Tri your luck
Faced with stagnant ridership, still about two thirds what it was in 2019, Tri-Met, the Portland mass transit agency, appears to be launching advertising campaigns to try to get people back on the buses, and especially the almighty trains.
Here's a slick new video encouraging young women to travel downtown for fun events.
No footage of the Swifties' long wait for their ride home after dark, of course. Or the ride itself, with who knows who on board with them.
Meanwhile, for us old people too scared to ride with the addicts and insane sorts, there's a more staid approach in the print media, saying "safety" but not giving specifics.
I guess the employees' faces are blanked out for their own safety.
The website they're touting is here. Among the reassurances posted there:
TriMet supports state and local leaders as they work to increase safety and address challenges in the community that extend on to our transit system at times. Employees serve on state and local committees focused on improving safety and livability. And TriMet partners with community groups and government agencies on efforts to clean up neighborhoods and deter criminal activity....
All TriMet buses have a safety panel next to the operator’s seat. This helps protect the driver so they can safely transport riders.... Crews work to keep shrubs and plants low to reduce hiding spots and create open sightlines where riders wait for our buses and trains.... The elevator at the Hollywood/NE 42nd Ave MAX Station is limited to riders only. We plan to restrict use at other elevators in the future to help keep them clean and reliable for those who rely on them.
Feel safe yet? Oh, well. As you can see, your payroll and self-employment tax dollars are hard at work. Put in another $2.80. You might get lucky!
I’m afraid of being trapped in a bus and unable to escape scary people. Adding security won’t change that fear.
ReplyDeleteNot enough money in the world to get me
ReplyDeleteon any TriMet transport!
It’s way overdue that they set up turnstiles at stations so that they can require payment of fare to board the train. I know the system wasn’t designed for that but they could do it they wanted and were willing to spend the money. Spending money doesn’t seem to be a problem for them
ReplyDeleteGood idea for trains. How about busses
DeleteTri-Met seems to be implementing their own form of Gresham’s Law wherein bad riders drive out good riders to the point where all you have riding the busses and trains are bad riders.
ReplyDeleteGiven how many vacant spaces there are downtown, both street-level retail and office space, I would guess the much smaller workforce downtown has the most to do with those ridership numbers. I'm old, and I've riden Max evenings on the way to and from events. It's more eerie than anything, since there are so few riders. The Ghost Max.
ReplyDeleteI ride the bus most every day and the loss of people working downtown is noticeable and unlikely to return. What is on the increase is the number of people that don't pay and may or may not be mentally stable during their ride. I don't go downtown in the evenings, but say if I stick around a bit after work, it gets very zombie-like in sort order.
ReplyDeleteOne increase in ridership are the large numbers of recent arrivals from south of the border, the replacement workforce. The evening buses are filled with these folks and can make the ride home safer from the spaced-out, nearly unconscious nodders. Your results will vary depending on the bus line.
I hanker for the days when I got a "MAX Transit Ticket" from a "MAX Transit Officer" for the grand offense of not having a MAX bicycle pass for my carry-on bike. And, my ignorance of the violation was no excuse in his humble opinion. No warning, no explaining, just a flat out ticket with a fine attached to it....
ReplyDelete