CHRIS PARKER GETS VISIT FROM FRED

Sure got a surprise today when Fred Hanson boarded my 29 in Milwaukee. At 1st I thought I was under the gun, but he was headed to the final public meeting at the Clackamas Sheriff's Office to discuss service cuts. I was a nervous wreck , so I thought I'd better do my best at calling out the streets and being extra nice to the customers. He sat in back reading a paper for a while, then came up to chat with me. Asked me how I liked this line , and how many years I'd been at Trimet. The conversation shifted to other lines In like , the 39 and 51 which are threatened to be axed for weekends.. At this time I was getting pretty comfortable talking to him , and I expressed my point of view on cutting service. He seemed very open on letting me state my opinion. I expressed my idea of reducing some frequent service on weekends to 20 min. or 1/2 hour , instead of canceling low ridership lines. He seemed to be against that idea now , but would consider that if the budget situation got worse . He was more interested in my idea of combining lines 39 and 51 to increase ridership on Saturdays , and would look into that. Pans are for combined service on 18 and 63. So combining any bus service seems to be an idea he's open to. I had to show him where the sheriffs office was, Yeh, he deserves going there. ( just kidding ) When he left my bus, he shook my hand, and that was it. In all the years I've been at Trimet, I never thought I'd have a conversation with any general manager . Whew !!