TriMet giving tickets to non-hung bikes on Max?
My wife works in Beaverton, she normally uses a two bike system so she doesn’t have to hassle with bringing a bike on the Max. But unfortunately yesterday this wasn’t the case.
Blue line 185th Stop:
She was about to board, when she saw that Trimet ticket checkers were not letting cyclists board unless there was an empty hanger for their bike. Train after train they were kicking people off from previous stops, a group of 20-30 cyclists standing confused gathered. One was quoted “I guess I will ride to Portland…” My wife said one cyclist challenged them verbally and was given another ticket. His defense was that he was not blocking any one from moving in the cabin, and as he (and I) understood Trimet’s rules, this was allowed. No tolerance, bike on hanger or bike off train.
Here is my wife’s comment about the situation, taken from BikePortland comments:
“On Wednesday, I experienced/witnessed the incident at the Willowcreek/185th Station. To clarify, I entered a train which all hangers were being used and parked my bike next to one of the bikes hanging. I was not blocking the aisle in any way. The inspector told me to exit the train because I was blocking the aisle. As I exited, I realized that at least three bikes were also asked to exit. This particular train was not standing room only and there was actually more room then usual at this time. I patiently waited for the next train in which at least five more bikes were asked to exit. This continued for at least two more trains. Several of the bikers decided to ride back to Portland. I also noticed at least two inspectors writing something on their pads to bikers. Whether this was a ticket, a warning, or whatever I’m not sure. Many of the inspectors I witnessed were rude to many of the bikers and could have conducted this situation in a far more pleasant manner. I will also point out that for the past month I have stopped bringing my bike on the max and instead riding two bikes specifically to take up less space. One bike I ride into downtown which I park and then the other bike I leave at the max station at Willowcreek and then ride to work. There is simply not enough room for the bikes and I no longer wanted to inconvenience anyone. This particular day, I did not have my bike lock for the bike I park downtown and had to carry my bike onto the max.”
Great work Trimet. You have ignored bike capacity issues, and now you are trying to force them off the train. Bravo.
*Update - Jonathan Maus from BikePortland.org pointed out that this is not a new issue:
http://bikeportland.org/2007/04/20/trimets-bike-policy-differs-from-actual-enforcement/
What makes me even more upset, is this line:
“we have clarified this point with our inspectors and expect no further issues in this regard.”
Here we are a little over a year later, same issue my friend.
**UPDATE2 -
BikePortland has contacted TriMet and has received a response, read here:
http://bikeportland.org/2008/06/27/trimet-security-still-saying-no-hook-no-ride/
***Update 3 -
BikePortland has another follow up based on another response from TriMet.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
I’d love to write about this - would your wife mind talking to me for a story for the Argus? 503-214-1129.
Big suprise, trimet gustapo more concerned about stopping bikes then stopping actual crimes, gangs and drugs on their light rail.
if there are not enough seats do they kick people off? Nope. the city of portland is trying to encourage people to ride and to take alt forms of transportation. tri met sucks!
It isn’t mentioned here if there were disabled or elderly passengers on the train, but Trimet policy clearly states that bikes may use this area if there are not disabled or elderly passengers present.
My main problem with this type of exclusion is that people can bring the biggest baby stroller they want and block the aisle and trimet would never think of kicking them off because it was busy. Everyone should do their best to squeeze in regardless of what they are bringing with them but more and more it is trimet who needs to deal with the capacity issues.
Sometimes there really isn’t room, but a large percentage of max riders use a bike and it is clear that they are not providing the needed capacity, instead cyclists are taking the brunt of their enforcement based approach. Why not start running longer trains during busy times. Yes they would block roads downtown, but so what? If ridership is high enough that we need to be have 4 cars instead of 2 then I think street users, including peds, bikes, and cars can all wait for a few seconds while the train passes. It isn’t like the train is at any one stop downtown for that long.
Bjorn
So, now all bikers must be WELL HUNG in order to ride TriMet?
That’s discrimination! I only have a 2″ pecker!
I’m mad as hell and I’m not taking it anymore!
I’ve simply given up on attempting to ride TriMet with my bicycle. I cancelled my monthly pass and now I just ride year round. I only have an 8 mile trip so it’s doable for me, but a hearty sympathetic nod to folks farther out and forced to find a way over the West Hills.
A Blue Line train car dedicated to bicycles would totally rock at rush hour. No seats, just staples, hooks and bars.
Of course Portland Cyclists would allow anyone without a bicycle on this special car no questions asked. Unlike SOME people…
Superman: I believe the reference to hung was for the bike. Your bike must be hung. I hope you have a larger “unit” then your bike. Either way, bikes should have large ones.
Nick: I will pass the request on to my wife.
Portland Mayor Potter was on the the radio this morning, explaining that this is all part of a new policy to force people off of their bikes and into their cars.
Tri-Met has always had issues with bikes on board. I mean next they will go back to the bike permit and charge you a one-time fee so you are allowed the right to bring your bike on at specified times (no not a suggestion Tri-Met) I remember when they did that and i forgot my pass one time when I worked by the Airport and lived in Baverton, I recieved a $98 ticket and was kicked off the train at the Hollywood stop. Two weeks later the pass requirement was lifted but the ticket was still enforced. I have been asked multiple times remove myself off of the MAX with my bike especially after a Blazers game.
If the max is filled to the brim with standing commuters, bikes SHOULD NOT be permitted unless it can be hung properly.
GOOD JOB TRIMET!
I would like to see the “cattle car” idea. That is, one car has seats and one does not. On one side of the car there can be a row of hooks for bikes. This would help for rush hour too because people could pack into the car and the seats would not be in the way.
You know I actually brought that up on the Portland Transport blog way back.
I don’t have that picture anymore but it was something like this:
http://www.tc.gov.yk.ca/digitization/images_web/005356.jpg
I was joking of course, since the idea does not meet the
TA~DA~
{all bow down please}
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT!
All I will say is, the day that there is an emergency evacuation of a MAX train, everyone will be happy that those bikes are **not** on board.
The day that TriMet relaxes this rule, and there is an emergency evacuation, and even ONE person dies because a bike was in the way, will be the day that a lot of people will be sorry for even allowing bike racks/hooks to be installed. (The same is true for baby strollers whose parents are too rude and selfish to fold up.)
Safety comes first, and that means not blocking the aisles for emergency access (as well as for people who have reached their stop). A bicyclist on a low-floor car who does not hook their bike has to be blocking an accessway, and oftentimes it is the stairway leading to the high-level portion of the car for which there is no other route out of the car.
If your bike is in my way and you don’t move it, expect me to take the liberty of grabbing your bike, and throwing it out the MAX car. And if your $3,000 bike gets damaged beyond repair, your $3,000 bike is worth nothing compared to my life, or the lives of my fellow MAX (or bus) riders. Bicyclists (and I am one) often demand everyone move heaven and earth to satisfy them, and yet they are never happy. We’ve built bike paths, bike lockers, bike locks, bike hooks, bike racks, so on and so forth, but God forbid that a train is just TOO CROWDED for them and maybe today is a day to lock up the bike at the transit center; or just ride the bike to the destination; or consider using a less crowded bus (since clearly time is not of the essence).
Erik,
I don’t mind waiting for one MAX, but waiting for three or more is overboard. Especially when people refuse to move to the center of the car. I ride the MAX everyday as a pedistrian and a cyclist and people like to just hang out in the bicycle area even if not all the seats are taken or there is space to stand near the seats. As a person without a bike, sometimes it is hard to get on because people won’t make room, NOT because the MAX is full.
As for safety, I will not give up freedoms for safety. We are in a society that is no longer free due to the desire to be ’safe’. And we really aren’t that safe, we just have less freedoms for the illusion of safety and we are more inconvienced.
ditto Shane.
I’d hate to be next to Erik who seems to care for his own life more than anyone else’s or their property. Let’s have a little civility here.
On the flip side, all of us that have bikes, should do our best to keep our bikes out of the way when people are trying to get off or on the train. This may include temporarily taking our bikes off the train when it will make it easier for those around us to disembark during a busy commute.
Is there some sort of bonus tied to the tickets given out, or a quota? I’m trying to understand this disincentive when bicycle riders are huge supporters of this system.
toddistic has it right. Wouldn’t their time be more well spent stopping the gangs from beating innocent people in North Portland???
Erik H. is either an idiot, a complete jerk, or both. How many bike riders do you think really don’t care about humanity and will put their bike in the way of people escaping an emergency situation from the Max?
Would you push the person out of the wheelchair that won’t get out of your way in an emergency too?
“I will not give up freedoms for safety.”
So you will express your freedom (by bringing a bike onboard and block an aisle) and deny others both their freedoms and their safety?
“I’d hate to be next to Erik who seems to care for his own life more than anyone else’s or their property.”
I never threatened anyone’s life. Property, maybe, because your property is threatening my life (by denying me a safe and clear exit from the train.)
“Erik H. is either an idiot, a complete jerk, or both.”
And how am I an idiot or a jerk? Because I care that people can safely exit a train?
“How many bike riders do you think really don’t care about humanity and will put their bike in the way of people escaping an emergency situation from the Max?”
The mere fact that this discussion even exists goes to show that there are bicyclists that do this very thing. If it wasn’t a problem, we wouldn’t be talking about this.
Well Erik H, good luck to you trying to grab my bike and throw it out of the max car, lol. You may find that difficult to accomplish.
Trimet is their own worst enemy in this respect. They selectively and inconsistently enforce their own rules, and do not seem to educate their security personnel regarding these same rules.
I’m wondering if this should be brought to the attention of our resident transportation guru Earl Blumenaur. Perhaps a write in campaign for more bike space on the Max would help. Mr. Blumenaur does very good work promoting public transportation in Portland, maybe Trimet would listen to him.
As a bike rider, I gotta sympathize with pedestrians on this one. If the MAX is packed, and people are waiting to get on, the biker should voluntarily get off the train, as a bike can take up room for 2-4 people.
You have a bike, people, we’re a fat nation, surely you can ride?
I don’t mind getting off when there is no space, but the last two times I have been on the MAX, there has been people standing in the bike area that did not move even though there were open spaces in other areas so the bikes had to be in spots that they weren’t suppose to be in.
Bingo, Shane. The very same thing happened to me this morning. A dozen empty seats on the train, and people were standing in the bike areas. When I (politely) asked one of them to move to another area, I was told “I’m getting off in a couple of stops anyway, you’ll just have to wait.”
Indy, some of us commute as much as 20-25 miles, and it is not always possible to find a SAFE bike route across town covering this much distance. Please think before you post :).
Enforcing the rule about people not putting their feet on the seats would help as many of the people standing are disgusted by the dirty crap riders leave behind.
I understand that many of the people who are reading and responding here are among the polite and responsible bike commuters, however, you need to realize that many a weekday morning, responsible, polite bike commuters are the minority. I see many more cyclists who block a door on the high floor MAX trains, block aisles on the low floor cars, pile 5 bikes into the end of the car making it impossible for people to pass to get to seats, and who are just plain rude.
I ride a bike for all my transportation outside of riding the MAX downtown everyday, so I’m certainly not anti-bike. However, on the MAX, I think people should come before bikes. I like the “cattle car” idea of separating bikes and people who are on foot.
Don’t beat up on “Eric” above. He’s probably been bruised a few too many times by some bike commuter swinging their bike into him on the MAX. I’ve been bruised 3 times by that.
TriMet hasn’t changed and never will…
might as well get one of these:
http://www.gizmag.com/go/5789/