Portland’s cautious approach to AVs should prevent what just happened in Tempe

Scary news out of Tempe.

Uber has been testing its new self-driving cars on human subjects since last year and now it appears one of them has killed a person who was walking across a street. The collision happened in Tempe, Arizona late last night. According to a local news report, “Tempe Police says the vehicle was in autonomous mode at the time of the crash and a vehicle operator was also behind the wheel.”

This is the second self-driving Uber (that we know about) that has been involved in a collision. Last month a local news station in Pittsburgh reported that one of them slammed into another car while in self-driving mode.

After last night’s death, Uber has announced it will immediately end its testing in Tempe and Pittsburgh, as well as San Francisco and Toronto.

Thankfully in Portland our local leaders and transportation officials have not allowed a private company to test their deadly product on humans.

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Job: Customer Service Representative – Stages Indoor Cycling

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title

Customer Service Representative

Company / Organization

Stages Indoor Cycling

Job Description

Stages Cycling came to market in 2012 to completely blow the category of power measurement apart. We seek to provide all our customers from our most elite professionally sponsored partners, to new cyclists just getting started with outstanding levels of customer service and the highest quality data for training. Stages Indoor Cycling provides cyclists and fitness enthusiasts a space to train indoors with the same data as training outdoors in an inspiring environment.

We are looking for someone to join our team in serving our customers in the following role:

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Provide pre- and post- sales technical support for Stages Indoor Cycling (SIC) products to domestic consumer and International distributor accounts.

Customer Technical Support

• Provide sales and technical support to our domestic consumer and dealer accounts
• Support pre-sale and post-sale technical support on our indoor cycles, power meters, StagesFlight, and any other SIC products
• Communicate with customers via inbound and outbound phone calls*
• Communicate concerns or issue trends to SIC Customer Service Manager*
• Respond to customer service “tickets” submitted via email, the website, and occasionally social media*
• Provide exceptional customer experience in all communications with customers
• Stay up to date on internal communication regarding our product updates, relevant competitor products, industry developments, internal processes, customer facing processes, warranty and other technical support processes, trouble-shooting techniques, and other relevant information. This pertains to the Stages Indoor Cycling bike, power meter, StagesFlight system, and any other Stages Indoor Cycling products.
• Participate in Customer Service team meetings and trainings

Order Entry

• Respond to warranty needs as directed by SIC Customer Service Manager
• Issue parts orders for warranty replacements
• Place orders for parts as directed by SIC Customer Service Manager
• Troubleshooting for international distributors

Field Technician Support

• Provide technical support to field technicians with any questions related to installation, maintenance, trouble-shooting and any other questions related to the Stages Indoor Cycling bike, power meter, StagesFlight system, and any other future Stages Indoor Cycling products.
• Create work orders and purchase orders for third party field service technicians and work with accounting to ensure payments are completed in a timely manner
• Maintain files with contracts and insurance documents for third party service provider contracts
• Maintain google document with information on current third party service providers and the regions they cover
• Place orders for parts as requested by the Service Technicians and approved by the Service Director.
• Other tasks and projects as assigned
*Designates non-essential job responsibilities

QUALIFICATIONS AND EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

• This is a full time position.
• High level of organizational skills.*
• High level of flexibility and creative problem solving.*
• Ability to work independently and self-manage duties and tasks.*
• Ability to use customer management and order processing systems, with training.*
• High level communication and interpersonal skills, including high-volume telephone and written correspondence.*
• Intermediate communication skills: Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively with customers or employees of Foundation Fitness/Stages Cycling.*
• Intermediate math skills: Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts and percentages. Ability to apply concepts of basic math.
• High reasoning skills: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.*

PREFERRED SKILLS EXPERIENCE WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE COMMUNICATING VIA PHONE AND EMAIL, EXPERIENCE WITH WORD, SPREADSHEET, AND INVENTORY SOFTWARE.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Ability to sit and type at a computer for the duration of the day.
• This position is primarily an in office position.
• Quiet office environment with noise from call center and occasional customer visits.
• Able to lift 50lbs.
• Able to squat, bend, carry equipment, move heavy equipment with moving devices; able to use fingers, hands, and arms to build equipment; able to use tools to build equipment.

We encourage anyone that is interested to apply! We will make a selection based solely on job qualifications and will make reasonable accommodations if needed.

This position will come with a benefit package including Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance, Long Term Disability Insurance, access to our Retirement Savings matching program, paid time off and holidays. Additionally this position gets to work with a team of great people that like to ride bikes.

This role may service either our cycling products or our indoor commercial fitness bikes featuring our power meter for rides inside. More information and a full job description to be provided upon request.

How to Apply

To apply, please e-mail jobs@stagescycling.com with your resume and cover letter.

It’s official: No booze on Sauvie Island beaches this summer

The commissioners at today’s meeting.

A very popular riding area north of Portland will be a bit safer this summer.

Today at their meeting in Salem, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Commission voted unanimously to ban alcohol use in the Sauvie Island Wildlife Area from May 1st to September 30th.

The ban comes after a recommendation by ODFW to stem the increase in drunk driving and other alcohol-related arrests and disturbances on Sauvie Island beaches within the boundaries of the wildlife area.

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Dispatch from a secret meeting for the Central City in Motion project

The planning is well underway — for some people.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)
“Private Meeting.” And no, I wasn’t formally invited.

A private, invite-only meeting of Central Eastside power-brokers held on Wednesday at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry shows just how seriously the City of Portland is taking an effort to establish a network of low-stress, “family-friendly” cycling routes throughout the Central City.

It also shows how much weight some business owners have in a planning process that’s over five years old and has yet to become open to the general public.

Before I bring you up to speed on the Central City in Motion project (formerly known as the Central City Multimodal Project), a bit of background is in order…

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Planning for new ‘earthquake ready’ Burnside Bridge reaches milestone

Now that we’ve got your attention…
(Graphic: Multnomah County)

“I’d like to see a bridge for our future… but it will take visionary leadership from county, and I haven’t seen that yet.”
— Mark Ginsberg, advisory committee member representing The Street Trust

Multnomah County has reached a milestone in their project to make the Burnside Bridge “earthquake ready”. They’ve whittled down a list of 100 options to just two: an “enhanced seismic retrofit” or a full replacement.

The Burnside is a designated “lifeline response route” which means it has special priority when it comes to disaster and long-range resiliency planning. Owned and operated by Multnomah County, the bridge is nearly 100 years old and it shows many signs of age. A separate maintenance project is going on now.

We’ve been watching the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project from afar until this point. With the options narrowed down, the County will now delve more deeply into each one of them in order to determine the future of the bridge.

Here’s where the process stands today…

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PBOT’s new ‘Enhanced Transit Corridors’ plan and what it means for our streets

This could be a lot more common in the future.
(Photo: PBOT)
ETC plan cover.

Portland is changing and so are our streets. Whether those changes help or harm our city is entirely up to us.

One of the biggest changes is an increase in the amount of people who drive. Congestion is everywhere and one of the victims are bus users. During peak hours especially, they get stopped behind single-occupancy vehicles. It’s maddening when public transit is delayed by such an inefficient and costly mode of transportation.

One way the Portland Bureau of Transportation has decided to deal with this problem is to focus on getting cars out of the way of buses. For the past year or so they’ve worked on the Enhanced Transit Corridors plan, which is now in draft form and open for public comment (until March 26th, sorry for late notice). The plan aims to institutionalize the concept of “enhanced transit” within the City of Portland, and to identify projects that will improve transit capacity, reliability and travel time.

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Weekend Event Guide: Rice Cooker and G-Road rides, two bike swaps and more

They’re visiting from Japan; the least you can do is join them for fresh-cooked rice balls and sake!
(Photo: Rice Cookers Tsukuba on FB)
The Weekend Event Guide is sponsored by Abus Bike Locks. Thanks Abus!

I love this time of year. There’s a feeling that the worst of winter is behind us and everyone — and everything — is coming out of its shell.

It’s a great time of year to re-connect with riding buddies and make sure your bike is running well. On that note, this weekend our calendar is full of great social rides and opportunities to sort out your kit for the coming season.

Have fun out there! And remember to share photos and recaps by tagging @BikePortland on social media.

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City Auditor wants to know more about how PBOT projects impact neighborhoods

Cover of the report.

Projects completed by Portland’s transportation bureau are making streets safer, but the agency should do more to assess how surrounding neighborhoods are impacted by changes to traffic patterns.

That’s the key takeaway from a report released today by the Portland City Auditor.

The audit looked at 14 recently completed Portland Bureau of Transportation projects and selected two for closer analysis. They looked at safety projects on East Burnside (SE 15th to Laurelhurst Place) and on SE Division (from 60th to 80th). In both projects PBOT applied standard safety upgrades like lane reconfigurations, improved crossings and lower speed limits.

In both projects the City Auditor found that PBOT met their stated goals of safety and maintaining access to businesses.

However, the report says PBOT needs to take a closer look at what happens to adjacent streets and business patterns after projects are completed.

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While we wait for safety fixes, another person has died trying to cross Southeast Division

SE Division just west of 115th. Note the store on the right, the bus stop on the left.
KATU news screengrab.

Outer Division. Again.

Around 8:30 pm on Sunday night 74-year-old Portland resident Fuk Chan tried to walk across Southeast Division Street near 115th. He was struck and severely injured by a man driving a Nissan Quest minivan. Mr. Chan died in the hospital yesterday.

Based on the Police narrative released so far and from a photograph in a KATU story, it appears the collision happened near a TriMet bust stop on the north side of the street, just west of 115th. There’s a small market on the south side of the street.

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Cleveland High principal worried about traffic violence on National Walkout Day

Sign from a protest outside Cleveland High in May 2015.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Today across America school students are walking out of class to bring attention to gun violence, the need for comprehensive reform of gun laws, and to say “Never again!” when it comes to school shootings.

Most Portland Public Schools administrators support the walkout. As a parent of kids in three PPS schools, we’ve gotten detailed emails and notices from each one in preparation of today’s actions.

Last night I heard from a parent of a student at Cleveland High School that the email sent by Principal Ayesha Freeman included a strong warning about a major safety concern that has nothing to do with gun violence. Freeman shared four specific items in her email aimed at getting parents and students ready. One of them was about SE Powell Boulevard — the state-controlled arterial road that runs outside the school on its southern side.

Here’s what Freeman wrote in her email:

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