Jul 1Why can’t TriMet hire enough bus operators?TriMet is throwing around $7,500 bonuses and its highest starting wage ever. It cut back service this winter to the already drastically low Spring 2020 levels and is now cutting service even more in the Fall as the shortage continues to see no end in sight. In addition to bus…Portland7 min read
May 10What is working for TriMet like?You’ve read the ads. You’ve seen the banners. You’ve rode the bus. TriMet is the middle of a huge hiring push as it struggles from a shortage of bus operators. Hundreds of drivers have departed the past two years, an exodus that is only likely to continue as boomers continue…Public Transit10 min read
Jan 19What is TriMet bus operator training like?In case you haven’t heard or noticed, TriMet is hiring. In fact, they are desperate. TriMet is so desperate they offered hiring bonuses of $2,500, bumped its initial pay, and even recently cut back service because they are so short of drivers. So while the need is definitely there, you…Public Transit9 min read
Aug 2, 2021Dicks and decay: Line 77Maybe it’s a sign of the decay. Maybe a protest by those who feel neglected by the city’s leaders. Maybe it’s because folks just forgot about how to wear pants during the pandemic. Whatever it was, I saw four dicks while driving the 77 the past two weeks. Four flaccid…Transportation13 min read
Mar 31, 2021The pandemic sucked, but I will miss these things about it on the busThis past year has sucked. The pandemic has sucked. The death has sucked. The sickness has sucked. The economic upheaval has sucked. The political chaos sucked. I have nothing nice to say about this year. I have no silver linings. I have no profound reflections on the year and what…Portland6 min read
Mar 19, 2021Why does Oregon not care about its frontline workers getting vaccines?A year ago traffic stopped. Crowded rush hour buses were suddenly empty. The city got so quiet that in downtown I could hear birdsong over the roar of the bus’s diesel engine. While many Portlanders got used to working from home when the pandemic started, me and other TriMet bus…Covid 193 min read
Mar 16, 2021No one rides this bus: Line 55When public transit works best, you don’t need to think about it. You can spontaneously make plans, just walk a few blocks, hop on a bus, and away you go. Don’t like that neighborhood? Get on another bus. Need to buy something on the way home? Get on the bus. …Transportation4 min read
Mar 16, 2021How cross-country skiing saved me during the Pandemic winterJanuary can be dark and rainy in Portland, gloomy feeling even in the best of times. While I had tried to stay positive through most of the pandemic, just driving the bus and trying not to think too hard about anything but getting through the day, everything was getting to…Pandemic Reflections10 min read
Mar 2, 2021The bus to nowhere: Line 47Most buses are easy enough to tell where they go. They get people downtown. They connect two towns. They go down a busy road. They connect up a transit grid system. They go to the hospital. Then there are lines where I’m not sure where they go, bus lines that…Transportation6 min read
Feb 1, 2021A city in free fall: TriMet’s Line 73A year later, and Portland is on the struggle bus. An economic shutdown, pandemic deaths and sickness, months of ongoing protests, a homelessness crisis, rising crime. It is not pretty in Portland. Throw in January’s natural rain-drenched dismalness, and lately it’s downright bleak. Even on the best days, Portland feels…Portland9 min read
