Someting Interesting Happen Already!

You see, there's a reason I don't post much anymore.

I HAVE NOTHING TO POST.

Sure, there's the union healthcare thingamajig. But bear with me, I'm a beginner at Union stuff, and I don't have a clue what is really going on, therefore I have nothing to say.

So, here's hoping something not-boring happens. Any suggestions?

TriMet Picture of The Day and Its Story-TIMING

It's all about timing. :) This bus was going rather fast for the mall, and that wasn't its stop as far as I remember. ...could be wrong.

TriMet picture of the day and its story-Reflections

Not much to say... the green lines are lines on the map.

One way we can help the seniors whether or not we vote on the measure for TriMet

TriMet Picture of The Day and Its Story-Triple Threat

Ah, the 3 clean ways to travel. I'm lucky to have gotten them all in one shot. Still not sure how it happened. :)

TriMet Picture of The Day and Its Story-

This picture really helped me out of a photography slump back in August of 09. I had gone into the Portland City Grill (and annoyed the bejesus out of some employees) in the Us Bancorp building, then tested out the new yellow line MAX on the Mall. Very overrated, but overall, it made for this shot! :D I love the bus, but personally don't think it'd quite be the same in this picture.

My Board Meeting Speech This Month

So, what do you think? Did I Kill it or Destroy it?

C-Tran Picture Of The Day and Its Story- Syndicate Hijack!

Yep, today C-Tran takes over the TriMet Picture Of The Day.

You see, I was up on Vancouver on my way back from the Fort, running to the Fourth Plain bus, and on the way by, I saw the bus, and compulsively took a picture mid-stride.

It turned out as if I was just standing there patiently.

God I love (and still miss) my camera.

What happened to it in the first place? Well, a friend dropped it on its lens. The End.

TriMet Make Me Sad Face :(Why

Why, you ask?

I read the new rules, courtesy of Al M.

One of the rules was that you may no longer talk to operators.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

What the hale, TriMet? What the hale?

Here's my thinking.

All the good operators, all the ones people praise, is because they TALK to people. I never would have made that article about John Hively or have had my life changed by him if that rule was in effect a year ago. You know what this means?

If you can't talk to bus drivers, they can't be "good" bus drivers. You can't compliment them. In fact, people can and will now jump them for the things they used to praise them. Thereby demonizing drivers far more. :/

And another thing- I've never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever seen a driver drive bad because he was talking. What a total misconception on TriMet's part.

This rule is nothing but horrible, and it must be taken down. Who's with me?

TriMet Picture of the Day and its story: Go By Streetcar

Whoa. This picture turned out really big.

Anyway, I consider this one one of my best pictures of all time. Truly worth the 20 minutes standing on my knees waiting for the Streetcar. But, hey, I had good music.

UPDATE: Dissecting the Depth of a TriMet Priority Future Service Alert

You may have seen my post yesterday on the little amount of information on TriMet's Service Alert for Sunday Parkways. I sent it off to TriMet yesterday and I got a response from Dareth Murray.

Hi Cameron,

Thanks for taking the trouble to point out the lack of information we provided in our alert. I think if you look at it again you will see that we DO link to their website which does explain the event and where it affects our service.

But to make it more clear right up front, I put a couple of paragraphs that explain what the event is and also put a link to the PDF of their map on our alert.

I hope this answers all your questions.

Regards,

Dareth Murray

TriMet Webmaster

Epic, aye? I've already made a difference! Yay!

PortlandAfoot has Earned Its Plug

No I am not a sellout, first off.


Second off, with Michael Anderson giving me an awesome gift, I figured it's only fair to say that, as Jay Leno puts it, he earned his plug.

PortlandAfoot is a site revolving around a pretty cheap small magazine-newsletters, a large Wiki about the transportation in, you guessed it, New York (JK), and the occasional blog update. They were the best coverage of OPAL's rally, which I owe him a lot for, and this definitely more than an "Honorable Mention" in the list of the best Transit Blogs and Sites.

So, yeah. That's the plug. :D

*Earning your plug may not happen often and I am not trying to be a mooch, i.e. give me a gift and I plug you. I really owe this guy for something and thought this'd be a great way to thank him. All rights reserved, all lefts reserved.

*All Rights Reserved, All lefts Reserved is the catchphrase of Al M. His copyright. All rights reserved, all- wait, that was close to a paradox.

Dissecting the Depth of a TriMet Priority Future Service Alert

Here's a TriMet Future Service Advisory. The kind that are important and are posted on FB. While posting them to FB, Twitter and adivse them in advance... well, take a look.

Expect minor delays downtown on Sunday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. due to the Sunday Parkways event in Northwest Portland. The following lines will be affected: MAX, Portland Streetcar bus shuttles, 12-Barbur/Sandy Blvd, 15-Belmont/NW 23rd, 19-Woodstock/Glisan, 20-Burnside/Stark and 77-Broadway/Halsey

No no no, TriMet. Wrong.

The main problem?

Where are the detours, and where do they go? I mean, how can I plan ahead if I don't know which stops are gonna be closed? How do I know if on line 15, I catch it on Thurman Street, it will actually arrive, and will it take me to my destination on Burnside?

I guess the only way to actually know is to look at A Sunday Parkways Map... but where do I find that? You don't say. And you don't provide a map of Sunday Parkways so we can at least get a small GLIMPSE of where to not rely on service.

And for that matter, what is Sunday Parkways? Will I be interested in trying it?

It's not what you have in the detour announcement, but what you DON'T have.

It won't even cost anything just to type more.

Here's an updated version of the service alert.

Expect minor delays downtown on Sunday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Due to the Sunday Parkways in NW Portland, the following bus lines will be detoured

MAX: (Insert STOPS Closed or amount and/or length of delays)

Portland Streetcar Shuttles: (what stops are closed or amount of delays, and, since it's a shuttle, where it may stop instead)

Line 12 Barbur/Sandy Blvd: (insert area of detour here and where instead to catch it)

Line 15 Belmont/NW 23rd: (insert area of detour here and where instead to catch it)

Line 19 Woodstock/Glisan: (insert area of detour here and where instead to catch it)

Line 20 Burnside/Stark: (insert area of detour here and where instead to catch it)

Line 77 Broadway/Halsey: (insert area of detour here and where instead to catch it)

About the Sunday Parkways:

(Insert summary of Sunday Parkways here)

Voila! A quick and easy way to show your public you care.

TriMet Picture of the Day and its Story-QuickSnap

When I see a photo opportunity, I jump at it. I had just finished a bike ride along Waterfront Park and Eastbank Esplanade when I saw a new MAX coming, threw my bike down, got on my knees and snapped it as fast as I could. It turned out pretty good and remains one of my favorites.

Oh, and in case you wonder what my criteria for my picture of the day is

1. It's one I took
2. It'd look good as a wallpaper on my phone
3. Never deliberate before looking on which one you want. Make it completely random.

Dear Uptight Ageists on Joe Rose's Hard Drive

Hi!

First off, I don't hold anything against you. Your opinion is your opinion. And so is mine. Difference? I don't attack you personally and hold any of the following against you- race, age, sexuality, or anything else touchy.

I happen to get really offended when people discriminate against ANY teenager because, well, they're teenagers. And usually, society portrays them as heartless, careless and stupid people who are no contribution to society except for alcohol and drug use and teen pregnancy.

Okay, maybe not THAT overboard but... yeah, you get where I'm coming from. So it bugs the crap out of me to hear that I'm not a good enough blogger because I'm 16. It's rather hurtful, because, heck, I can do just as well as a 30 year old blogger. (And for the record, I've never smoked, done drugs, drank or had a girlfriend. The only thing I get high off of is music and life.) Not to brag, but I do know EVERYTHING about the transit system. That's my special little Autism skill.

Yep, in case you didn't read the intro, I am Autistic. :) And I count it as one of my biggest blessings. You see, the whole reason I blog is because I, thanks to Autism, have an extremely heightened, almost unnatural, interest in TriMet.

So, now you know why I blog. Please don't EVER use my Autism against me.

And, like I said, I don't care if you disagree. Sure it bugs me when you go more over the top than parents over Katy Perry and Elmo and act like the world depends on your post (seriously, relax a little) but go ahead and disagree. I have my reasons and standpoint and you don't have to like it, but you don't have to blame it on my age or say I don't deserve to have it.

That is all.

Cameron Johnson
Transit Advocate
16 Years of Age
Autistic
Never Backing Down

Sorry I neglected you, Picture Of The Day, Old Pal!

Heh, looking at this now, it looks just like the Facebook page picture of TriMet. Only I beat them to it. This trip I took to tour SW Portland (Hillsdale, Multnomah Village, PCC-Sylvania and Lake Oswego) in (I believe) Fall of Last Year sure did pay off.

P.S. I still miss my camera.

You'll Not Oft Be "Board" At This Meeting!

Ok, if anyone wants to stand up and shoot me now for that pun, I invite you to- AFTER I finish telling you about the board meeting- IN TWEET FORM. I posted tweet-notes on my twitter page (well, just posted random thoughts to store for later on my page) And I'll lengthen them out in detail for you.

Tweet #1

'99.9% of our bus drivers know and follow the rules'-Neil. But it's the .1% that is magnified

Neil McFarlane touched up a bit on the Kindle Driver. He went on and on in a sort of Merry-Go-Round sermon about how it was unacceptable and he was on administrative leave, but he did manage to throw in the above statement, which leaves me to wonder "Why on earth do all the news in the city focus on that .1%?"

Tweet 2

A board member called accounting and audit exciting. I wouldn't know, I was too busy reading American Idol news.

Well, in reality, I spelled reading wrong, cause It's a phone. And right about this time, the Finance and Audit Committee came up for a very long report... right about then I zoned out and read Google News and so bored I was I read up on American Idol. Did I mention I was bored?

Anyway, at the end, Hakeem Olanrewaju (and yes I cut and paste the name) was telling one of the reporting peoples (doesn't feel right to call them reporters) that they were wrong about Accounting and Audit being boring. I had to hold in the urge to laugh. Trust me, I do a lot of math when making my plans and it's rarely fun or exciting. Olanrewaju sure needs to get out.

@trimet sure is mysterious about how much less of a chance buses get because of Light rail Buildings

Simply, Lynn Lehrbach asked how much the real estate TriMet was buying for the MAX was and Neil refused to tell him in public. But that's OK! My trusty friends at OPAL sorta knew the answer and told everyone later as part of their speech. (A total of $52,000,000 so far in 2010, don't quote me on that)

Jesus, we could get 100,000 people against Milwaukie max and it'd still be 7 ayes

Yep, that's classic TriMet. A guy comes up and makes a passionate, heartfelt, and hard-hitting speech about not buying said property on the MAX, and they voted 7 ayes quick as lightining. Half the room groaned, but did they care? No! Sure not, they just brushed it off like nothing happened and no bus service was going to be destroyed because of a building they were gonna destroy anyway for a few hundred feet of track.

As my English Friend Max Corby once said "I'm allergic to Bullsh**. Achoo."

In fact, that's what the whole agenda is! Rail, rail, rail, and replacement engines for our 1700s!

Pretty Self-Explanatory. Nothing but rail improvements on the agenda list except replacement engines for the buses. Which I was surprised to see pass.

God, Trimet, you make it SOOOOO hard to be an ally.

Also Self explanatory.

Go David Sale, even if I don't follow the religious influences

This guy is an amazing speaker. I mean, I don't like to say anything good came out of the tragic Old Town deaths, but if there was, his ability to speak is. He's definitely one of the best Safety Speakers out there. He spoke with long-time Safety Advocate Darla Sturdy and they both were amazing. They took up well over 20 minutes but no one seemed to care. If you want the video, I'd recommend checking Al M's Blog in a day or two from the post time for his full speech, because it is hard to describe in its entirety. I will say that I agree with most of it, even if I don't pray out loud during my speech. Was a nice touch though.

Just gave my speech. Rick spent half of it taking with someone. Thanks a lot.

Yeah, nice, huh? I was Thanking the board for their enactment of the Making A Difference Campaign and talking on educating youth about the bus system, and Rick spent nearly the whole time talking with the secretary. I nearly stopped and waited for him. It was annoying, and to add to it, I don't think I did an overwhelmingly good job at my speech. I also didn't like being told to stay under 3 minutes. I KNOW THAT. I plan ahead for being the only one who has to follow that.

Rick is trying so hard to shut Michael Levine up. SO HARD.

Yep. Mike Levine was giving account on several disabled people's being kicked off of LIFT for things they couldn't help. It went on a bit past 3 minutes, because the other board members were talking with him, and Rick was trying over and over to stop the conversation because, apparently, it was over 3 minutes. Now, as much I respect David Sale and Darla Sturdy, and could hear them talk for an hour, if they get 25 minutes to talk, then have a bit of leniency on the rest of us, all right?

Christ, Rick irritates me.

But the most epic part I didn't get a chance to tweet about.

If I had it'd say

OMG Lew Church and Lynn Lehrbach nearly get into shouting match!

But I may be blowing it out of proportion. I missed half of Lew's Speech during a phone call but when I got back in, I saw Lew walking away, like he had finished. Lynn, who is one of the nicest guys I know, called him back. Lew refused. Lynn simply started shouting out something about how dare he boycott Rick's Cafe, Reedville Cafe. Now, I accidentally read up on this, Ironically while researching Lynn Lehrbach, and I think it was because of their bad food, not because Rick was on the board and therefore Lew hated him and wanted to ruin his life. Lew tried to defend himself, and Lynn kept shouting back. For a bit. Rick himself actually broke in and calmed Lynn down. When the guy you're defending tells you to stop doing so, then that's a bit sobering, and, hey, I'd have stopped too.

All in all, a typical TriMet Board Meeting. One that would make my English Friend have an allergy attack.

TriMet Picture of the Day and its Story-Old Vs New

An Old bus versus a new bus.

Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it? O_o

Whew...whew...whew... this is EPIC!

*gasp* Man, what a long day. I spent all day working on a huge project.

I like to call it "EPIC for Transit" because if by some minute chance the East Portland Improvement Catalog for Transit has some stuff approved, that's exactly what it'd be.

Picture my TBIP plan, and picture it on an East Portland scale. Now picture no boundaries on budget. That's EPIC for Transit, isn't it?

I'll get a PDF ASAP. I've got to work on my board meeting speech and post my picture of the day... and while I'm at it, post on a few other blogs.

The Kindlecident

OK, just about everyone in the nation has heard about the not-too-smart driver who read a Kindle while driving.

Sure, he screwed up. Why are you making such a huge deal about it? If a Bus Driver saved someone's life you wouldn't make such a stink about it. At least, it wouldn't be nationwide. We can hardly get a good story of a local bus driver in a paper, for God's sake.

If you're going to Fire him, Fire him. But Can the city, no, the nation ever let TriMet do that quietly?

TriMet Picture of the Day and its Story-

Ah, a full hour of chasing down test runs of the MAX Green Line back in Spring 2009 was well worth it.

Man, I miss having a Camera.

TriMet Picture of the Day and its Story

Yep. Segments of the Blog that run on a regular basis? Awesome.

This was taken from the Debut Green Line MAX ride. I'll admit, while I do enjoy the MAX, I don't nearly like it as much as the Bus. You can't talk to the operator and you can barely see where you're going. It takes all the fun out of it.

But this was different. The route was new, and by my house, and the trains were amazing-looking. I decided to enjoy this in its novelty.

It was well worth it. I could barely hear the tour guide, but the view off of Johnson Creek was amazing and made up for it. I've probably ridden the Green Line a hundred times since, but in its novelty it was a pleasant ride.

Introduction to my Blog

Hi and welcome to my long-overdue transit blog. This may or may not be a similar name to another amazing transit blog, I dunno, I was out of ideas.

I see a lot of blogs that while they are brilliant, are rather irritated at TriMet. And I'll admit it, I can get really annoyed by their mistakes. But rather than sit here ranting all day about it (no offense to those who do) I decided I'll post some ways they can improve in an orderly fashion, and when praise is due to give it to them.

Also, as a youth, you'll get the input to the only youth who blogs about TriMet. Go figure.

Anyway, a bit about me.

I'm Cameron Johnson. I am an avid Transportation Studier. Why a teenager would spend time researching the routes and schedules of every bus route, I can only thank one thing for. Autism.

I am also an avid volunteer and soon to me intern at OPAL Bus rider's union. With their support I am working on a Plan to improve bus service in East Portland. This should be on the blog by Tuesday.

You may see my posts on PortlandTransport and Joe Rose's blog. Ah, Joseph Rose of the Oregonian. Thank you for inspiring me to make this blog.

I saw that lately, there hasn't been enough coverage on the good things TriMet's done, and Joseph Rose kind of was the essence of this, in my opinion. So, without further ado, here's a good thing someone at Trimet has done. Yes, the Cameron in the article is me.

http://www.trimet.org/difference/john.htm