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Pressure mounts for more MAX fixes

State committee, others call for safety measures from TriMet

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Nov 16, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (106 Reader comments)

TriMet is being pushed to take more steps to end freeloading, rude behavior, crime and violence on its MAX light-rail system – including installing boarding turnstiles on station platforms and ending the free rides in the Fareless Square area that includes downtown and the Lloyd District.

State Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Rick Metsger this week directed the regional transit agency to submit a comprehensive safety plan to the 2008 session of the Oregon Legislature, scheduled to begin Feb. 4.

“We need to find some real solutions and stop sweeping this under the rug,” Metsger said during a joint hearing on TriMet safety issues by the House and Senate transportation committees Tuesday.

Among other things, he and other committee members questioned why it is so easy for MAX riders to evade fares.

TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen agrees that more can be done to collect fares. He promises to discuss the issues at a series of safety summits scheduled to begin in Hillsboro on Nov. 30.

Hansen called for the summits after 71-year-old Laurie Lee Chilcote was beaten by a 15-year-old suspected gang member at a Gresham MAX station Nov. 3.

But Hansen notes that it may not be desirable – or even possible – to make sure that everyone pays before boarding MAX. According to Hansen, the regional rail system originally was designed as a unique experiment to encourage easy access.

“Especially in Portland, the platforms are also sidewalks, and it’s just not practical to put turnstiles on them,” Hansen told the Portland Tribune after a TriMet board of directors meeting on safety issues Wednesday.

Hansen also said eliminating Fareless Square might hurt the economy in the Lloyd District by discouraging downtown shoppers from traveling there. Limiting the free-ride hours might be more reasonable, Hansen said.

“We’ll discuss this at the safety summits, and if people think it’s a good idea we’ll consider it,” he added.

Metsger said he expects real action from TriMet, however. He warns the Legislature might not give the agency any more state money if it is not satisfied with the plan it receives next year.

The 2007 session gave TriMet $250 million toward the new light-rail line planned between Portland and Milwaukie. Some transit advocates are looking for the state to help TriMet pay for the growing demand by senior citizens for specialized transportation.

For Metsger, the issue is personal. He represents portions of Gresham, where Chilcote was injured. And, as Metsger said at the Tuesday meeting, he is afraid to ride MAX at night.

“I just don’t feel safe riding MAX when it’s dark,” he said.

Problems ignored, union says

Concerns about safety on MAX have been building behind the scenes for years, despite the fact that the line is patrolled by the Transit Police Division, a 36-member unit of the Portland Police Bureau funded by TriMet and including members of many law enforcement agencies in the tricounty region.

The Hillsboro Police Department has declined to assign any of its officers to the Transit Police Division that patrols the line because they might work outside the city limits.

Beaverton Police Chief David Bishop has long felt that the police division puts too much emphasis on the east side of the line. And on Nov. 2, Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis ordered city police to began patrolling the line within the week.

The decision was driven by statistics showing that a large percentage of all crimes in Gresham are committed within a quarter-mile of the MAX line.

Officials with the union representing rank-and-file TriMet workers say the agency has ignored fare evasion and crime problems for years.

“A lot of the hooliganism and thuggery that goes on in the back of a train is never actually reported to anybody, but it causes a great deal of angst to those people who have to endure it,” said Jim Fowler, a member of the executive board of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 757, which represents fare inspectors, drivers and train operators.

The assault on Chilcote brought all these issues into the open, however. Appearing before the transportation committees Tuesday, Hansen admitted that TriMet has safety problems.

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