Panhandlers

What's the law? Are they allowed to solicit on the train?

There is one guy in his early twenties that will get on an try to sell candy. He makes his way through the car asking for any amount of cash for candy in trade. I did see a lady dig in her purse one day to find a quarter...she got a box of orange Tic-Tacs on that trade. Nice deal, but where did those Tic-Tacs come from?? Did he get them new or were they just a homemade refill? No one knows and no one seems to have the balls to ask him.

Did he make a large Costco purchase and now he is just raking in some mad loot? I doubt it. But I'm sure that 25cents is still helping him show a positive ROI.

pdxMAX

TriMet's Proposed fare increase

From TriMet's website today...

TriMet's fares are reviewed annually to ensure they keep pace with inflation.TriMet had planned to increase fares in September 2008 just five cents for general inflation. But with the exceptional increase in fuel, TriMet is proposing an additional $.15 or $.20 increase to cover the budget gap and future high fuel costs. That would bring the total September fare increase to either $.20 or $.25 for cash fares. Because of the volatility of the fuel market, TriMet’s Board of Directors is watching diesel prices and will make a decision on the rate at its June 25, 2008, board meeting.

Read more here...

The corporate MAX rider

The suit wearing business men that ride the MAX from the airport into downtown, these are the clowns I speak of. Can they not afford a cab? Limo?

My main complaint is how they don't move for other passengers or they take up multiple seats with their carry-on and laptop cases. If you have more than one bag, take a friggin cab jackass!

Don't get me wrong, there are many well dressed riders and the occasional suit rider as well. I'm not grouping them in this category. I'm directly speaking about the business man from out of town that rides and forgets how to be considerate to other riders on his trip.


pdxMAX

Quiet Tuesday

Its obvious that yesterday was a holiday. Its so darn quiet on MAX today. No cell phone gabbers, no loud mouth kids, no teens complaining about school, even the homeless seem to have stayed in bed one more day.

Its kinda nice, although it makes for a boring blog day without these creatures of habit to report on.

I'm sure this afternoon it will more interesting.

pdxMAX

Voices

The voices that surround me...

MAX Speaker:
"The doors are closing. In the priority seating area you are required to move for seniors and people with disabilities." "Doors to my left"

Girl next to me on her cell:
"She said, Oh you want a trim? No I told her I want it cut! Hahaa, what did you say? Yeah, uh huh. I miss you...yeah I do..."

Riders directly behind me:
"I think this is our stop"

Two guys chatting near the door:
"That's fine with me. They have their ways and their deals. I don't care how he does it, I'm just gonna get one for June. He has some of them, and that's what I'm looking for."


Couple behind me a few seats are speaking what sounds to me like Spanish.


Happy Friday-

pdxMAX

Red line #249A

3 stops from mine and these punks ass kids get on screaming over a seat. The 3 of them try to push and shove and yell about who is sitting by the window. All of this is taking place about 4cm from my ear! The mother is on the train somewhere but she doesn't care that they are making a scene she's just happy they are not yelling into the back of her head! She obviously needs to protect that Gucci bag she's sporting 1st, those kids can wait.

Ahhh, I made it outta there. God is good, and he's making tomorrow Friday!

pdxMAX

Red Line Max Car# 210A

On the Red Line from Pioneer Square the driver has the door open and her teen daughter is chatting with her while we are moving. I believe that could be a direct TriMet violation!

Fareless Square...

What is Fareless Square?

"Ride for free in downtown Portland & Lloyd District All trips that begin and
end within Fareless Square are free—all day, every day.
Fareless Square includes most of downtown Portland (within the boundaries of the Willamette River, NW Irving Street, and the I-405 freeway), as well as MAX stations from the Rose Quarter to Lloyd Center and bus stops along NE Multnomah to 13th
Avenue.
When boarding a bus, MAX or streetcar in Fareless Square, just take a
seat and enjoy the ride—on us! Fare is not required unless you are traveling
outside of the Square."

Here is a statement from TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen about the future of Portland's Fareless Square (January 2008):

"Following several high-profile incidents on the MAX system, I outlined a
comprehensive security plan in early December to address safety issues on the
transit system. This plan included hiring more police officers and contracted
security, having a zero tolerance for those who break TriMet rules, establishing
more enforcement tools for our police and security forces, adding more security
cameras to MAX platforms, increasing lighting, fixing faulty Ticket Vending
Machines, increasing fare inspections and limiting the hours of Fareless
Square.

To date we have:

-Signed agreements to establish a Westside Police Precinct based in
Hillsboro
-Conceptual agreement for an Eastside Police Precinct
-Hired
more police officers and other contracted security spending more time riding the
transit system
-Expanded the authority to immediately remove individuals
from the transit system who are violating the TriMet code – the Interdiction
Command increases by two hours the time an individual is restricted from riding
transit, now set at six hours and is able to be used for disruptive,
intimidating and rowdy behavior
-Installed security cameras at more MAX
platforms, bringing the total to 30 platforms with cameras
-Increased
lighting levels in 1,800 lights, plus installed floodlights at NE 82nd and
Gresham Central MAX stations
-Expanded our Rider Advocate program to have
another community-based organization ride the system to prevent disruptive or
illegal activity
-Increased fare inspections and added the option for riders
to purchase fares at station concessionaires


We will continue to measure the effectiveness of these security
measures and determine if other steps are necessary. Already, feedback from
riders has been that they have begun to notice a difference.

We also heard a lot of feedback about the proposal to limit the hours
of Fareless Square.
Our security plan initially included a two-phase
approach to Fareless Square – take steps now to limit the hours of fareless to 7
a.m. to 7 p.m. – and then launch an all-inclusive public process to study the
future of Fareless Square over the next 18 months.
After evaluating more
than 700 e-mails, letters and comments from two public hearings held earlier
this week, one thing is clear: there is a lot of passion and strongly held views
about Fareless Square.

The comments ranged from wanting to limit the hours or eliminate
fareless altogether, to keeping it just the way it is. There was also support
for taking a broader look at the future of fareless.

Fareless Square is so much a part of this region and its environmental
stewardship and reputation. Taking quick action on changing Fareless Square is
obviously easier said than done."

Fair Inspectors!

Oh my god it must be that time year for them to show their face. I have not seen a fair inspector on the Red line since as far back as October.

About MAX Fair Inspectors:
The Fair Inspector is needed because to ride the Max one needs to purchase a ticket on the platform from a machine (similar to the PATH/Metro Card machines). The ticket is only good for the zones it was purchased for, unless you buy an All Day/All Zones pass. The problem is that a lot of riders don't buys tickets because they have learned from TriMet's lack of Fair Inspectors that they can pretty much ride for free. With that said, I should clarify my phrase "a lot of riders". The majority of non tickets holders that I have seen in my short tenure riding MAX are either teens or the homeless. The homeless ride the lines all day. Back and forth collecting cans, panhandling, begging. Its also an easy ride to the stop right outside of the Portland Mission.


Most of the commuting workforce who ride the Max have yearly or monthly passes with a photo ID on the pass. This keeps us safe from the Fair Inspector. But I could forget my pass at home and not buy a ticket and still have a 90% chance or better of making it all the way to downtown and back home without ever seeing an official TriMet Fair Inspector. That's pretty sad on their part considering the amount of lost revenue they must experience from fair skippers. They do hand out fines (not sure the fee) for not having a ticket/pass but I doubt this makes up for the masses that skip paying and never get caught.


Final thoughts before my stop:

-Could More Fair Inspectors = Less Crime on MAX??

-Get rid of Fairless Square??


pdxMAX

Is it Tuesday?

Monday Morning:

Its 7:45am at the MAX stop and a drunken voice calls out to anyone listening on the platform "is it Tuesday??". No one answers as he continues off the platform. He must hate Mondays as well.

Monday Afternoon:

Max service was halted between PGE park and the Rose Garden Arena because of a damaged electrical cable on the Steel Bridge (max of course is electric). Shuttle buses are moving people from downtown to the Rose Garden to catch the Eastside Max(s).

On the shuttle bus is where a young man sits beside me and begins his chatting. I sense a hint of Pabst Blue Ribbon on his breath..."Hey how are you?" He mumbles. "Good thanks" I reply. "I'm heading to school, here you coming from?" He says. He continues to question me about what I do and where I am from. He tells me that he is a very nervous person and that he has to perform a speech in his Theology class tonight...

Why do they flock to me?? Do I look like someone you know? Huh?!! I like to sit and keep to myself and get the heck home but noooo I attract all the odd ones! Let me be clear, I have nothing against Theology, college, school, PBR or any of that...Just ride the bus already!

"I'm not a nice guy..."

May 16th, Morning-

So I thought that I would make it to the weekend without anything to report, I was wrong. My stop is next so I get up outta my seat and begin to walk past a man that is slightly gaunt and scruffy sporting those "over your spectacles sun shades" and a ratty old baseball hat. His legs are across the seat next to him and feet danging into the aisle that I am walking through. I kindly make sure that I don't bump into him and he ever so slightly moves his feet from my way. Not in a million years would I have thought that he would next address me with his indirect mumbling...

"You know I am not required to move my feet for you" spills from his mouth. I rally back with my east coast attitude on deck, "Did I ask you to move your feet!?". "No, but I didn't have to" he says. "Well then I guess your a nice guy for moving when others wouldn't give a crap" I said.
He then says, "I'm not a nice guy, I am a very very bad man with a good heart"...

OK, time to get off this MAX and leave wack job to bask in the sun knowing that he has a good heart, even though he has probably murdered 27 people and 16 small animals and lives in a shack somewhere in Forest Park.

"Have a good day" was all I could say after that.

******************

May 13th-

Its a little after 5pm and pdx cops have a max at Chinatown stopped to investigate. I'm sitting still at Yamhill district. This blows! 10mins later we are on our way.

Over hearing a dude talking on the phone telling his sister that he just got his parole reduced today. Now he is telling her not to hangout with "sum dudes cause they be trouble n shit". "Cause I said so! Don't hang wit dem fools, they punks".

I'm feeling very tired today almost dehydrated like.

RED Line squeeze

With the RED line running almost 15mins late this afternoon (4:58pm from Pioneer Square) it caused a tight squeeze on MAX. At the Yamhill stop a man tried to keep a female passenger from boarding, stating that there was no more room. She wasn't having it. As she should, she pushed her way on board and gave the gentleman a piece of her mind as well...something was uttered about how she wasn't gonna "waste her 2hr ticket" because they are spendy. You go girl! At least she had a friggin ticket.

Getting close to home, a polite lady stopped to ask me where the Portland Sheraton Hotel was. I gladly explained and she was happy to tell me that she would be there tonight on the evening news telling John McCain what she thought of him while wielding a life-size Obama cardboard cut-out and a few buttons as well. Rock the Vote lady!

This past weekend...

So the family and I took the MAX this weekend to the Portland Rose Garden Arena to see an event. On the way there...Some lady on the platform at Parkrose decides that she needs to come talk to me and my child...

"was the baby saying 'Debbie'? That's my name! I thought she was saying Debbie, cause that's my name you know" Meanwhile, back in the real world, my child was actually saying "Daddy" because she prefers to speak to me instead of the mildly insane who travel the light rail.

Our trip back brought us in contact with "creepy cologne guy". You know, the guy who took a bath in Stetson and then used some motor oil to slick back his hair. He wears a set of Sony ear buds and is cranking some old metal rock. A Paul Bunyan red & black flannel keeps him warm along with his dark blue Levi's, soiled with dirt around the ankles...yeah that guy...

Man what an odd fella-

pdxMAX

Welcome to the Portland MAX Diary

Since moving here from the East Coast almost 2 years ago I have had the pleasure (if you want to call it that) to ride the Portland Light Rail or MAX almost everyday to my office in downtown. This blog will be postings of my daily commutes on the MAX. I will share with you my thoughts during the rides, my observations and even some eavesdrops.

So enjoy it, love it, hate it, its the Portland MAX Diary.

Thanks-

pdxMAX