Deke's Note: Remember when you were a kid, aged 17-25? Having an adult tell you what you should do was worse than chalk screeching across a blackboard. Cringing as a great aunt gave you sexual "tips", or a clergyman advising you how to win the heart of a crush? Exactly how local transit riders respond to the lame announcements on bus or rail trips every fucking 2-3 minutes of the ride to "pay your fare" or "don't smoke". Good fucking grief. On a bus, every passenger knows transit only enforces its watered down code on rail. Buses are a free-for-all rarely patrolled for code enforcement.
These silly announcements further illuminate management's failure to grasp the realities we face "out there." It has been illegal to smoke on transit nearly four decades. Riding transit "at my own risk" has been the lame excuse of ride thieves even longer. Neither announcement describes any possible consequences, because the risk is virtually ZERO. These audible messages are insulting, toothless inanity. Having them play every few minutes is utterly torturous.
Every 2-3 minutes of each trip, these banal messages assault the airwave of every transit ride. Instead of an authoritative voice plainly stating the consequences of such misdemeanors, it sounds like a nagging Karen bleating warnings of a feathery spanking. People have known for decades that either failure to pay or smoking any substance is worthy of a penalty. They don't need to hear it repeated constantly when on transit. It's a fucking given, for crying out loud! Expecting operators to hear these toothless nags dozens of times each shift is occupational torture.
So yeah, I simply mute the damn things. It's an insult to the thousands of hard-working, decent, fare-paying stiffs who ride my roll to and from work. I compare it to the holiday music retail workers are subjected to from October through December 25 every year, no matter which holidays they chose to celebrate in a country based on "religious freedom."
You want to make an impact, you intellectually-lazy management wonks transit could easily exist without? Announcements describing actual consequences for transit code infractions might open some phone-stoned slacker eyes. Pair that with actually enforcing what few rules exist on a transit begging ridership while also enforcing penalties.
"DON'T SMOKE OR WE'LL ARREST, THEN EXCLUDE YOUR DUMB ASS!"
"RIDING AT YOUR OWN 'RISK'? IT'S GONNA COST YOU ABOUT A HUNDRED TIMES THE FARE."
"DRINKING ALCOHOL ON THE BUS WILL LAND YOUR DRUNK ASS IN JAIL. THEN, WE WON'T PICK YOU UP WHEN YOU GET OUT."
"ATTACKING AN OPERATOR IS A FELONY. WE WILL ENCOURAGE ANYONE KICKING YOUR SORRY ASS OFF THIS BUS. DON'T DARE US. OUR DECENT RIDERS EXPECT THIS."
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As long as I've driven a bus, I've yearned for a boss with the cajones to stand in front of a bank of cameras and shout "DO NOT FUCK WITH OUR OPERATORS, OR WE WILL NOT ONLY EXCLUDE YOU FROM EVER RIDING TRANSIT AGAIN, BUT ALSO KICK YOUR SORRY ASS OUT OF PORTLAND FOREVER! FUCK WITH OUR EMPLOYEES, AND WE WILL LITERALLY, AND FIGURATIVELY, RUIN YOUR SORRY ASS!"
But NO, our management whines about increasing ridership without the slightest clue how to make it happen. It protects the troublemaker and demotes the honest, fare-paying public. Then, once the public starts riding again, local transit cries "We're broke! Gotta cut service! Raising fares!"
Case in point: in the past year, Line 35 riders were treated to service upgrades. Recently, transit did a 180 degree flip and cut service. They also cut time off runs on a line that has become a high-seniority favorite. Not only are they leaving passengers out to freeze and become drenched as another Nor'west winter approaches, but they fail to apologize for the mismanagement which resulted in these cuts.
Therefore, why should Portland trust transit?
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Meanwhile, operators who have slaved through years of climbing the seniority ladder, hearing hollow bellows of management's praise, are seeing the rewards of effort eaten away by service cuts, leaving us to explain their malfeasance to our riders and bearing the brunt they'll never have to own up to. WE are the face of transit, so WE take the blame for something WE have NO control over. Even though we pay the same transit tax (unapproved by the public, equaling taxation without representation), we too suffer the consequences of transit management which spends merrily under one administrations then cries poor when replaced by the opposition. There's no rhyme or reason, only predictive failure time and again.
We're rarely celebrated in the media. A few months ago, our union finally persuaded a local media outlet to cover violence on local transit. I have begged local media to cover this issue for the past decade. Thanks to ATU757's relentless pressure, one brave reporter dared to stand up to the TriMet bully and report upon the dangers faced by the public and those of us who transport them.
Management plays simple mind games with the public, yet is never called on the carpet for its shenanigans. It controls the media image portrayed to the public and strongly discourages any negative publicity. While TM insisted it has increased safety on transit, it steered the reporter away from those who beg to differ. His story was a good start, but lacked a solid punch to the gut. Still, after years of begging Portland's wimpy media to cover this subject, I was pleased with Riley's stab in the dark. Sadly, his journalistic dagger just missed the vital organs which protect transit's tenured grasp of reality. His well-written jab was blunted by phone-stoned Portlandia's apathy. It's all too quick to text in complaints, but slow to use apps to tell people exactly when their bus will arrive so they can be prepared, be seen, and board fare-ready.
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Not enough blood in the news to incite the masses, I suppose. Hey Riley, come again. Transit workers here have stories that will frizz your curliest. My examples pale in comparison to what my fellow brothers and sisters have endured. Ever notice other transit locales show videos of violence on their system while you are not allowed to see Portland's share of carnage? Portland transit management makes it nearly impossible to show anything but positive while behind transit doors they punish us for even the slightest, most ridiculous of faux pas we might commit in our flawed humanity.
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Although the First Amendment remains intact yet frayed, it's still possible to accurately report the truth. Try again, Riley. Ride enough buses "on the sly" and you'll hear stories that will freeze your blood. You don't need permission to describe reality shrouded by fictitious corporate slogans.
Management plays mind games with those who make our wheels roll. Many of them have never held the wheel of a transit vehicle in their hands. It takes weeks, sometimes months, to give us service awards, but just days to assail us with complaints the public is strongly encouraged to levy against us. Sam the Man fails to support those whose effort he fails to understand. His shoes are military-shiny, but his actions speak a dull tone where front-line workers need to hear earnest efforts on our behalf. His minion ordered me to stand down from writing myhard-hitting emails. So much for his initial promise to listen to US. I may have been too harsh, but this professional's shoes are dulled from hundreds of thousands of miles in the seat and on the pedals.
STAND UP for US, will ya Boss? We're waiting. All we hear is superfluous bullshit where we need to feel true support for what we do every moment we're delivering our precious cargo across this wonderful metropolis half the country erroneously believes is burning down..
My entire career, and the life of this blog, I have fought for the rights of the transit operator, our support staff and those who ride our rolls. As a group, we are too fragmented to stand as ONE. I, however, am NOT willing to be bullied into submission. I don't believe the hype our management spews forth. Riley Martinez of Oregon Public Broadcasting, please write what WE feel, and refuse to be cowed by any managerial bullshit that contradicts what we experience.
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Brothers and sisters of the road, and to those who support us, we cannot afford to remain complacent. I'm not the onlyvoice capable of making a stand. I hope you realize any union is only as strong as each of us deciding to join in, speak up, and refuse to bend over in submission.
In solidarity forever, I remain your brother,
Deke N. Blue
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