Old bus be packed up tight

While the nation crumbles and the back bloc-heads head back to the streets to bust stuff up because it's so productive, let it not be overlooked that Tri-Met is cutting back bus service. The official announcement is here. They're making "service adjustments." Ha! Ha!  That's a good one. Two bus lines are being "adjusted" out of existence, and others will see fewer buses and longer wait times.

Why? According to the train-happy transit suits, it's because there's a "shortage" of bus drivers! I guess that just as nobody wants to be a cop any more, nobody wants to drive a bus where there are no cops any more. Driving a bus is hard enough in times of law and order, but you're taking your life in your hands doing it in a lawless place like Portland 2022.

Of course, they could just keep raising salaries until workers show up, but Tri-Met isn't going to do that. Thay have to spend millions planning train routes that nobody wants and driving down to Salem to pick up the receipts from their payroll and self-employment taxes, which are sucking the lifeblood from the local economy.

Anyway, if you rely on the 1, the 8, the 9, the 18, the 26, the 72, the 81, or the 82 – and especially if you rely on the cancelled line 50 or line 92 – my condolences. You have a little less than three months to figure it out.