Chris and I have been pals for a long time now.
I have the greatest respect for him.
When it comes to fares we don't agree.
My objection to the way the media is covering this is the total lapse of any mention of why people are evading the fares.
I drove buses for 20 years of my 40 years trying to make money to survive.
I know first hand how many people are struggling out there to survive.
I would bet that 90% of the fare evaders are from the lowest economic class of citizens in this country.
These are the people that you see wandering the streets because they have no where to go.
These are the people that live in and out of the revolving door of the criminal justice industrial complex.
There is a huge underclass of impoverished citizens in this country and the media refuses to cover it.
These are the people that live in and out of the revolving door of the criminal justice industrial complex.
There is a huge underclass of impoverished citizens in this country and the media refuses to cover it.
Mainstream media would rather turn one segment of the population against another.
Divide and conquer.
Corporate Amerika.
A million dollars is nothing to Trimet.
Check one of my Trimet cash machine posts and see how much money Trimet doles out in corporate welfare.
5 comments:
How can they call it loosing money when they wouldn't be getting any money from them if the were not allowed to ride anyway.
Excellent point John.
Some of them might be able to pay (maybe youth saving money given to them for transit to use for something else), but they should acknowledge that many people can't truly afford it. Moreover, they sure loose the equivalent of tons of fares when a serious assault happens, in supervisor time responding to the incident, manager and other administrator time dealing with the incident, lost service time, possibly the time of two employees to retrieve the bus, worker's compensation, medical treatment costs, fares from those who are discouraged from riding by the incidents, and possibly the need to hire more, replacement operators.
Here's the comment I made on the KGW site
There is only one way to end this conundrum.
Free public transport.
It will cost $200m a year
Instead of a $1.5 billion dollar for yet another light rail line how bout $200m to make transit free for everyone.
End this madness chasing poor people Around for their $2.50 which they don't have
I don't have $279 for a flight to San Diego. Can I fly for free?
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