As someone who has an interest in things running on rails and who will become a regular TriMet commuter in the next few weeks, I was interested when I saw a KATU article today about safety on MAX. The headline indicates “Team 2 Investigates” but I’ll be darned if I could find much investigation in their report.

The article is heavy on sensationalism and accusations and light on facts. Bit by bit:

“Some riders like Crane say… they never see transit police while riding and never see any officers jump in when a crime is committed” - to me there’s a big difference between a lack of officers, and officers that sit around doing nothing while crime is occurring. This statement wasn’t explored at all.

“I’ve been on here three months, and I’ve never even been asked for my pass,” - so what? Transit police and fare inspectors are two separate entities…

“I think TriMet makes a lot of money,” his mom said. “I think TriMet could put a little bit more security out there.” - bullshit. TriMet, like every other public transportation organization, exists based on public subsidy. They’re not making money. Unfortunately KATU’s crack investigators (or is that investigators on crack) didn’t even bother to inject any truth into this statement, which they used to wrap up the written article.

It would be great to learn some actual information about safety on MAX but this pseudo-reporting just isn’t cutting it…