Most people could think of something more enjoyable to do on a hot Sunday than test MAX ticket machines to see if they’re working.

Not Bob Richardson.

“Sure, I like walks on the beach and camping and all that stuff,” he tells me, as we’re enjoying lunch in the blessed air conditioning of the Lloyd Center Quiznos. “But this satisfies my activist bug. When I see something I think is wrong, I have to go out and find proof one way or the other.”

Which is why on Sunday, June 29, I agreed to accompany Richardson—web developer by day and a moderator on transportation website Portlandtransport.com by night—on a blitz of the MAX’s yellow and blue lines. Our route extended from the Expo Center in North Portland, and from the Gateway Transit Center on NE 82nd, all the way to the Rose Quarter stops next to the Steel Bridge.

Earlier that week, I’d blogged a photograph of nine TriMet fare inspectors preventing anyone without a ticket from boarding at the Lloyd Center MAX stop. This was the same stop where none of the three ticket machines were taking credit or debit cards, two were only taking cash, and one would only accept exact change. The shot was sent in via cell phone by a furious reader named Courtney, who texted: “These guys are making sure everyone misses their ride, trying to prevent us teenagers, uh, I’m sorry, I’m 30, from, er… going on a legitimate trip to the airport. What a riot.”

I understood the reader’s frustration. Yet the MAX, Richardson thinks, often serves (on blogs and in the wider media) as a kind of Rorschach blot for Portlanders’ views about a host of other issues facing the city and country as a whole—from the president’s views on global warming, to racial inequality and poverty.

Plus, “the MAX has always represented change,” Richardson adds. “And that’s always looked on negatively by some.”

Richardson feels that going out and finding out what’s really happening is the best activism. So, we hopped in Richardson’s Prius and did just that. We would have missed the train at North Portland Boulevard/Rosa Parks Way—we crossed the street from one platform to the other, trying to pay for our ticket at a second machine that was only taking bills, as the MAX rode past. We also would have had to jaywalk and run to make a train at the N Lombard stop, in a similar scenario.

Some validators were stamping the wrong time, including the two machines at Killingsworth—which would mean a passenger with pre-paid tickets would have wasted two and still been unable to board legally. And at Albina/Mississippi, one machine was out of service, and the other required exact change, but was not taking coins. So we were forced to overpay with bills in order to get on the train. At Hollywood, two machines wouldn’t take a debit card. Three machines died before our very eyes when we tried to buy tickets.

In total, we went to 18 stations, and five presented serious impediments to boarding the MAX legally and on time for the average passenger. It’s TriMet’s policy that anyone unable to purchase a valid fare should board the train and get off at the next station to try again.

“Not everyone carries all three methods of payment on their person at all times,” says Richardson. “And to be sure of boarding I would advise people to do so. But they shouldn’t have to, and that’s the problem here.”

Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.

7 replies on “In the Shadows”

  1. Matt,
    I used to take pictures of the Oldtown Chinatown machines being out of order when I could not pay my fare at night, till I ran out of room on my camera phone and had to start deleting them…
    the serious flaw to me was that most of the time, it was not just that I could not buy a ticket with my credit card… it was that with all FOUR machines at Old Town, I could not buy a ticket at all… no credit card no bills, not exact fare…
    I actually got “popped” for not having a ticket one night on my ride home. I told the inspector that I could not buy the ticket because the machines were broke. the conversation ran like this… “did you call trimet and tell them the machines were broke?” “no, they have been broke awhile” “well, you should have called trimet so that they would know” at which point I exposed the inspector to my amatuer photography… for about ten minutes… maybe Portland’s version of showing someone your vacation slides?
    thanks
    Patrick

  2. In the last 60 days, I’ve taken three flights out of Portland’s airport. Each of the three times I returned to Portland, the Max vending machines were out of service at the station. Each time I called and reported it to the Max customer service line leaving a voice mail message. Each time, I had to ride Max illegally to get home. I will say that Max called me back the next day to discuss the machines being out of service. I asked each time what would’ve happened had a fare checker been on-board. I was told that I would have been cited. Something really has to be done about these broken machines.

  5. What’s disgraceful is charging fares at all. Put a tax on luxury items like giant SUV’s and Hummers to pay for it. Here’s a thought, make the rich elitist assholes in the Pearl pay property taxes on their condos and funnel that money into free public transportation.

  6. “Here’s a thought, make the rich elitist assholes in the Pearl pay property taxes on their condos and funnel that money into free public transportation.”

    Thanks dude. I guess paying 93% of the collected income tax in the country isn’t enough for you eh? Thankless ingrate.

    But I digress, you wanna make it free fine. Us rich assholes (about 35-40% are choice, which probably fit your discription of rich) of TriMet riders will stop taking the new crime ridden mess that would result.

    If you don’t believe it look at the studies and look at the history of Chicago, New York, Philly, and dozens of other cities. Ask David Gunn or any transit chief that has had to deal with such a thing. That piddly 20% that is covered by the fare decreases crime, assault, and other such things in a drastic way. Creating a transit system that can more easily be used by the vast majority (that being at least 90%+ of society) of people without feeling threatened, endangered, or overtly annoyed or scared.

    But anyway, thanks for putting me in the asshole category just because I live in the Pearl.

    …I’m moving to the SE soon too, so I guess that area will be full of rich assholes next eh?

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