Proposal to axe fareless bus service in Fareless Square

TriMet has a new proposal out for changes to Fareless Square.  What are the changes?

No more fareless bus rides in Fareless Square.

Do keep in mind that TriMet will be keeping MAX and streetcar fareless in the current Fareless Square boundary.

TriMet states that this would make “more efficient bus operations.” They make several good points about this, namely:

“Many bus riders in Fareless Square get on at a stop, ride a few blocks and then get off. This slows travel time for the bus and can back up buses moving through the Mall.”

And:

“Ending free rides on buses would also remove potential conflict with bus operators, who may not always remember which riders paid or didn’t pay, as the bus approaches the Fareless Square boundary.”

TriMet also states this won’t have as much impact as you might think, namely because “More than 50% of riders in Fareless Square already have a monthly or yearly pass, so a change to the free zone is not an issue for them. We believe others will walk or bike more as a result of the change.”

TriMet is seeking public opinion on this proposal.  TriMet will accept comments through July 17th at this email address: comments@trimet.org.  I strongly suggest if you have any opinion whatsoever to make your opinion be heard; as we’ve seen in the most recent round of changes to bus lines being axed and times being changed, strong enough public opinion does sway how a final proposal is shaped.

You can read more about this proposal here.

What is the weirdest thing you’ve seen on the MAX, bus, streetcar or WES?

Keep Portland Weird.  We’ve all heard it, we’ve all seen it. While we all may not particularly like that label (with others might), it got me thinking:

What is the weirdest thing you’ve seen on the MAX, bus, streetcar or WES?

Here, I’ll get things started.  Go ahead and do please share in the comments for this post; I’m sure there will be many stories beating out my own personal ones!

The MAX

My wife seemingly sees all sorts of weird on the MAX.  Me?  In my hey-day of riding, I used to really only ride during the rush hours, hence I wouldn’t see much aside from crammed passangers around me.  I guess I would then just have to say the homeless (?) kid that tries to sell candy bars. My older brother and I actually talked about it last weekend; to my surprise, he knew exactly who I was talking about. Why is seeing that guy selling candy bars on the MAX weird?  Because shouldn’t that not be allowed…?  I suppose it is, but whenever I see him, there seemingly isn’t a TriMet official around to tell him to deboard or otherwise.

The Bus

Here we go!  I’ve seen some wild and wacky things while riding the bus.  I’m a big fan and typically ride the 15, 20, 19 lines… which can produce some characters ever so often.  Aside from the lady that takes her lapdog on the bus in a reusable Fred Meyer bag, I would have to say the weirdest thing I’ve come across when riding the bus was when two wheelchair-bound individuals were arguing over what spots they wanted in the front of the bus.  Apparently they both wanted the left-hand side… and unfortunately the lady that was previously on the bus was already there. So the other wheelchair-bound individual was yelling at her and then started RAMMING into her with her chair!  People on the bus were both gasping and laughing; it was really weird. The lady who had just got on then demanded to get right back off because she couldn’t have her spot… it was weird.

The Streetcar

I’ve only ridden the streetcar a handful of times and never have seen anything truly weird.  Go figure.

The WES

Has anyone seen anything weird happen on the WES?  It’s not like anyone rides it (obligatory Zoolander “Oh snap!” reference). But really, I’ve only had the pleasure of taking WES for the invitational preview event.

There you have it!  Now, it’s your turn: have you experienced anything weird on any of TriMet’s four public transportation modes here in Portland?  If so, please do share!  I would love to hear about it!

Some hidden TriMet website goodies

I work on the web everyday so I’ve seen many instances of websites having old materials on their servers. As such, I thought I’d dig around TriMet’s website to see if there was anything interesting of note that was buried within the site.  Interestingly enough, I found a couple of interesting things.

First, I found an Excel file that has fare prices listed from 1970 through 2006. Kind of neat to see how fare prices have gone up through the years.  You can download that file here:  http://www.trimet.org/temp/fares/1970_2006_fare_prices.xls

I also found an Interactive Scheduling Manual complete with some awesome little old animated graphics and the like. It also includes a pretty cool glossary of a whole slew of terms related to the transit industry. You can see this interactive scheduling manual here:  http://www.trimet.org/temp/trimetscheduling/trimet.html

Some old webstats (April 2006) for us website analytics junkies can be found here (specific info includes website referrals along with traffic from search engines):  http://trimet.org/webstats/hits.htm

Didn’t find much info with this but it’s up-to-date (May 21, 2009) so perhaps they refresh this content monthly?  Anyway, something to look out for month-to-month:  http://www.trimet.org/schedule/new/

And that’s it.  Hey!  I didn’t say I found incredibly interesting goodies; just ‘goodies’!

*EDIT* Yep took them down the day I posted.  Booo!  Perhaps I can find these files on my laptop..