding and reducing wait and transfer times.

That doesn't really tell us anything does it. How is this costing $1.6 million of our tax dollars.

And then Trimet makes this statement:

In addition to these service improvements, transfer times will be extended from the current two hours to 2.5 hours for all bus and train trips beginning March 1.

NO mention of course that the extended transfer times are due 100% to the work of OPAL who had to wait YEARS and kept the pressure on Trimet for all that time.

White Privilege

Because trying to get those uppity white folks  out of their cars and onto mass transit requires spending millions on something 'cute' so they won't feel like 'those people'

The streetcar craze started in the whitest city in America, which is Portlandia of course. 

The entire city of Portland Oregon is a pretty good testimony to white privilege actually.
Gentrification is consuming neighborhoods one at a time like a hungry ghost.

Trimet built its very own bridge-only $1.5 billion!

Hell we even have a bridge that doesn't even accept cars on it!

Pretty funny when you consider 88% of citizens use cars

and Portland congestion is the 6th worst in America

What other city would have thought of something like that?

Henry Beasley interview-part 2

I asked Henry to sit down with me to discuss our union and the current state of affairs. 

Wouldn't it be nice to see our elected executive officers actually sitting down with someone and talking about the issues?  Funny how that never seems to happen. As a matter of fact  once a member wins an elected position we never hear from them again, except at the union meeting.

Approaching 1.5 million views

There were several versions of this blog as long time readers may remember. Back when I was employed by the Trimet transit district the managers would go on occasional witch hunts which necessitated my closing one version of this blog and starting a new version. So the 1.5 million views isn't totally accurate since it doesn't include statistics from previous versions of this blog.

In any event this blog has been in existence since late 2010 so it has 5 years of readership for all practical purposes. That translates to about 830 views per day, which is pretty good for an obscure transit blog focusing on Trimet issues. Even though my  blog (and me) has been shunned by all the establishment transit internet networks in the Portland area we still have a loyal readership.

My YouTube channel, which I have had since 2006 has 1.7 million views itself. Most of the material on that channel is Trimet related.

Chris Day

It is the union member that defines a union!

Conversation with Henry Beasley on the state of our union-part 1

WES is a categorical failure

But being a total failure hasn't stopped the Trimet leaders from blowing more money on two new trains, hey its tax dollars so let's PARTEE!

Transit executives live and retire like royalty

 American public transit is pretty bad when compared to much of the world. Especially Europe and Asia. But that doesn't stop transit executives from gorging themselves on public money. Mcfarlane is just doing what every transit executive is doing. Taking whatever he can get.

We already know who our 'dear leader' is. Neal Mcfarlane is a greedy careerist willing to do anything to further his own personal agenda.

He and his handpicked over paid staff along with his board of sock puppets turned the public against the people doing the work at Trimet. This was part of his plan to screw union employees out of the retirement benefits that they had negotiated in the past. Unfortunately for union members, ATU757 was not up to the job of dealing with Mcfarlane and his army. The union gave him everything he wanted in the end. Something unforgivable in my book

Mcfarlane backdated all the givebacks to every single union employee who was hired after 1992. Every union employee who was hired or retired in the last 23 years suffered a Greek like cut to their pensions.  In my particular case these givebacks amounted to a 20% cut to my retirement pension not including the deductibles that I will have to pay for medical care.(completely ignored by the media)

Mcfarlane on the other hand got an obscene raise, this after he abused his union employees and lied to the public in 2012. Liars and thieves prosper in our system of crony capitalism.
So Mcfarlane retires a rich man and I retire  a poorer man. (along with about 3500 trimet union employees)

Mcfarlane, like Fred Hansen, is no hero. He's a shameless opportunist who was in the right place at the right time and knew the right people.

He grabbed as much as he could.

It made him a very wealthy man with an absurd public pension.

TriMet GM Neil McFarlane's 3.4 percent pay raise would bring annual compensation to $290,164 | OregonLive.com

A great historical perspective of Transit in America

Focusing on NY but the issues were similar around the USA

Chris Day contests ATU757 procedures to the international and Dept of Labor

February 20, 2015

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757

1801 NE Couch Street

Portland, Oregon 97232

re: Article titled "NOMINATIONS AND VOTE FOR ATU LOCAL757 ELECTION COMMITTEE"

Dear President Bruce Hansen:

Rumors

Trimet bet

End vehicular racism now!

Giving priority green traffic-light signals to MAX and WES trains and forcing buses, cars, trucks, bikes, and pedestrians to wait twice as long for TWO complete light cycles is "vehicular the racism". It's time to abolish all forms of racism including "vehicular racism" -Bob Shishka

Amanda Fritz tired of handing money over to the Streetcar

The city wants new oversight also

Just another light rail delay

What happened to the trees at Gateway Transit Center?

They appear to have been replaced by asphalt. 

They took the trees out at 60th too!

I hear you. This is Oregon, by gum, and those trees really tied the MAX station together. But where you saw a little piece of Walden breaking up the soul-less concrete-and-steel commute, TriMet saw a potential hiding place for evil-doers.

 In early January, TriMet launched a five-year campaign to improve safety and security at 14 eastside MAX stations along 14 miles of track. Among other things, the $12 million project calls for 58 European hornbeam trees to be removed as a way to deter crime between the Cleveland and Hollywood stations.

 "Trees don't rob people," one rider tweeted, "robbers do!"

Joe Rose Here

Dan Christensen

Where is the Trimet/ATU757 contract?

The total working and wage agreement with Trimet is over 100 pages long.

There is no copy of this document at either the Trimet site or the ATU site. (Trimet has the tentative agreement only)  

A union member asked to see a written copy of the contract and was told that 'they are working on the final language'. (huh?)

The reason this is coming up is that members who chose the Kaiser coverage are finding that the coverage they are getting is not the coverage they voted yes on. Specifically they are now being charged fees for  services which they were not before.
The $5 payment for services was raised to $10, there was no mention of additional fees for additional service.
 It appears there may be a 'bait and switch' going on with the health care part of the contract.

Members want to see the final contract with all the specifics and side letters.

This information should be posted on line, at the Trimet site and at the union site. 
Why is it not there?

Why is it not anywhere?

Other interesting statistics

Supposedly there are less bus collisions than this time last year(I don't know why they don't list the total number of collisions for the month so this is suspicious) , more bus mechanical failures, MAX on time is getting worse (we knew that). It says that there was 100% pullouts? That means that every single bus came out of the garage as scheduled. How is that even possible?

One statisctic I find curious i 'weekly boarding riders per full time employee? What the hell is that and who came up with it? It's down 3%

The weekday boarding rides are up about 3% but the monthly boarding riders per revenue hour is down? Not sure what that means.

It also appears that the MAX statistics are better than last year? It sure doesn't seem like that when you listen to the daily operations.