Thank god Trimet executives hire such highly skilled planners!

As we can see thanks to highly skilled #Trimet planners boats are waiting at max tracks for stranded riders pic.twitter.com/ooi7rjd4LY

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) November 1, 2015

In service MAX train floods!

Jonathan Gates of Bus Riders Unite says Trimet needs to ask for public input on the e-fare system

Of course Trimet did absolutely nothing in regards to asking the public about this. They just went ahead and expropriated $30 million dollars and did it. This is after they spent several million dollars putting in the bus ticket printers. A million here and million there Trimet spends like a drunken sailor. The only spending Trimet executives complain about is spending on their union employees health care

Nothing like an Alan Eisenberg rant

Trimet lift driver makes impassioned plea to the sock puppets

Meanwhile on the Trimet

Lots and lots of incidents occur daily on the Portland transit system. None of them get reported in mainstream media. Actually there has been very little real 'reporting' on Trimet anyway and since the departure of Joe Rose there is zero reporting on Trimet issues. All the public gets is repacked Trimet news releases. 

These are a handful of the many incidents, you need to keep track of my twitter feed to see everything. I'm not able to keep this blog up like I used to do.

Before light rail and developers seized control of Trimet

@trimet throwback Tuesday when TriMet invested in bus service pic.twitter.com/rnZeKX8iu9

— Erik H. (@sp_redelectric) October 28, 2015

Orange line losers

@trimet my commute went from a half hour tops to at least an hour no matter what. It sucks.

— zed.oë (@rhymeswithbowie) October 28, 2015

Trimet management FAIL-again

I think this should bother all ATU dues paying members

In 1997 the president of atu757 made $67k. Now the head job pays $125k. Something's wrong with that pic.twitter.com/TCjV3g4cq3

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) October 29, 2015

Ben Fein alleges that Trimet is intentionally undermining ATU757

There is no doubt in my mind that Trimet has a hand in making sure the fighting among union members continues.

I never saw any official "good bye" for Johnell Bell

Johnell  just seemed to disappear without explanation from his 100k job

 

 

ATU 757 Sheninigans-Blast from the past

 The purpose of this post is to illustrate that there has been internal commotion for as long as I have been associated with this union. This article is from 1999 and was published by Willamette Week

You can thank Ron Heitzman that the streetcar operators are not Laidlaw employees

Workin' on the Railroad
The union representing Tri-Met light-rail operators wants its members at the controls of the new city streetcar.

How does Trimet get away with this?

This cell phone app is dangerous. Here is yet another example of someone who bought their ticket with this failed app, the app crashes, now the rider gets a $175 fine. That is beyond unacceptable. It's immoral

Only a fascist entity could actually get away with this type of behavior. That's right @Trimet I'm looking at you pic.twitter.com/6ppwoEYJrL

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) October 27, 2015

TRIMET LIAR IN CHIEF MAKES ANOTHER APPEARANCE AT PORTLAND CITY CLUB

Dan Christensen on ATU757

THE TRUTH ABOUT ATU 757 Membership at Trimet.

Tribulations of Trimet Bus Drivers

This post was reprinted From the Driver's Side Blog

Great moments in Trimet history

Dan Christensen's TRIMET CONFIDENTIAL blog which was shut down by Trimet after he wrote a figurative short story called KILL THIS BICYCLIST.

 It was clearly fiction.

 What happened to Dan was even more outrageous than what had ever happened to me.

After all Dan was PORTLAND'S MOST LOVED BUS DRIVER (curiously enough there is no record at Willamette Week of the story that mentions him ) and if anyone actually thought that his short story was literal  they aught to have their head examined. 

Make a long story short Trimet stripped Dan of his freedom of Speech and made him remove the Trimet Confidential Blog. 
I fully used my blog to support Dan against this tyranny!

All that material has been lost and that was a truly great blog full of original writing by Dan Christensen

This was truly one of the GREAT MOMENTS  IN TRIMET HISTORY!

Carl Faddis of Lane County Transit gets it

Portland authorities conspire to shut up woman hit by bike on the Tittycum bridge

Interview with KXL here

Bicyclist hits pedestrian on the TittyCum bridge

With Mary Fetsch making the usual excuses
KGW.COM on the clusterfuck

Controversy at C-Tran

The latest union in-fighting has to do with a C-Tran union rep that was fired by C-Tran. 

Trimet supports "butt lifts"

When riders use the telephone tracker they get ads along with the times. Apparently one of those ads is for "butt lifts". Not everybody is amused

ATU757 history-nothing ever changes

November, 2000

THE NASTY BATTLE INSIDE LOCAL 757

Trimet’s New Electronic Fare System Doesn’t Serve Riders

BRU's E-Fare Alternative - OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon
Changes are Coming to TriMet’s Fare System in 2017

TriMet is about to roll out an electronic fare-collection system (“e-fare” for short), giving transit riders the option of using a prepaid fare card instead of a paper ticket. Instead of showing the bus driver a pass or getting a ticket, riders will tap a plastic card against a reader and have the fare deducted automatically. Smartphone users will be able to continue using TriMet’s mobile ticketing app.
Elimination of Passes

Trimet calls me a 'bully' to them

This is really funny! I can bully Trimet? Nobody can bully Trimet! I don't want them to fail, that's ridiculous. I want them to stop lying and stealing from its retirees/employees

 

#Trimet tells 1 of my pals what they really think of me and NO-I do not want Trimet to #fail. Repent your sins! pic.twitter.com/45r0lnEI8n

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) October 16, 2015

The two WORST transit union busting general managers together

And they both grew up in Oregon! Both made fortunes off public transit. Cunican even more than Mcfarlane

A look at public transit in San Francisco & Portland

ATU757 Presidents report

People need to read this and understand.
Shirley is getting ready for another battle ahead as the Trimet management will be coming for more givebacks. ATU757 members have lost TWO CONSECUTIVE CONTRACTS NOW! We lost the first one in arbitration and the second one was conceded by the past president.

I have illustrated  right here on this blog how Trimet is dealing with the misnamed "unfunded liability" (more like we spent the money on other shit  and should be in jail now), and that is by removing the benefits.

 The end goal of the Trimet slime is the termination of all post employment medical coverage. Even new employees should understand if this happens you are now stuck working at Trimet till you are medicare age. A prospect that most Trimet workers don't want  to face. I went out at 58 because I have medical coverage. Not what I was promised but still medical. Current employees can still get out early if they wish and have some coverage. Trimet wants to end that option. Don't let it happen.

Unfortunately our union members keep fighting with each other thereby draining energy and resources from the real fight. We need to stop this internal bickering and move forward with the real objectives.

When I voted for Bruce I expected him to say no to any givebacks. He caved and it cost him the election. As far as I am concerned we have the right people in there to handle the Trimet contract negotiations.

The rest is noise. Let's stop the noise. It's not helping anything.

TRIMET shuts down joking MAX driver

I never heard this guy telling jokes but I've seen people commenting about it on Twitter for a good long time. He's liked.

 Is it professional? I don't know. 

I've always thought the  best transit operators are the ones you don't ever think about. They show up on time , always courteous and get you to the destination on time. No flash no splash. They  just do their jobs with with professional consistency. 

You'd be surprised how many true professionals there are at Trimet. 

It seems like people enjoy this operators jokes, why is it necessary to shut him down? 

It's not unsafe.

 

While ATU757 members bicker amongst themselves a steam roller is headed right at us

Click to expand

While the fight inside ATU757 rages there is a steamroller coming at right us. Unfortunately it's going to roll over us if the members of this local don't get their shit together.

 Source

Trimet "fixed" the schedule problems-NOT!

Trimet "adjusted" the schedules so service would be more reliable. Sorry folks the mess that we see below is a common occurrence . Not that its a big deal cause it isn't. This is exactly how every single public transit agency in this  country works.

ATU757 members vote "no" on new election

By a vote of 49-12 union members at last nights meeting voted to allow the challenges to the last election to go to the Department of Labor and not to have a new election. 

The department of labor will investigate the challenges and will make its determination. 

It's highly  unlikely that they DOL will order a new election.

It was reported to me that the dissenting faction (the 12) was creating substantial turmoil at the meeting by making numerous procedural objections and generally making as much nuisance of themselves as they can.

This is the type of behavior that keeps dragging down everybody.
The lack of solidarity at ATU757 is stunning

Sorry, Trimet has ruined your neighborhood

Well, Lots of us told these people there lives were gonna be ruined by this project. Nobody listened to stop the monster-KOIN reports

Challenges to the ATU757 election with responses

Tom Horton's essay on clean buses

You know something is not right when the leading Trimet apologists trash Trimet

Not sure why Trimet officials allow this to go on and on and on. 

The Fare Nazi's really need a full 4 credit course on handling customer service issues because they are failing miserably.

Destroyed by the Trimet Orange Line

"Car free" bridge my ass

The so called "choice" riders are all trying to get on this new orange line with their cars, which I find funny since all the never ending bullshit about the bridge being "car free". I wonder if people will ever wake up to all the hype bullshit that is foisted on them by the Trimet spin doctors. This does nothing to lessen autos, it just lessens cars in downtown. By the way I hear that this orange line has created more traffic nightmares which in turn means more air pollution.

This is the KATU story on the parking mess

Sore losers at ATU757

The losers of the last ATU757 election are still pushing for a new election unfortunately. I don't think it takes a particularly high IQ to come to the conclusion that if the election was repeated the results would be the same given the percentages of the final vote. But that never stops the losers from trying to change outcomes. It seems to go with the union politics, there are no 'good losers'.

I personally think its ridiculous but I know how ATU757 members are. With ATU757 members its all about personality and zero about facts. If your not  liked  nothing you can ever say or do will make those people  come around to your point of view. 

So here's your chance ATU757 members to either lay this turkey to rest or waste more union funds having another election.

10/12: Charter Meeting, 6:30 pm, AFL CIO, 3645 SE 32nd Avenue, Portland

10/13: Day Meeting, 10:00 am, Schoppert Hall, 1801 NE Couch Street

10/13: Salem/MV, 7:30 pm, Salem Senior Center 50+, 2615 Portland Road NE, Salem

10/14: First Student Corvallis, 10:00 am, 2605 NW 13th Street, Corvallis

10/14: Lane Transit District, 7:00 pm Woodworkers Local Lodge, 1124 South A, Springfield

10/15: First Student/PPS, 6:00 pm, PPS Student Transportation, 716 NE Marine Drive, Portland

10/16: Bend Area/COIC, 7:00 pm, Jake's, 2210 US-20, Bend

10/17: Valley Transit, 10:30 am, WSDOT Mtce Bldg, 1210 G Street Walla Walla

10/17: RVTD, 4:00 pm, Bobbio's, 2105 Roberts Road

10/18: TCTD, 1:00 pm, Alice's Restaurant, 17345 Wilson River Hwy, Tillamook

10/18: CTRAN, 6:00 pm, 2121 NE Andresen, Vancouver

Classic Tweets

#CatchTheYellow RT pdxalerts: New Seasons 'Banana Man' being safely taken into custody at a nearby MAX platform pic.twitter.com/iU28OcmdhT

— Ron (@TelemachusRome) October 10, 2015

Sorry-cold hearted institution ahead

#trimet u a piece of shit-a driver writes pic.twitter.com/sN93UarIyI

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) October 8, 2015

Disturbing change in Trimet internal regulations

From the Rail Operators Rule Book.B.1.0 Operating Rules
B.1.1 Safety

SAFETY IS THE OVERRIDING CONSIDERATION WHILE PERFORMING DUTIES, INCLUDING THE OPERATION OF TRAINS, NON-REVENUE VEHICLES OR EQUIPMENT, AND MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES.

  the word consideration has replaced the word priority or policy. It has been downgraded to being just a consideration.

Trimet-heartless and souless

A bus driver witnessed a very traumatic event (a person got killed crossing the road) during his work-shift and as Trimet always do they encouraged him to continue working. 

So the driver continued working but finally felt too sick to his stomach to continue.

 Trimet marked the driver off and charged him with TIME LOSS.  

(trimet drivers are only allowed so many hour of time off from work per year before disciplinary procedures begin) 

The next day the driver was still a nervous wreck and hadn't slept all night due to the event of the previous day. 

He  attempted to call off but  was told by the station agent that if he called off he would not get paid for the holiday as it was a long weekend.

 So the driver came in to work and drove his bus having no sleep the night before. How does this meet the following Trimet slogan:

  safety is a fundamental value and a priority in all aspects of work. 

Obviously little slogans have no basis in reality at Trimet

Trimet trick or treat

"If I only had a heart" (Mcfarlane) "If I only had a brain" (Sapporta) "If I only had courage" (Stedmen) "Where's Kansas" (Lomax)

Trimet light rail ruins another neighborhood

There are so many adverse effects of these light rail lines but mainstream media has done a pretty miserable job of covering these aspects of light rail. Whole towns and neighborhoods will never be the same once these lines are constructed. Even in this story KGW made sure to put in a segment where a rider says "light rail is a godsend" even though the story should be about the neighborhood being ruined for the current residents.

Trimet will be coming for your benefits

Is Trimet better off than Greece?

We now know that it is the Cascade Policy Group that leads the charge against the Trimet union employees. Trimet executives sit back and pretend that 'they care' about employees but the truth is they want to cut your throats.

And here we have the EXACT SAME RHETORIC as the last time around.

Trimet rider gets bit by "service dog"

Do you think that these insane politically correct ridiculous rules about 'service animals' will change so that people will actually have to PROVE that animals are actually for disabled people?

TRIMET DISPATCH HERE!

Trimet union mechanics underpaid per contract?

Investigation by Chris Day has revealed that Trimet mechanics may  not be  getting the proper tool allowance per the contract.

How many engineers does it take to run a transit system

All I can think of when I see stuff like this is how each of these high paying Trimet positions could be one full time operator providing more actual service to Portland riders

 

40 F*KN years

Working 40 years at Trimet? That's basically your entire working life. Seems rather limiting in terms of real world experience. I spent 15 years there and can see how the time can just fly by. In my working years I worked in Boston, San Francisco, Santa Rose, San Diego, and finally Portland.  I can't even imagine spending your entire working life in one place. (by staying in one place however there is a better financial pension [if it continues]that is but who even thinks about that till you hit your 40's)

Great moments in Trimet history

And it goes without saying that these great moments in Trimet history are from my point of view.  I've always had a passion for collecting Trimet material that would be completely lost if were not for my little collection here at the blog. Robert Butler tongue lashed this Trimet committee good. The committee was chaired by ex general manager Tom Walsh

MAX operator on his last nerve

TRIMET DISPATCH HERE

Chris Day's response to one of the challenges to the ATU757 election

Click on the pics to enlarge

It pays to be a Trimet suck up

For a Trimet apologist he's a decent guy. 

Interesting twitter feed too

Rose Quarter fiasco

Have you been down to the Rose Qtr. Max platform and seen all the construction?

$3 million project to make a new office for the Light Rail signal and track maintainers due to the Maint. of way managements total incompetency in keeping the system running.

Trouble is they had no plan for parking and when upper management found out that they were on the hook for renting parking for the employees and non revenue vehicles to the tune of $18000 a month they torpedoed the whole plan turning it into a big fat white elephant they don't know what to do with. Funny but mighty sad!

Another Trimet bus driver is assaulted

TRIMET DISPATCH HERE

The new Trimet bridge will be unusable after a major earthquake

Bus 33 hits a pedestrian

DISPATCH HERE

Trimet transit cops say they 'listen to riders' and give 'courtesy tickets'

Trimet is integral to the functioning police state

Video coverage of Light Rail delrailment

Trimet Fail

Classic tweets

@AlYourPalster TriMet Cares #SeeWhereItTakesYou #CatchTheOrange pic.twitter.com/RkVw9EAY01

— Ron (@TelemachusRome) October 3, 2015

Trimet always has to lie

#trimet says 'mechanical problems' #Trimess #lies pic.twitter.com/wRMr2FeV5Q

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) October 3, 2015

Remember this guy?

 This Alan Raeburg who quit Trimet and went overseas. 

When he came back he tried to come back to Trimet but they said "NO".

 Now he's working at Seattle Metro.

I was very familiar with him when I worked at Trimet

 

Portland activist Joe Walsh doesn't trust Trimet

Deacon in Blue not happy about Trimet ripping off employees time

There is the lawsuit about this but as we all know its DELAYED.
 Trimet is the master of delays and that not only means service delays but legal delays.
 Unlimited money for unlimited motions!
 Someday it will be decided!