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February 6, 2019
Transit Riders
Organize
C ontinueD from f ront
ple with disabilities, people of color, low income people, a
lot of mom with kids.” Fleek said. “It’s really a microcosm
of some of the most diverse parts of our society.”
Many members of Bus Riders Unite, which includes
transit-dependent people and transit riders, have expressed
in public forums facilitated by OPAL an uneasiness with
the rise of police and uniformed security presence on pub-
lic transportation, particularly in the months since the May
2017 fatal stabbing of two men who came to the aid of two
young girls on a MAX train who were being harassed with
racist taunts, Fleek said.
Last year, a ruling in State v. Valderrama determined that
an incident involving Portland police officers doing a fare
check of a TriMet passenger and public official, Ana del
Rocio, was unconstitutional. That incident, which started as
a fare evasion encounter from a TriMet officer in March,
resulted in del Rocio’s temporary arrest. Fleek said that case
is a great example of why TriMet should seek to have a
more customer service, rather than public policing, focus.
“I ride the bus every single day. And I feel less safe now
then when I did on the transit system before, not because
I’m worried a white supremacist is going to stab me […]
I’m scared because I see police officers on the bus with
guns all the time. In no way does that calm me or make me
feel like I’m a safer person,” Fleek said.
Through those community forums, it was brought to
the attention of OPAL the existence of a former Rider
Advocate program for public transport in Portland from
1994-2009. The program was run by the Northeast Coali-
tion of Neighborhoods and funded through a contract with
TriMet. The year it was cut, the Rider Advocate program
was the recipient of the City of Portland’s Public Safety
Partner Award for creating what the City called “a safer
environment for all who ride TriMet by using conflict res-
olution skills and de-escalation techniques.”
Trimet’s Altstadt said the previous Rider Advocate pro-
photo C ourtesy opal e nvironmental J ustiCe o regon
Yellow-vested Tristan Isaac (left) and Shanice Clarke (right) are leaders of the transit equity advocacy group Bus
Riders Unite. The photo (above) shows them at a transit stop speaking to community members about how to
obtain reduced-price fares for low income people.
gram saw “limited success” and was cut due to budget
shortfalls, the qualifications of the advocates, and some of
the intervention methods they used.
Altstadt said that TriMet tries to makes sure their own
staff and contracted security personnel are trained in “con-
flict avoidance, that they pass all safe certification that is
needed ,and to make sure that there’s accountability for
any issues that would rise up.”
“We cannot speak to the training of third-party ‘rider
advocates’ or the accuracy of the information they pro-
vide,” Altstadt said, adding that any customers who have
questions about their services should contact Trimet cus-
tomer service at 503-238-7433.
OPAL was able to test the waters with their version
of the citizen-led advocate program thanks in part to a
$17,500 city grant they received last year, which helped
them pay for things like training and bus passes for the
volunteers. The revived, and unofficial, rider advocate ef-
fort is also endorsed by the bus driver’s union, Amalgam-
ated Transit Union Local 757.
It’s OPAL’s aspiration that TriMet officially take on the
program once again, and add an official Rider Advocate
program back into their budget.
There are about 25 of the volunteer advocates in the
meantime who have gone out at least once, and a core
group of about 10 who have gone out multiple times on
buses and MAX Lines, Fleek said. The program had been
building since the middle of last year, with volunteers first
coming onto the buses as rider advocates this past Octo-
ber, after receiving training, he added.
Another component of the OPAL’s pilot program is for
volunteers to carry TriMet tickets with them, to be used as
a resolution to conflicts.
“Most of the time on transit, the problems that arise
can easily be resolved through a kindly, de-escalated prac-
tice, and occasionally just assisting people with their fare.
Which is substantially less expensive than trying to put
that person through the court system or spending money
on police officers to be enforcing their fares,” Fleek said.
The volunteers aren’t vigilantes, Fleek emphasized.
“When somebody has a weapon and is threatening to use
it, those are situations where we think it’s appropriate for
the police to intervene, if there’s imminent danger.”
To honor an icon of transportation-related civil rights,
OPAL celebrated its second annual Transit Equity Day on
Rosa Parks’ birthday Monday, Feb. 4.
Fleek said it’s important to remember that Parks, whose
refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus
in 1955 during segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, and
helped spark the Civil Rights movement, was more than
just a tired seamstress who spontaneously decided to re-
fuse to move that day.
“Rosa Parks was an organizer and that’s something
that’s often lost when we talk about the struggle for civil
rights,” Fleek said. “Transportation has always been a re-
ally central consideration of the civil rights struggle. We
see ourselves as continuing that.”
Fleek said the kind of non-violent, direct action that
Rosa Parks engaged in has been reflected in the Bus Rid-
ers Unite’s efforts, particularly in TriMet’s recent adoption
of a low income fare and the extension of transfer times
by half an hour.
Eventually, Fleek said, OPAL would like to see the
complete elimination of fares and instead pay for public
transport entirely by utilizing state and federal taxes that
already partially fund public transportation in the state.