Safety & Service Excellence Task Force Meetings

TriMet is allowing you three whole minutes of input during their scheduled Safety & Service Excellence Task Force Meetings, taking place starting tomorrow, July 29 to October. Three minutes. These meetings are open to the public.

The July meeting will, again, take place on July 29 at the Portland Building, 2nd floor, 5-7pm.

So get practicing – you only have three minutes to comment. Here’s the entire schedule of meetings.

Crime rates increase at Clackamas Town Center due to MAX Green Line

Spotted this article about how the Sheriff believes the MAX Green Line has spurred the almost 50% increase in crime around the Clackamas Town Center. Unfortunately, KGW’s article is really vague on any specific information. Many people seem to correlate crime with light rail and it was interesting to see someone in a position such as a sheriff mentions this correlation and back it up with a fairly remarkable high increase in crime.

What do you all think? Does having an accessible light rail system increase crime in those areas where there are stops? Is there a correlation?

Dave Lister on upcoming TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane

Oregon Live recently ran a great guest columnist piece about the kinds of things Neil McFarlane, the new upcoming TriMet general manager, needs to address once he steps into his new job role. I have to say, Dave Lister, the guest columnist, hit the nail on the head. Echoing his thoughts:

The light-rail system needs turnstiles to board, or maybe better yet, a ticket-taker.

I’ve said this time and time again. I cannot imagine the kind of money TriMet is losing out on everyday with MAX passengers who do not actually pay fare. And if they get checked once a year or so and get a ticket, hey, that’s cheaper than buying fare every time they ride! A turnstile system shouldn’t slow things down much at all; trains already take a good amount of time at each station.

TriMet should provide transit, not development planning. It should provide transportation to people where they are, rather than building new lines in hopes they’ll move there.

So basically, focusing more on bus lines than building out new rail lines that help out a fraction of riders. Yeah, a rail line from Portland to Milwaukie sounds like a great idea… but how many people will really be using it? Will it be another *gasp* WES?! And while the Green Line hasn’t really been a huge success for TriMet, it still has been a better success than the WES.

In any case, feel free to read Dave’s article here. It’s a good read.

TriMet forces sale of home / business

Spotted this on craigslist this morning -

TriMet Forces Sale

Unfortunately, there’s no way to contact the guy aside from swinging by his business, which I may do; I’d like to hear more about this…

Lots Of Things Going On In The World Of TriMet…

So, obviously, I haven’t been updating very regularly lately and I apologize. Real world comes before TriMetiquette world and, frankly, while I’ve been very busy in the real world, it’s been a “good” kind of busy. Just busy with work, helping my wife get through grad school (not doing her homework or anything, but just being incredibly supportive) and other little side-projects.But boy has there been a lot going on in the world of TriMet! Many very unfortunate circumstances, budget / line cuts, etc. While this doesn’t really fall under the “riding etiquette” kind of realm, I feel like there should be somewhere that readers might comment. So go ahead and comment here, if you would like, about anything that has happened with TriMet in the last two months or so.

In any case, I’ve been seeing more and more improper riding etiquette on TriMet as of late, which should help springboard this neat little TriMet blog back to life again.The funny thing is that, with this being a blog specifically about “TriMet riding etiquette”, I get a lot of comments that are, well, fairly negative. I just approved one that accused me of being a spoiled little brat of a child.  I get others that tell me that I’m a cranky old man. I’m not that old (yet…) but, with the kind of mentality with TriMrt riders these days, I definitely am feeling more cranky with how disrespectful some people can be.

Anyway, I’ll keep on bearing this verbal assault by those that feel spitting on the ground at and around MAX and bus stations isn’t a big deal (I’m sorry, it’s disgusting and it is a big deal), those that like to light-up at MAX stations when it explicitly says not to (it’s OK that you smoke… but not where you’re not supposed to) and otherwise. No, I don’t feel like I’m “holier than thou” or better than anyone, just because I want to help Portland public transportation riders enjoy their ride more… I want to help people like me who do ride public transportation to enjoy their rides like they should be enjoying them.Here’s to more public transportation riding etiquette in Q2, Q3 and Q4 of 2010!