Who is Jared Franz and why is he important to the union

I've been getting a lot of questions about Jared and why he would be good for the union.

Darla Sturdy reappears at the Trimet board meeting

If you wanna watch the Trimet sock puppets meeting here are the links

Trimet 1-27-2016 Board Meeting part 1

 Trimet 1-27-2016 Board Meeting part 2

Trimet 1-27-2016 Board Briefing

Dozens of 6+ figure employees and TRIMET can't make a decent gate

Huge outcry over this never mind its a clear violation of the federal AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT 

I don't understand how Trimet is able to get away with all the shady shit they pull.

$1.5 billion and this is what  they come up with

BikePortland did a good story on this

What really happens when an employee has a gruesome accident

Shelly Lomax at a recent board meeting told the board how concerned management is about the well being of an employee after an accident .
 Well the truth is not quite what she would have you believe. 
Below the break is the truth from someone who actually knows.

Having some knowledge of Trimet and its strange ways, I already know that the Trimet board meetings are scripted cheer leading sessions. You can't believe much of what these managers have to say.  According to them Trimet  is prefect and Trimet is the BEST TRANSIT AGENCY in the world. Some people actually believe that. The truth is actually what the former, now deceased, Trimet advocate Michael Levin at THIS TRIMET BOARD MEETING spoke 

Screwing its retirees is how Trimet rolls

#trimet gave its retirees Greek style cut Mainstream media only pumps pro government propaganda #atu757 pic.twitter.com/ipGx2lFZ9M

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) January 29, 2016

Thinking of driving a bus for Trimet? Watch this first

CLICK HERE!

OPAL members testify on the Trimet E-Fare system

Jared Franz of ATU757

I don't know who at ATU757 headquarters is responsible for hiring this guy but its a brilliant move.

I've been watching him since he was part of OPAL and this guy is sharp!

Great addition to the union!

Jason Mchuff's excellent testimony to the Trimet board

You may or may not be aware that Jason and I spare constantly about issues involving Trimet. 

In this testimony he brings up several excellent points that need to be considered. 

Will they be considered? 

Doubtful.

Sorry Portland that your transit system sucks

We are too busy handing out Millions and millions to our buddy contractors to deal with you peons

$44 million and counting for #trimet fancy fare systems but don't count on your bus/train to show up on time pic.twitter.com/68aOqvCF7s

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) January 27, 2016

Hatchet man Stedmen up to his usual union busting bullshit

This man is a paid assassin, loved by that a-hole Mcfarlane, and here he goes again, messing with union employees because he can. Changing contract terms by making legal decisions that can only be challenged in court. So here we go again folks, dealing with a Trimet executive class of people that have absolutely no ethics whatsoever.

Good luck people working at Trimet, you're gonna need it
(read his memo below the break)

#Trimet scum executive Randy Stedmen already trying to destabilize atu757 by doing illegal actions pic.twitter.com/9j2DU4UPnS

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) January 27, 2016

Trimet is negotiating contract prices AFTER they award contracts

This is the height of a corrupted government institution. Worse of it is, they can get away with it. This is how the MBTA stole a billion dollars from Boston tax payers

Strange Trimet alerts

OPAL IS STILL FIGHTING 'THE GOOD FIGHT'

Our communities are being displaced by rising rents and stagnant wages. OPAL is fighting to stop it. https://t.co/hc6ZPLihDJ

— OPAL Oregon (@OPALpdx) January 27, 2016

Another shit storm on the Trimet

https://twitter.com/Gates_Jon/status/692133116908060672

Have you been keeping up with Dan Christensen's blog

 He's been doing some great writing lately:

Tri-met Transit Terms Tuesday. “Doubling Back, Tri-met's little ugly Troll"

5th Avenue Angels 

 Intro for YouTube Videos

 A Year In Sleepers.

 TRI-MET TRANSIT TERMS TUESDAY #3 “Relief: Operators and Points

You Fat F-ing White Ass Bus Driver" A story of love.

Interesting information about the "stealth tax increase"

The mainstream media is not covering this (what else is new) but Trimet and its cronies are up to no good here.

KARLDUDE EXPLAINS

Driving Trimet transit buses will kill you

I just wanted everyone to be aware of the unsafe work conditions due to the poor design of some of our buses along with the repetitive motion that we perform hundreds of times per day. If you would in either a sitting position or standing with your back straight and shoulders level turn your head to the right as far as you can without straining then tilt your head back. This is the position that you would want to avoid every time you reach for the kneel switch or the ramp switch or for the display screen when entering fares. Notice how your head is turned to the right while your upper body is leaning forward as much as 45 degrees with your eyes level when either checking the door or fares.  Now think of how many times in that position have you had passengers walk past you showing their transfers with your eyes following and turning your head further to the right trying to read the day code or time.

The "truth" about the e-fare system

Transit Police are watching: Privacy advocates raise Compass Card concerns

More than 550,000 transit users across Metro Vancouver are now using the Compass Card system. Advocates are advising anyone with privacy concerns over the new system to use cash.

Photograph by: Jenelle Schneider , PNG

Privacy advocates are urging Metro Vancouver transit riders to carry cash if they want to travel under the radar.
They say the new Compass Card system raises several concerns about the privacy of its more than 550,000 users.
Transit Police have the ability to track a rider’s past 10 “taps” using hand-held units (HHUs) to check if cards are stolen, expired, have a valid tap-in and contain a valid fare.
The HHUs don’t show police a rider’s personal information, such as their name, address or credit card number, TransLink said in an email.
“Cards only store the product and value on the card, its serial number, and the travel and financial transaction history,” TransLink said.
But how that history may be used has privacy advocates concerned.
“The police want that information for a reason,” said Micheal Vonn, policy director at the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
“It’s not a matter of suggesting that you have something to hide. The question is, how do we contend with the fact that this system tracks you?
“It’s kind of like asking, ‘How do you feel about having the police follow you around on your daily route?’ Because this would amount to essentially the same information outcome.”
Vonn said it’s important for riders with privacy concerns to consider using cash to buy and load their Compass cards instead of registering them.
“You minimize the amount of tracking that can be traced to you by paying for your card in cash,” Vonn said.
Vonn said there’s a “huge red flag” to send up about systems that don’t let riders to pay with cash.
“However much we shape the system here, there will always be people for whom it will be, at a minimum, a security concern,” she said.
“For those people, cash has to be an option. We’re very concerned about systems that do not allow for that, and don’t want to see those in the future.”
Vincent Gogolek, executive director at the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, said it’s clear that TransLink has “put some thought into” the issue of privacy.
But he’s concerned with how the data may be used if TransLink someday changes its privacy policy or if such data falls into the wrong hands.
Gogolek said he questions, for example, whether Compass’s data storage poses a threat to someone fleeing an abusive partner who’s gained access to their tap-in itinerary because they share a Compass account.
Or, if some day, to increase revenue, TransLink sells rider data to businesses looking to target them with marketing based on their transit routes.
“This is not the current Compass card, but places it could go if people decide to take it there,” Gogolek said.
“That’s the thing about big data — this data wasn’t available to anybody because it didn’t exist. Now it’s available and TransLink has it because that’s the way the system works. The question is, what do they do with it?”
TransLink said the Compass Card system adheres to the privacy and security requirements of B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA).

Information from a registered card can be used for internal promotions, market research and “other future benefits,” according to a TransLink privacy statement.
TransLink must share personal information with law enforcement when disclosure is required or authorized by law and in line with FOIPPA requirements.
But personal information may only be shared with “providers whose services are related to delivery and operation of the Compass program, and who meet our strict privacy and security requirements.”
TransLink said it’s heard from customers who are “uncomfortable” registering their Compass Cards. It recommends they use cash, credit or debit at Compass vending machines to buy and load their cards.
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C. said in an email that it has “not received any complaints about Compass and privacy issues.”
MIND THE PRIVACY GAP
Since 2003, transit riders in London, England, have been using the Oyster Card, developed by Cubic Transportation Systems, the firm behind the Compass Card.
London’s Metropolitan Police submitted more than 22,000 requests for Transport for London data between 2008 and 2011, according to a report by The Guardian.
The transport authority couldn’t provide a breakdown of how many requests were related to Oyster Card, but a police spokesman told The Guardian it was likely most were related.
Oyster data was used by police for investigations into offences such as theft, robbery, missing persons and sexual offences.
In June 2015, 56.5 million Oyster Cards were valid for use, but 34 million of those had not been used for more than one year.
Vancouver police and B.C. RCMP did not respond before deadline to inquiries about their use of Compass Card data in investigations.
neagland@theprovince.com
SOURCE

The truth about the Trimet e-fare system from al m on Vimeo.

Trimet bus 72 involved in bizarre ped strike this am

http://www.lane-jensen.com/Audio/busvsped0123.mp3

ATU757 "fun facts"

Some facts that might interest you:

Trimet seeking new tax streams

This is certainly not surprising. Trimet never wants to stop expanding and apparently they don't want to risk public shame by attempting another voter referendum

Every Trimet switch is handcrafted specially for Trimet

A classic Trimet tweet here. 

You'd think that if the same problems happens over and over Trimet could fix it

Almost sounds like the military industrial complex. Never 'win' the war so the money keeps flowing. In Trimet's case never 'fix' the problem so the money keeps flowing

Lane Jensen considering new weekly radio show

Trimet decides to hold public hearing on its new unneeded fare system AFTER they decided to cram it down our throats

And of course in typical Trimet fashion the hearing is at 9am on a weekday

Gawd love em

Rumors

The latest rumor circulating among Trimet employees is that manager Jay Jackson ran a bicyclist off the road while turning into Center St garage. 

Henry Beasley

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

There needs to be a questioned answered, “What is this union about?”  Are we a lobbyist or are we a member driven organization who protects workers’ rights? 

In the big picture unions are an endangered species and have lost their way.  In the news, we are now on the clock for a decision by the Supreme Court (https://www.cir-usa.org/cases/friedrichs-v-california-teachers-association-et-al/) that could gut the public sector unions.  The very question of union viability lies on its membership, but are we just dues payers or are we a political lobby that has members attached?

Trimet social media team doing a damn good job

And you know that I would not say anything nice unless I really believed it!

OK now Trimet executives,  you're on the right track, keep going, I know its hard for you to include your public but you better go in this direction!

Fund the TRIMET TWITTER desk for all hours that Trimet is in operation. That means a dedicated person on the twitter desk. This is important and will only be more important as time goes on.

The MBTA does it and that system is a disaster right now. 

 Riders need to feel like they  count (even if they don't).

Trimet max crash

And we have the audio HERE!

Joys of Public transportation

Stay classy @trimet route 72 riders, stay classy. #BusArt pic.twitter.com/S3QgRsZ8Jq

— Kole A Myrick (@KoleBigEars) January 20, 2016

HIT BY A BUS

Todays Trimet rail fail

LOOK BOTH WAYS pic.twitter.com/kevq6kG2Lk

— PJ (@__P__J) January 20, 2016

TriMet accident with car on SW Jefferson/19th blocking both ways. @ABC @NBCNews @FoxNews @CBSNews @breakingPDXnews pic.twitter.com/YRcfwFsGX9

— Ryan Manis (@rpmanis11) January 20, 2016

Trimet bus 15 standoff

https://youtu.be/zBByv8WXAyE

Mcfarlane says he has no money for bus 71 enhancements at the same time he talks about the BRT

This is about the clearest example of the kind of chicanery and distorted factual presentations you will see.

He gets finished talking about a project that will cost hundreds of millions then tells the 71 rider there is no money to improve bus 71

There is always money for capital projects but never money for direct service.

What's wrong with this picture?

Global light rail agenda

All around the country and the world everybody is putting in light rail. 

Do you smell the  "GLOBALISTS"  like I do?

Even in Ethiopia, where people are starving ,they are spending money on this sort of thing!

The Trimet dickhead gives union buster Stedmen a new contract

Make no mistake, Mr Mcfarlane is no pal to the working men and woman at Trimet. He knows the kinds of tactics that Stedmen uses and he fully supports that and so does that board of sock puppets.

Pathetic

Trimet director Prosser....Does he really care

I've been watching these board meetings for years. (one of the few that does) Director Prosser seems a little different from the other directors on that board. He does seem to have some kind of actual conscience, this isn't the first time that he seemed to be genuinely moved. If this is his "act" he is one of the best I have ever seen. Remember, Prosser was also a career technocrat and is now living on a government pension, something pretty big, not as big as Warners (which is 10k a month). And all these career technocrats are pretty self absorbed, ego maniacs. 

Does Prosser actually care?

What happend to Jonell Bell?

I saw nothing about Jonell's departure from Trimet which was a little surprising but after a internet search I found out what happened to him.

I liked this guy

 

Will ATU survive?

The US Supreme Court seems to be poised to make the entire country a so called "right to work" country. From what I have been reading, in both mainstream and counter culture media the smart money is betting on the court to end compulsory dues.

I consider myself pro union 100%. I know that without unions the working men and woman of this country will be completely helpless to the will of the employer. There will always be someone who will do what is considered "unskilled" for less than you do. 

It's a documented fact that workers represented by a union receive pay at a higher rate than workers doing the same job without a union

Unions were largely responsible for all the gains in the graphic below

Truth!

Bruce Warner shuts down Ben Fein

Tireless activist Ben Fein

 These board meetings are about as "vanilla" as it comes. No debate, no excitement, no disagreements. Everybody is one big happy family over there. Trimet management gets up there and tells the board how wonderful they are and the board showers accolades on them.
 It's very rare for any sort of disruption to happen at these staged events which function as a pep rally for Trimet and where they hand out millions to the insider contractors for all the capital projects that go through Trimet

Randy Stedmen got up in front of the board of puppets to proclaim that his employee was BEING ABUSED  by the Trimet retirees.

It happens to be a lie. Stedmens claim to fame is his skill as a union buster. He will do anything in the form of retaliation if it causes distress for the union employees.

Ben called that out and true to form the head of the sock puppets Bruce Warner would hear nothing of it.  

These people control everything and the rest of us have to put up with it. When will Portlander's wake up to the reality of the selfish  lying technocrats that run the Portland transit agency called Trimet?

One city realized that fare evaders should not be treated like criminals

Come on "progressive" Portland, a city in Texas has higher ethical standards than a city in  Oregon?

Austin Metro realizes that the fare evasion fines were abusive and lowered them Your move #trimet End the madness pic.twitter.com/xhD3HvOcnE

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) January 15, 2016

Board of labor delays decision on challenges to ATU757 election

The US Department of Labor has delayed it's final decision about the last ATU757 election.

We will now have to wait till the end of February to find out if the election will be final or thrown out and a new election ordered 

Why I am against Trimet BRT

Powell residents can look forward to years of mayhem

Anybody that reads any of the material that I put out knows that I am 100% against Trimet capital projects and there never ending quest to expand the Trimet empire no matter what.

In 2011 I had the capital projects roster and what you see when you look at that is $10 million a year going to keep people employed in that department. I imagine that the roster has grown since then but that is the last information I have available to me. 

$10 million dollars a year is the equivalent of 100 full time bus drivers. 

Great twitter discussion with Brian R

Twitter is really my preferred social media. I consider myself an information junkie and Twitter is really the place to hang if you are interested in information. You can see literally millions of different feeds with  each individual  disseminating  information of some sort. There is a small group of transit tweeters here in Portland that get into some pretty lively discussions. Below is one I had with one of my favorite twitter pals and it covers a lot of Trimet ground

More meaningful Trimet statistics

Thanks Lane Jensen for analyzing the data

His analysis is a more accurate picture of Trimet delays

Trimet's wonderful schedule improvements

More Neils bullshit

This last MAX fatality the driver never even knew she hit someone

Audio from driver below the break

Neils Bullshit

This is a great example of the kind of bullshit that comes out of Mcfarlane's mouth during these board meetings. Nobody knows anything about Trimet's "fare subsidy" program and there is no place to find out about it either. Nothing on the Trimet website which would be the most obvious place for information to be posted.

The thing about Trimet's 'fare subsidy" program is that it is only available to AGENCIES not people. People have to go through various non profit agencies to get discounted passes and/or tickets. But where do you find out about that? I have yet to see even one place where this information is distributed.

Sapporta and Lomax talk about Trimet fatalities

Sandi Day says she was tortured by Trimet managers after her incident

We know these board meeting are highly scripted. 

We also know that every member of the Trimet staff that speaks at these board meetings will only give the side of the story that supports Trimet managers.

You will never hear one negative thing about Trimet coming from any Trimet manager at these meetings so these "official" meetings  are of limited value after the public hearing part. It's basically a "cheer leading" session where Trimet managers blow their own horns and the Trimet 'board' members utter various platitudes. 

I have no way to verify that anything that Sapporta or Lomax says is the truth. 

I was never involved in any accidents so I have no real life experience in fatalities. 
 My only real experience in the realm of media was the SANDI DAY INCIDENT and Sandi gave a totally opposite opinion of her experience than what Lomax is presenting. 
All of the managers that were involved with Sandi Day are still managers at Trimet today. 
When you listen to the Trimet managers everything is wonderful in Trimet land.
When you listen to the employees (who have no voice) things are not so wonderful.

So do we believe Lomax or not? From what I hear no.

Also all the American public transit agencies refuse to put in pedestrian barriers due to "costs".
Interestingly they do that in Asia but not here.
Of course all these fatalities are blamed on the citizens that get killed or injured basically because "they didn't look". 
Surface light rail is well known to be a hazard to the citizenry, both pedestrians and in automobiles 

Public transit in the USA says this safety feature it too expensive

Trimet light rail claims another citizen

American public transit operates totally opposite from the public airline industry

Public transportation is responsible for more lives than the airline industry is, yet public transportation operates on a completely different philosophy. 

In the video clip below what the airline industry figured out, and what public transportation industry has not figured out, is that trying to place blame when things go wrong creates a culture of deceit.

It's unfortunate that drivers in places like Trimet have to put up with this destructive culture

Hatchet man Randy Stedmen retaliates against Trimet retirees for the election of Shirley Block

Stedmen, a well know liar and union buster, puts forth the phony argument that he is worried about his employee being 'harassed' after the first meeting with Shirley Block. 

Imagine if bus drivers made these sorts of complaints about their working conditions. They would be fired immediately. 

This is the kind of thing that Stedmen does, with the full approval of that sack of shit who attempts to hide behind him,  Neil Mcfarlane.

Odd service alerts

#17 Your relief might be a couple mins late due to the line 17 being late. Please hold a couple mins for her. Thanks.
http://twitter.com/unTriMetAlerts/status/685630095340376064

#19 Line 19 due to multiple cars parking on 23rd to Union Manor do NOT service Union Manor until further notice.
http://twitter.com/unTriMetAlerts/status/684794338866409472

#63 No service to stops between the Oregon Zoo and SW 18th & Salmon.  Buses use Hwy 26.
http://twitter.com/unTriMetAlerts/status/684775446655832064
[what's the point of the route then, since you could just take MAX?]

#47 Rock Creek Buses check your reroutes for changes: LINE 47 #101, Line 52 #103, Line 67 #104.
http://twitter.com/unTriMetAlerts/status/684765386286342144

#trimet #8 Line 8 Short line at Caruthers DO NOT GO UP THE HILL. for the rest of the service.
http://twitter.com/unTriMetAlerts/status/683863444194328580

King Neil escapes again

Mcfarlane is the undisputed champion of finding ways to blame everything that happens at "his" agency on other people.

Problems with his employees, he goes out and hires a professional hit-man, RANDY STEDMEN. Mcfarlane can now pretend that he is Mr Nice guy even though Stedmen gets his direction from him.

In the case of his failing transit operations, he went out and dug up his old buddy BOB NELSON  to take all the heat for all the operations failures.

Well Good old Bob decided to get out of town lately most likely because things just got worse and worse since he got there. So Mcfarlane got this new guy from Canada DOUG  KELSEY. Well Doug was basically BOOTED OUT OF CANADA after the defeat of the transit referendum up there and good old Neil hired him for Trimet.

Today we have the OREGONIAN STORY about how max reliability is down the tubes and guess what? We have good old Doug taking the heat for all the MAX screw ups and once again Neil Mcfarlane is off the hook.

King Neil is in charge but all he wants to do is sit on the throne and be adored by all his minions. Heaven forbid he should have to take any responsibility for anything that screws up during his reign.

And the mainstream media gives him a pass, as usual.

Trimet Max reliability down the tubes along with safety

http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/index.ssf/2016/01/max_trains_reach_a_new_low_for.html#incart_river_home

Yup

ATU757 LM-2

Federal report on union expenses

Trimet light rail safety record has gone down the tubes

#trimet max safety record has gone down the tubes pic.twitter.com/hoBNXWLhDN

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) January 7, 2016

Make sure to check in on these EXCELLENT Trimet bus driver blogs

Portland's Roll Easy Blog

From the Driver Side

 

Trimet Managers harassing Trimet employees

I can vouch for the frustration of this Trimet employee in the audio clip. My theory here is that these Trimet managers are intentionally trying to provoke the employee into an outburst or causing them to screw something up during their work-shift. 

The Trimet managers used to call me in to these meetings that were nothing but complete bullshit head games then send me out to work my shift. My mind would be boiling during the shift with anger. I got to thinking about it and that's when it became obvious to me.

The Trimet managers wanted me out of there but I was (unfortunately for them) one of the most skilled drivers at Trimet. Not only was I technically proficient in the operation of a bus I was very well liked by the riders. Trimet had nothing on me there and trying to fire me because of my blogging activity could have turned into a major news story, something they fear more than anything. 

So what could they do? Intentionally attempt to provoke me into an outburst and claim "insubordination" or hope that I would do something stupid during the work shift that they could use against me. None of those things happened but I got the hell out of there as quickly as I could the day I turned 58.

And here we have another Trimet employee going through this type of harassment 

Listen Here!

No transit management could be so insanely ignorant to not understand that to upset a 'safety sensitive' employee in the middle of their shift could cause safety issues? Could this possibly be gross incompetence on the part of the Trimet managers? (these people are extremely stupid for sure) 
Nah it has to be intentional.

Look at the difference between ATU757 newsletter and ATU587 newsletter

Who will be the next victim of poor bus design?

The Deadly Blind "spot" on Transit Buses

 An example of the universal concern pertaining to the left mirror and A-pillar issue:  just as those operators associated with TriMet raise concerns over the flippant attitude of managers dismissing the importance of this issue, an operator at King County Metro has the same concerns over the new Proterra coaches about to be tested in the Seattle area.  This letter from an anonymous operator published in the Local 587 newsletter, is calling Metro out on this issue in the same frustrated manner as those at TriMet anguish about the same concerns:

http://www.cptdb.ca/index.php?showtopic=16092&page=8#entry717847 

It's absolutely sickening that managers at transit agencies can't grasp the concept.  They should make it a priority to work with the ATU International and with bus manufacturers to reduce the size of the left mirror and alter its mounting position along with bus manufacturers reducing the width of the A-pillar.  I can't believe that these educated and highly-paid managers can't understand that many lives will be saved by just making some rather simple changes.  Again 1) reducing the size of the left mirror and alter its mounting position and, 2) forcing bus manufacturers to reduce the width of the A-pillar ...bus manufacturers do not understand the importance this simple alteration will make and it's totally achievable with today's engineering technology.

Trimet rider calls out Trimet fascism

Interestingly I had quite a spirited discussion with some tri-Met employees regarding the testimony below. It was somewhat disappointing but not something that I was shocked by. After spending 15 years at tri-Met I've come to expect some of this heartlessness. I was always surprised by the amount of people employed at tri-met who seem to have zero empathy for the riding public. I find it similar to the lack of empathy trimet managers have for their union employees. Brutality is institutionalized in American public transit agencies. There's a psychological analogy, when the dad beats the kid The kid kicks the dog.

The best of the Trimet tweets during the latest "weather event"

Riding American public transportation can be a traumatizing experience. Plenty of suffering happening when things and/or weather doesn't go the usual way.

Actually Trimet was as good as could be expected. The buses were a disaster because the roads are not cleared. Buses can't run on ice. The city, county, and state do a pretty miserable job of clearing the roads, always been that way. Can't blame Trimet if the roads aren't clear. Never understood why the agencies can't make sure the bus routes are clear during these events. Obviously the technocrats in charge don't care about it.

MAX service ran decently. There was no more snow or ice storms so keeping MAX going was routine and Trimet did do that job properly. MAX service was late but more reliable than bus service.

There were more positive tweets than usual. I'm always suspicious about that especially the way some of the positive tweets are worded. All in all the public is grateful for any service they get in these conditions.

Trimet twitter person was up at 5:30 am responding to tweets. We all know that's an act of public relations but it does ease the pain of the stranded riders

The  only real hero's in this situation are the Trimet union employees. They are the only ones out there doing the work. Trimet executives, managers, who knows what they are doing during these events. We know one thing for sure, you won't see any of them out there doing anything needed like applying ice melt to the transit centers.
I bet all the information/technology people got to stay home along with the marketing and capital projects people. 
Trimet is truly a class existence, union employees on the very bottom. 

Funny exchange betweet Trimet rider, Trimet, and several tweeters about training that operators get for winter

As all of us current and former Trimet  bus drivers know there is no actual training for snow and ice conditions. A rider, stunned at all the buses spinning out, asked Trimet what kind of training drivers get. I answered none, and then another person said none. Then Trimet twitter chimed in and said that all the drivers did get "inclement weather" training. We all know that's bullshit. The conversation is noted below the break and at the bottom of the post are the "real" directions on how to drive in snow and ice.  Trimet does not teach any of that.
 

Pictures of the ice event

Snow Man at Trimet headquarters

Classic Tweets

off-duty #trimet employee hit #trimet bus that had hit #trimet shelter while #trimet supervisor was investigating

— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) January 3, 2016

I wonder how Randy Stedmen has time to operate his own business

#trimet's Randy Stedmen has time to run his own business on the side pic.twitter.com/RK40JKpjMQ

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) January 3, 2016

Bill Wilmer slams Joe Esmonde

And boy is Bill right about this. Esmonde has done ZERO in the way of standing up for any union employees at Trimet. Thank you for calling out this hack Bill!

Shirley Block on the plight of the Trimet retirees

It appears once again that the Trimet scum bags (Mcfarlane and his henchman Stedmen) were unhappy with our new president and took to collective punishment of union members in retaliation. This is a pattern we have seen over and over with Trimet executives. In this case they penalized the Trimet union retirees. These Trimet executives get away with so much unscrupulous behavior its actually shocking. 

Trimet rings In the new year