A very enjoyable ride last night
Last night I rode the MAX from downtown to my destination in Zone 3. Now, I typically ride the bus these days due to the location of my work. But I was downtown in the evening and hopped on a MAX to get home.
Gotta say, I had a very enjoyable ride. Here are some of the things I had the pleasure to experience:
- Some kid, probably about 17, getting a call from someone he didn’t know, telling that individual that he’s going to “____ him up if he calls again” or, if he would like, come to his residence at any time (”I don’t care, it could be at 3 am!”) and he’ll kick his @ss. Then he proceeded to tell the individual that he doesn’t sell crack, he only sells pills and weed.
- Some guy who accidentally dropped his skateboard a couple of times. No biggie. Except for the fact that every time he did, he had to yell out the f word.
- Some girls behind me, probably about 13 / 15 years old, telling their friend that they used to, for fun, ride the MAX from one end of the line to the other. “Did you every get caught?” “Nope.”
Why is it seemingly socially acceptable to act rude and disrespectful on public transportation? Maybe I’m just getting old..
Top five reasons why public transportation stinks in hot weather
I’m not so sure you all know this… but it’s hot. With the next several days predicted to hit 90 degrees, I do not look forward to hitting the bus during my rush-hour commute home.
So I thought hey, why don’t I like to ride public transportation in hot weather? I’m going to get all David Letterman (“Got any gum?”) and present the top 5 reasons why public transportation stinks in hot weather:
5) Air conditioning is really hit or miss. Some buses will have fantastic air conditioning; others will seemingly be pushing hot air around.
4) Summer means school is out. Which means teens riding at all hours. Which means you’ll no doubt hear at least one person’s music even when his / her headphones are on.
3) The biker that just got done biking several miles only to board to get up that hill in the bus is dripping in sweat and sitting right next to you.
2) Hot weather only seems to agitate people. Which, in a crowded bus, never ends up being very fun.
And the number one reason why public transportation stinks in hot weather:
1) Some individual’s ‘unique’ smell (B.O.) only gets more ‘unique’ as the weather gets warmer.
Anyone have any additional reasons why they don’t like riding during the hot summer months? Or is it just me..?
TriMet App Center is live
Well lookie here! TriMet now has an official App Center on their website. From Andrew Wallace’s fantastic PDX Bus iPhone / iPod Touch app to Android, text message and web apps, this is a definite collection of TriMet applications.
I will say - TriMet’s stance on not linking to non-affiliated websites is in full force here, having text links in place while not actually linking to them. Kind of weird, but whatever.
And seriously - if you’re an iPhone user, go grab the awesome PDX Bus app.
Your pick(s) for stop announcement voices
While I was reading up about the recent vote to change 39th avenue to Cesar Chavez Boulevard, I couldn’t help but think that TriMet will need to do some new recording for stops along the new CCB (hey, I kind of like that acronym). I wonder if any of the Portland City Council members thought about how much that might cost TriMet, an agency that’s making all kinds of cuts to save some money?
In any case, I was thinking about how we’ve been hearing the same voice calling out stops on the bus and MAX for quite some time now. Why not change it up? Why not get some celebrities to record their voices for stop announcements? How awesome would that be?!
So here are a couple of picks that I would definitely like to hear saying “Old Town / Chinatown / Doors to my right”, “This is the last stop in Zone 2″ and so forth:
Bill Cosby
Maybe it’s just because I’m on a huge The Cosby Show kick right now, but Mr. Cosby’s voice announcing what stop it is would be pretty awesome.
Jerry Seinfeld
How awesome would it be to hear Jerry announcing stops? Bonus if he could end it with a question mark:
“What’s the deal with 32th and Burnside? I mean, Music Millennium? Can I buy a CD that has music from 1,000 years ago?”
Drew Carey
Now that Mr. Carey is on The Price is Right, hey, come on down and why not record your voice for TriMet’s stop announcements? Bonus if he could award points (”where the points don’t matter…” come on! Who’s Line Is It Anyway!) to people getting at random stops.
Audrey Tautou (French language)
We have an English language stop announcement… even a Spanish one. Let’s just throw in French so we can have the lovely Audrey Tautou give out stop announcement.
What are your picks for who YOU would like to hear give stop announcements?
Interesting parallel…
Was checking up on some morning news and had an article about Manny Ramirez in my RSS reader. That, first of all, was strange simply because I’m not a huge baseball fan (sorry Beavers!) but I did see that apparently he got ejected last night from his first game back from a lengthy suspension.
So I opened the article up to skim it and I read an interesting quote from Manny about his reasoning behind his ejection from the game:
“I didn’t want to throw even more fire. I just walked away,” he said. “I only play five innings, so I was leaving anyway.”
Does that sound like anything we’ve recently heard about? Oh, maybe someone saying something along the lines of:
“(Anderson) told the ticket inspector he ‘might as well go to jail‘ if he was going to get a citation”
Sure, we’re comparing a crime committed against a baseball player getting ejected from a game… but I thought it was interesting that seemingly the same mentality applied to both situations.
Bad day for one MAX ticket inspector…
A MAX ticket inspector got punched in the face and suffered a broken collar bone because some guy thought he “might as well go to jail” if he was going to receive a citation for having an open alcohol container. This happened in Beaverton.
The suspect is currently at-large. His name is Bragonia Anderson. He’s 5′11″ and 215 pounds:
I have to say I’m sorry for the fare inspector. No one should have to get smashed in the face for writing someone up, especially when that someone is apparently drinking on public transportation.
Bonus - is this his Myspace page?. Let’s look at his horoscope (courtesy of his Myspace page identifying him as a Pisces) to see what his daily horoscope was for the day this incident occurred:
“You might be tempted to seek approval from others who share your interests today, but ultimately the recognition may come from your closest friends and family. You appreciate how people treat you now, but there is still an edginess to your emotions. You might not trust the signs enough to slow down and show your vulnerability. Nevertheless, the quality of your life should improve if you can overcome your fears and open up.”
Quite an edginess indeed…
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..
Taking luggage on MAX
Memorial Day weekend is approaching and you have a plane to catch at PDX. Taking the red line MAX to the airport is extremely easy and slick. But, what do you do with all of your luggage? I’ve hit on this in the past but thought I’d bring it up again with Memorial Day weekend coming up.
TriMet doesn’t have anything official related to taking luggage on the MAX. The only mention they have is on their MAX red line page and on the TriMet TV episode 6 where they state:
“It’s easy to roll your luggage onboard, thanks to MAX’s low floors.”
So what do you do with your luggage if you’re taking the MAX to the airport? While definitely not guidelines, I do have some suggestions:
- I’m not a huge fan of people taking up seats with their feet, bags, etc… but I think luggage is a whole different beast. I would think it would be fine to place your luggage in a seat next to you. Obviously, use your discretion: if there’s someone who needs a seat, then perhaps it’s best to move your luggage and let the individual sit down.
- My favorite spot on the MAX: the pivot-points. When possible, I like to stand here if there isn’t a lot of room on the MAX: it’s out of the way, it’s kind of fun moving when the MAX turns, etc. I think it would be an appropriate place to place some of your luggage.
- I would refrain from using the space near the bike hooks: it’s too much of a high-trafficked area and, when a bicycle user tries to come on board, that could be a headache for the both of you.
I would love to hear from all of you about your thoughts on MAX and carrying luggage on board. Have an experience to share? Or perhaps a tip on where to possibly put your luggage? Let us know!