Transit blogger EMS at Light rail and I: a love story 28 years in the making…:-) needs your help! She’s compiling a list: 100 reasons not to have valid fare on TriMet . . .
Some of the highlights of the list as it now stands (100-67):
92. The TVM [Ticket Vending Machine] is for left handed people – I am right handed
89. My guiding spirit told me no fare inspectors are working today (we have dozens of them now, buddy – try another excuse, or find another spirit to guide you)
81. I am running away from love (and the fare you owe us, apparently…)
A while back Christian at Trimetiquette posted Top 5 ‘fareless’ excuses, which included several gems:
4) “I’m on my way to pick up my monthly pass!” – now, this is more believable, naturally, in the beginning of the month.. if it’s during the middle, preface this excuse with: “I just got paid and…”.
3) Crying uncontrollably. Crying and making the fare inspector feel bad is mean.. but if it means not paying for a ticket, hey, give it all the crying you got.
2) “Ticket? You’re supposed to buy a ticket?” – play the “I’m not from Portland and I have no idea what this moving metal bus thing is and that I am supposed to buy a ticket?” game.
I’ve contributed a few suggestions to EMS’s list:
- The TVM wouldn’t let me upgrade to all zone! *
- I thought the bus was free on snow days!
Comment on her post with your suggestions!
* Say you’re in Hillsboro or Gresham and you want to take MAX back to town but all you have is a 1-2 zone pass or ticket. Used to be that you could buy a 30 cent upgrade from the TVMs. But a few years ago TriMet removed that option. Now your only option is to either buy an all-zone ticket or find a bus driver somewhere to buy your upgrade from, which is especially difficult, if not impossible, if you’re at a non-transit center MAX stop. This is one of my Trimet pet peeves.
You’ve breached our agreement that states you will pick me up at 10:07 by leaving me standing here in the rain/cold/snow/heat for 10 minutes past the alloted time. Our agreement is therefore null and void which means I am under no obligation to fulfill my portion of the agreement, namely submitting a fare of any sort.
XUP – That’s a good one. I’ll have to try that . . .
I am also annoyed at the inability to purchase the upgrade fare. I do have a 2-zone pass, and rarely go into zone 3, but when I do, I would rather pay the extra $.30 than get a ticket. Oh, and 90% of the time, it’s on the MAX. Plus, the couple of times I’ve actually paid the $.30 out in Beaverton or something, the bus drivers looked all sorts of confused. Hrmph.