Buses and bicycles are both forms of “alternative” transportation, but that’s about the extent of what we have in common. There is an uneasy truce between us on the streets and our tenuous relationship tends to ebb and flow between cooperation and complaints.
The size difference of our vehicles combined with the need for us to share the same space on the road, is a recipe for frustration and stress on both sides.
Back in February, I received a comment from someone who claimed to be a TriMet bus operator. The first line read, “Why do I hate bikes, by a TriMet driver.”
I was intrigued, so I sent off an email, and a few weeks later we met for coffee. It was an enlightening experience. In order to protect his job, the driver asked to remain anonymous. For the purposes of this story, I will refer to him/her as Paul (not his/her real name).
I could tell from the outset that Paul was concerned about the issue, both as a bus driver and an occasional cyclist. He sincerely wants to improve safety and he knows first-hand many parts of the equation I never even considered; like the pressure TriMet feels from the powerful Transit Union, the stress cyclists cause drivers, and the high standards of TriMet’s accident investigation policies.
“There’s one thing that keeps me on the road, it’s my commercial driver’s license. That license is my ticket to live. If I’m in an accident, even if it’s not my fault, I could lose that license.”
“Preventable Accidents” and the Bullpen
According to an informal poll among his co-workers in the “bullpen” (the driver lounge at the station), Paul said that 8 out of 10 of them ranked cyclists as their main cause of stress.
Paul insists that it’s not that drivers dislike bicyclists, but that it stems primarily from a strict TriMet policy that scrutinizes each and every accident and doles out career-threatening PAs, or Preventable Accidents.
Pauls says that for every accident that happens in or around a TriMet bus, TriMet convenes a panel of drivers and managers to assess the incident. They analyze all the details and if they conclude it was “preventable” in any way, the driver is given a PA.
He also said some drivers have been fired for getting just one PA, even with no tickets on their record.
“There’s one thing that keeps me on the road, it’s my commercial driver’s license. That license is my ticket to live. If I’m in an accident, even if it’s not my fault, I could lose that license. TriMet’s additional standard makes it very stressful. No one wants a PA. These PA standards are too strict. You can be 100% legal, doing everything humanly possible to avoid accidents, and still get fired if they find one detail they deem ‘preventable.’ If there was only the legal minimum, TriMet would run out of buses.”
According to Paul, this PA system sets a much higher — and sometimes unreachable — standard for culpability in an accident.
Paul gave me an example of a situation that might be given a PA:
“If a driver waves a pedestrians or bicyclist through an intersection, or makes some sort of hand or facial gesture, and the person ends up for whatever reason, getting hit in traffic, the driver can be given a PA for that. That’s why we sometimes ignore people.”
He said sometimes he feels terrible for not acknowledging someone in the street,
“You might think we’re being rude…but it’s tough, we know we might be responsible for whatever happens after we make a gesture. We bear all the responsibility!”
With all this stress about avoiding accidents, Paul reminded me that bus drivers have high rates of death and heart disease,
“It’s a real stress monkey job that’s for sure. Personally though, I’m not so much of a stresser, I’m a laugher.”
Dealing with complaints
Paul spoke highly of TriMet’s complaint handling system and warned that complaints can be a tricky issue,
“Judging how we’re doing just from complaints is tough. People tend to only speak up when they’re mad and it’s hard to see through complaints to find real trends.”
According to Paul, TriMet has a call center staffed with 4-5 people and that they are good at getting complaints to the right person. He also emphasized the importance of being able to place blame for a complaint on a specific employee or issue,
“Complaints must be trackable and the culprits must be known. Call center staffers will not make any judgement calls or use discretion…they need hard evidence.”
One reason for this, Paul says, is fear of the Union.
The influence of the Union
I was not previously aware of how the Union influences TriMet policies. We discussed how this figures into complaint handling and how it might be a barrier toward more constructive, open, and effective communication between TriMet and the community.
Paul was blunt about the Union’s impact,
“TriMet is hamstrung by certain rules the Union puts on them. They have to be super careful with their communications with the public, especially with the media, because of what the Union will do if they say or do the wrong thing. The presence of the Union also forces TriMet to be very careful how they deal with driver complaints.”
Dangerous “chokepoints”
Paul described what he calls, “chokepoints” as highly trafficked streets where he feels bicycles should not even be allowed to ride,
“Some of these roads, like going up Hawthorne at rush hour, or Alberta or 23rd, are much too narrow. If it were up to me, bicycles would not be allowed on them at all…especially during rainy weather. I mean, we’ve got a rainy street, lots of traffic, our wipers are going full speed…our stress goes way up around these chokepoints.”
But he was quick to add that a ban of bikes on these roads should not even be considered until more investment is made in alternate routes. This gave me a chance to tell him about the effort to create more bicycle boulevard streets in proximity to major arterials.
Dealing with increase in cyclists
Paul was keenly aware that there are more bicycles than ever on Portland roads. His solution to conflicts would be to invest more money into bicycle-only infrastructure. He said Portland needs to plan for this “increased density” of cyclists.
“You know, when they plan housing they plan the water pipes and power lines for future potential…we should do the same for bicycles…I’ve been to Holland and Germany and I’ve seen how they handle it…we can’t necessarily make Portland just like them, but in certain parts of the city we can try.”
Paul’s concern comes not just from his stress of getting into an accident with a bicycle, but because he feels bicycles are relatively more unpredictable than cars. He gave me the following example,
“On a usual day I might take 3-4 evasive actions involving cars, and I pass by thousands of them. But with bikes, I’ll make the same amount of evasive maneuvers but I only see a few dozen of them.”
Safe passing distance
On this note, I asked Paul what he thought about the pending safe passing distance legislation. He told me about a video he has seen from TriMet that shows bicycles being pushed over by the wind vortices of passing buses,
“I’m aware that at any speed above 15-20 mph I’m pushing air so I give as wide a berth as possible. On many streets in this city, there’s simply not four feet of space to pass with. In some situations, I’ll slow way down and not pass until the road widens up.”
I realize not all drivers share Paul’s perspectives. Like cyclists, their conduct varies widely from on to another. What I appreciate about Paul is his willingness to speak candidly about these issues. He is a team player and wants to work with cyclists to improve relations and safety on the roads.
Paul said he’d like to be able to show more bicyclists his point of view. He is concerned that cyclists and bus drivers make “dangerous assumptions” about what it’s like to be in the other’s shoes. To bridge that gap, we talked about me joining him for a ride-along.
Paul also said he wants to do an event where he can demonstrate how many bicycles he can fit in his blind spots at any given time (around 30 he claims).
As I packed up from our chat, he said,
“Portland has a really great future, and I think you and I sitting here at this table is somehow a small part of that.”
I agree Paul, and I look forward to working with TriMet in the future.