Rolling Through 2020's Nightmare

Burning time at 82nd Avenue. A surrealistic vision
via the absence of normality.

Deke's Note: It's truly strange driving a city bus through streets that are largely deserted when they would normally be heavily-congested. The snarling, honking, smog-producing hordes are mostly staying home. In Oregon, it's saving lives and I'm grateful. They could stay home the rest of the year and it would make my job much easier. Strangely though, I miss the hustle and muscle. I'm kinda like many other bus operators: weirded out to the max, man.

It's the middle of the week and I have the urge to chime in. Of course, this pandemic is like nothing we've seen before. This is our Depression/World War II, which The Greatest Generation not only survived, but lived to greatly enrich and propel our country into greatness. In a way, I'm grateful Dad didn't have to live to witness this horrific moment in time.

Those who survived the serious outbreaks of the past few decades have not dealt with anything this serious before. In fact, nothing remotely like COVID-19 has affected our lives since the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. Given medicine's intellectual infancy a century ago, people then were not prepared to battle that bug. Today, it is inconceivable that nobody, given modern medicine's ability to predict  such a bug, was truly prepared to do battle with this tiny mass assassin.

Oregon is fighting hard to limit COVID-19's exposure and spread. Only one Portland transit operator has tested positive for the virus. Thankfully, he has since recovered from Coronavirus and returned to work. Our employer, initially slow to enact protective measures, has taken steps to give us tools to protect ourselves, but the threat looms widely as long as wheels are on the roads and tracks of transit. Here are a few of the actions our agency has taken in response to the viral threat we constantly work under:

• Reduced service so that most weekday routes run on a Saturday schedule; weekend routes now run even less frequent, using Sunday schedules. This action was due to a sudden drop in passenger counts due to the Stay at Home order put in place last month.
• Limited buses to 10-12 passengers, placing signs on seats passengers are not supposed to sit in to further encourage a six-foot "social distance" from others.
• Eliminated cash payment at the farebox. While some bozo is suing TriMet over this, I fully support the no-cash fare. Cash is dirty, and we have dozens of union brothers and sisters who are tasked with counting, banding and bagging the money taken in as fare each day. Their safety is important. Plus, the farebox puts passengers within two feet or less from the bus operators. Most passengers still pass within three feet of us while using the Hop Pass reader just inside the front doors of every bus. After weeks of not accepting cash, many try to con me every day showing wads of cash. While I silently curse their conning the system having known for well over two weeks we no longer issue tickets on buses, I also fault our management for failing to inform the public of this. If they only require tap cards for fare, where are the hordes of Customer Service personnel at major transit hubs, informing the public?
• Increased cleaning procedures once vehicles return to their respective garages after a day in service. This is nice, but should be a daily occurrence even without a pandemic threat. Every vehicle is subject to accumulating multitudes of bacteria and viruses from the riding public. A student experiment nearly a decade ago illustrated how filthy our vehicles are. Little, if anything, has been done to ensure the cleanliness of our vehicles since. Given management's desire to scrap our Maintenance Apprenticeship Program, this is a glaring refusal to recognize the importance of many procedures that could be provided by entry-level employees hoping to rise. It's a vital assurance that operators and passengers alike be provided with a more-sterile environment than the horrid and filthy conditions we have worked within for nearly a decade. If it scraps MAP, I expect to see our GM and his minions out in the yard scrubbing buses after every day of service. If their only goal is to save money, this could be its sacrifice to that purpose.
• On the negative side, management earlier this week threatened a bus operator with disciplinary action if he didn't remove a clear shower curtain he had rigged in absence of a protective shield on buses he drives. It was certainly more valuable than the half-assed shields which leave us vulnerable to spitting, punching, stabbing, shooting and any other number of attacks upon us, which have been on the increase during this pandemic. A clear shower curtain is certainly NOT a "safety concern", because one can simply see through it. The shields which adorn many buses are not truly deterrents, but simply challenges to those who celebrate the menacing to transit operators. I cannot imagine having nothing to protect me from the hordes of good-for-nothing professional fare evaders who have overtaken our vehicles during this pandemic, leaving hard-working essential passengers waiting for the next bus as they snooze with bags upon bags of their belongings taking up seats on our buses and trains. Street-livers have virtually nowhere to wash their hands, let alone their bodies. Still, they have taken this pandemic as an excuse to dominate our 10-passenger maximums, with management's edict left to wilt in our springtime sunshine. 

I have yet to see a true sense of purpose from our management to underscore its' frontline employees intrinsic value to transit's purpose. Simple slogans do nothing to make us feel appreciated. We're more threatened now than we were just a few weeks ago, and that was bad enough. Troublemakers are now emboldened by the police scaling back arrests except for the most vile attacks. While I have seen an increase in traffic stops (yay!) upon the idiotic Mario Andretti or Richard Petty wannabes on our streets, I fear for our officers who street people brag about threatening to spit on in retaliation for code enforcement. I wouldn't want to be a cop any day, especially now. My hat is even-deeper tipped to our brothers and sisters in dark blue who continue to protect us through the darkness of this pandemic.

Portland's Powell Boulevard at rush hour, such a vast difference
 from the normally-hundreds of vehicles which would be here
around 5:30 p.m. on a weekday.

Every day is a new dimension in surrealistic phenomena. It's just... weird out there right now. The first few weeks, I had the same "haha... just another H1N1 bullshit scare" mindset. Back then, I trusted our government, run by level-headed people who valued academia and its higher intelligence to prevail during such an emergency. Now, we're at the mercy of a wannabe dictator supported by those who crave only dominance over others. Their celebrated villiage idiot stopped checks to millions of needy Americans just to ensure his name appeared on the checks sent to ease their hunger and debt. It's fully ridiculous that we're even going through this toilet paper-hoarding other-world scenario. I'm afraid for our country; not that it will survive, but for what it has become: a selfish, "me first" society. It was headed that way already. Now, it has been realized and somewhat celebrated in an utmost need for unity.

We've heard reports of passengers purposefully coughing or spitting on operators while saying they are infected with the virus. I cannot confirm whether any of them were truthfully carriers of the virus, but it's indicative of a sick mind to do such a thing. Given the deaths of many New York transit workers and their fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters across this nation (and others) fear a long-lasting death toll amongst our ranks. Any amount of diligence must be practiced until a viable vaccine is found to protect us from China's fucked up virus. Imagine the world's premier economy: the killer of the world. So much for communism, eh? Don't mistake it for socialism... the two are hardly alike. One strives to promote itself for selfish desires; the other serves the people who make it work. Neither are perfect. Hopefully America finds a way to shine through all of this. Unfortunately, it has largely failed, given it was once the world's brightest light.

This post wasn't meant to be a politically-polarizing jibe at our nation's leadership. This country's  leadership however, has glaringly declared itself inadequate to conquer a global threat. Our economy depends on those who are most affected by the virus. Instead of focusing on keeping US safe, our politicians have fought to keep the ECONOMY stable. If anyone believes an economy is built upon anyone but those who make the money spent within it, they are truly mistaken. We must take care of ourselves in order for life to constantly improve.

Perhaps it must all fail. Maybe then we will learn from our mistakes. If we begin to realize we're only as good as what our neighbors provide where we lack, we might utlimately realize we're all simply human.

Humanity has only withstood the test of time because it found strength within itself as those in power failed to protect the masses. It is within the numbers of the working class citizens to RISE in support of each other. Perhaps then we may find solutions. If we can stop this incessant in-fighting may we end this mass-instituted slavery by the few over the many.

We are neighbors, friends, fellow citizens united in the jobs we do in service to one another. Big Money controls us all, only because we allow it. Their only goal is to divide us, which strengthens them to further control US. We worship together, form Neighborhood Watches, cheer our local sports teams while coaching our collective youths, engage in civil debates over barbecues while our children play together. WE are the world. Who are THEY? Only the collectively-weak in spirit; rich in capital, lacking in humility.

Yeah, I'm tired. My week is nearly over as a transit operator. I have counted people boarding and leaving to ensure I don't allow my bus to have more than 10 passengers at a time. Not only for my safety, but also for those who refuse to safeguard themselves or those with whom they ride.

After each shift, I come home to a loving wife who cannot yet touch me. Not until I strip, throw my uniform into the washing machine, shower and redress can I embrace her. She waits at home, in anguish of what I experience "out there" and yearns for my safe return each day I'm in service. Meanwhile, I'm at the mercy of every bum, societal outcast, newly-released felon, and countless decent people who may be infected with COVID-19. For 12 hours every day, she waits for my texts ensuring her I'm okay. She constantly monitors my son who has been without a job for almost a month, making sure he isn't without food, toilet paper or any other number of necessities. Sometimes, it's more difficult for those who wait for us to return home. Even then, my Beloved doesn't know if I'll do so... safely and without infection.

But hey, I'm just a bus operator. What do I know?