News TriMet drivers, turn off your cell phones now. That edict by TriMet general manager Neil McFarlane is one of two changes he announced today aimed at improving safety in response to a bus crash April 24 that killed two pedestrians and injured another. The new policy dealing with personal electronic devices is in contrast to TriMet's earlier policy of requiring that those devices merely be ...   More

News Here's an update, as first reported today by BikePortland, on Dan Christensen, who was among the honorees in this week's Best of Portland as "Best Bet Against Sam Adams in a Municipal Twitter Smackdown": TriMet placed Christensen on administrative leave today after Christensen wrote a piece on his blog with the headline, "PORTLAND! KILL THIS BICYCLIST!" BikePortland reports in this piece that ...   More

News TriMet and its drivers union have gone through months of bargaining on a new contract after the existing deal expired last Nov. 30. That was followed on June 7 by mediation between TriMet and the 2,000-member Amalgamated Transit Union, Division 757. Mediation failed to bring a new deal, so now both sides told the state Employment Relations Board they're at an impasse. And that means each side ...   More

News When TriMet's nickel fare increase and service cuts take effect on Sept. 1, there will be a demonstration in downtown Portland to protest on that same day. So mark your calendars if you're ticked about TriMet's higher fare and reduced service (or even about TriMet's recent decision to ask voters to OK a $125 million bond this fall) to show up outside City Hall at 4 pm on Wednesday, Sept. 1 for ...   More

News City Commissioner Nick Fish and Beam Construction and Management are the latest large donors to the Yes campaign on the city of Portland's $72.4 million bond measure for the Fire Bureau. Fish and Beam Development each ponied up $2,500 to the fire bond campaign. (Fish, who won his re-election to City Council in May, also tapped his campaign fund for a much smaller donation of $250 to Democratic ...   More

News City Hall this afternoon drew dozens of protesters concerned about recent changes at TriMet. Today, of course, marked the first day of TriMet's nickel fare increase, a move that raised the cost of riding a TriMet bus across two zones to $2.05. Meantime, TriMet has continued to cut services even as it prepares to ask voters for a new $125 million bond in November. While denouncing the service ...   More

News As we reported yesterday, TriMet general manager Neil McFarlane laid out some grim news on wages and health care costs for union and non-union employees. Well, the union—Amalgamated Transit Union #757—responded today with a "not so fast" letter from president Jon Hunt, in which he called McFarlane's message a "crude attempt to incite anxiety in folks" or as Hunt put it, "blatant ...   More

News TriMet general manager Neil McFarlane told non-union employees at the transit agency today their wage freeze of the past two years will continue in 2011—and they'll have to pick up more of their health-care costs. He also told union employees, who are at a bargaining impasse with TriMet, there will be a new wage freeze for them this December as well as a requirement they pick up some share ...   More

News TriMet this afternoon fired Lahcen Qouchbane, the driver who navigated Interstate-5 on Sept. 16 while seemingly reading a Kindle. TriMet announced the decision this afternoon saying Qouchbane, an employee for 10 years, posed "an immediate threat to public safety" and violated TriMet's policy that "all personal electronic devices be turned off while operating a bus or train." The videotape of ...   More

News All eyes may be on TriMet's upcoming bond measure and today's news that the feds gave the transit agency $6 million to buy new buses. But TriMet faces a bigger financial hurdle than getting voters to approve a new $125 million bond amid a recession. The agency's latest annual audit [PDF] from the Moss Adams accounting firm brings the transit agency's growing health-care costs and ongoing labor ...   More