Like I've said many times before, I love the public transportation in Portland. It's great and I'm a devotee. As I was walking downtown today I was thinking about how much it would suck if I had to go back to driving to the burbs. I hate traffic and can't imagine being stuck in it every day again when I could be reading. Not to put too fine a point on it, I <3 Trimet.
BUT
It drives me *crazy* that the Yamhill Station pay machine going east is always broken. What I've heard from Trimet is that if the machine is broken you're supposed to ride the MAX down one station and buy a ticket there. The problem with that is if you buy a ticket, you also have to wait for the next MAX to come because you can't get a ticket and get back to the train before the doors close (I've tried). In my case, if the next train is a yellow line I have to wait for the next one after that too. So that's about 15 minutes because Trimet can't be bothered to maintain the pay machine.
This is particularly frustrating because while I'm trying to be Johnny Citizen everyone else is getting on the train without paying because they either a) aren't leaving fareless square or b) are just not paying the fare. Or they could have a pass. But what gets my goat is that I am a paying customer, and I'm inconvenienced in comparison to everyone else.
According to Trimet officials, they believe that the root of the security problems are caused by fare evaders. According to Trimet they've really stepped up enforcement over the last few weeks. I applaud their ability to avoid detection, because I haven't seen a fare checker in months. That said, if the machines aren't working, what that means is that regular people are getting tickets for fare evasion when they aren't even the real problem.
Admittedly, I have a pass this month, so the situation with the machine doesn't affect me. It's the lack of logic around this that drives me crazy. So, being the person I am and attempting to bring order to the world I hereby vow to post every time the machines are broken to just see how many days in a row we go until we have a day on which both machines work.
This'll be fun, like Deal or No Deal, but without the suspense.
DAY 1
