TriMet says it provided incomplete records to a Portland resident who asked how frequently the public transit agency’s board members use the transit system. The notice from TriMet came in response to reporting in the Mercury that detailed the number of times each board member tapped their agency ID cards, which double as Hop passes, last year.
The initial data showed four of the six current board members rarely, if ever, tapped their TriMet ID cards.
TriMet Public Information officer Roberta Altstadt says the data doesn’t account for the fact that TriMet board members can access free monthly Hop passes in addition to their ID cards, and they may choose to donate these Hop passes to local nonprofits. Board members Tyler Frisbee and Keith Edwards, who racked up 361 and 69 taps respectively, both donated their cards, so the numbers attributed to them are inaccurate.
Altstadt says there’s no way to accurately capture the frequency of transit use by board members, and the correct records “further reflect that the data does not reflect the total time Board members spent on TriMet.”
“We don’t have the data, so we have to take the board members at their word,” Altstadt told the Mercury.
But the new information, which includes ridership estimates provided by board members, emphasizes what the original data also showed: Unless board members are paying out of pocket for their bus and train rides, they likely aren’t using the system regularly.
Ozzie Gonzalez, the former board president who left last month, commented on a Mercury Instagram post saying he uses his personal Hop card to ride TriMet. But he didn’t respond to multiple requests for further comment, including over Instagram, email, phone call, and text.
In response to the reporting, the TriMet board issued a statement about their transit use. Board members declined to comment on their individual experience outside of the statement.
“While Director Frisbee is considered the regular rider among the Board members, other members also use TriMet for family outings, to show off the Portland area to visitors, to get to and from Portland International Airport for trips outside the area, and to attend sporting and community events,” the statement reads. “More often than not…Board members pay for our transit rides with our own money or with passes through employers.”
The statement also says that “in addition to [the board members’] individual use of the transit system, it is also important that we, as Board members, have a broader sense of what all riders experience—no matter their race, gender, age, or economic situation—and what they, as well as employees and all in our community, need from TriMet and TriMet’s service.”
The ridership data was requested by local transit advocate Bradley Bondy. He says the new board statement is “disappointing,” and he still believes the TriMet board should consist of people who represent the average transit system user.
“[The statement] is a lot of words that fail to alleviate the underlying concern: Most board members are not themselves regular riders of the system,” Bondy wrote in a social media post. “I would have been satisfied with board members saying they ride regularly…they’ve chosen not to. I can only assume it’s because most are not frequent users of their system.”
