Friday, January 23, 2009

I RIDE THE WES-PART 1

JASON SAYS HI TO SAM+RIDES THE WES!!

SAM'S PROBLEMS

FOREST GROVE WANTS RAIL

FINAL LIVE REPORT

MORE LIVE REPORTS

LIVE REPORT FROM WES

STEVE BANTA


Tony Bryant and Bruce Miller

I have two important announcements to make regarding changes in the Operations division. Tony Bryant and Bruce Miller have decided to retire from TriMet. I want to thank them for their outstanding commitment to the agency and for their excellent service to their community. Their impacts on TriMet are notable, and I would like to take a moment to remind you of some of their impressive achievements.

Tony began working with TriMet in 1973 as a cleaner. During his 35 ½ years here he worked as a helper, a mechanic, a training manager, a garage manager and finally as the director of bus maintenance. Among his many accomplishments includes leading the agency towards new bus technologies for reducing fuel emissions and increasing fuel economy. Because of Tony’s willingness to seek out and test new bus technologies, TriMet is an innovative and respected leader for its environmental stewardship. TriMet’s mean distance between road calls on the bus fleet increased dramatically under Tony’s direction, to numbers that other transit agencies do envy.

Bruce began working at TriMet in 1975 as a mechanic helper. During his almost-34 years of employment here, Bruce had many achievements, including: his commitment to implementing and providing leadership in the Productivity Improvement Process, development of the preventative maintenance program, creation of the bus apprenticeship program, and recently his excellent work mentoring the members of the Operations Leadership Development Program. Bruce worked in a variety of departments during his tenure, including Bus Maintenance, Rail Maintenance and Transportation Training, and was closely involved in the successful opening of three MAX extensions.

from our General Manager, we are facing significant budget challenges in the coming year. With this in mind, I will be combining the bus and rail maintenance departments under one director, who will work closely with me to ensure that we are looking at the maintenance of our vehicles and MOW systems as a unified, total transit system.

Until this position is filled, I will work directly with Mark Grove, Dan Blair and Roland Henson to oversee the activities of the Rail Maintenance Department. I will also work directly with Tom Nielson, Mike Grove, Bob Johnson and Greg Haley to oversee bus maintenance activities.

Thank you for your continued support.

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NEW TRANSIT MALL GUIDE





Click to enlarge.


TriMet promises that downtown Portland's new transit mall will mean a better commute for bus and light-rail riders.

But with daily changes on Fifth and Sixth avenues, including test runs in freshly striped bus lanes, there's no lack of confusion. Is it OK to drive on the MAX tracks? What's up with those new signals? Where's the best place to get information?

This handy-dandy graphic and map should help. As a bonus, we offer five things every commuter should know to prepare for the $220 million transit mall's opening in September:

Most intersections on Fifth and Sixth will no longer allow right turns because they would cross new light-rail tracks and bus lanes. But signal-controlled right turns will be allowed at Fifth and Jackson, Sixth and Harrison and Sixth and Irving. Vehicles will be able to turn left every other block.

MAX signals are about to go live. The upper horizontal bar tells the train to stop or stay at a station. The lower vertical bar means go. When a train has the right of way at an intersection, a regular red light will hold back bus and car traffic.

Tracks and bus lanes eventually will be off-limits to cars. Left-hand traffic lanes are for motorists, delivery trucks, taxis and cyclists. Buses are allowed in left lanes when necessary (to get around a stopped MAX train, for example). So be prepared to share the road.

The city is in the process of removing parking spots placed on the mall during construction, which began in January 2007. All but a few short-term metered spaces will be gone by March 2 and possibly earlier, since cyclists have started to raise safety concerns about parked cars giving them little room to ride.

Go to portlandmall.org to learn more. To see a computer-animated movie of how the mall will look and work, visit The Oregonian's Hard Drive commuting blog at oregonlive.com/harddrive

--Joseph Rose

from the desk of a wes supporter

route99west.com | addendum

NEW ITEM AVAILABLE

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