This audit has taken too long in coming, but now we know for sure what we already knew for certain - that TriMet is going broke while the union is getting fat. The next audit should tackle the other obvious truth, that light rail and streetcars cost more per passenger mile to get people from point A to point B than buses, and they still don't get people where they need to go at the time they need to leave and arrive. Several cities have chosen to leave the TriMet fold. What would happen if every other city followed suit? Is loyalty a good reason to stick with public transit that is not very good for the public?
Auditors to TriMet: Fix labor relations
Portland Tribune, January 30, 2014, by Jim Redden
Health care costs are biggest issue as state digs into transit agency
by: TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO - A state audit confirms TriMet's employee benefit problems but says rail maintenance is lagging, too.
An unprecedented state performance audit of TriMet agrees with the regional transit agency about a major source of its financial problem: unfunded employee health care costs and pensions.
Among other major findings, the audit reported that on-time maintenance of the MAX light-rail system has slipped in recent years. Although other maintenance tasks have only fallen slightly, the audit found, “On-time completion of preventive maintenance for tracks and signals appears to have decreased significantly since (fiscal year) 2004. Over the last 10 years, the percentage of track maintenance completed on time has dropped from about 92 percent to about 53 percent, and on-time signals maintenance declined from about 100 percent to about 72 percent.”
The audit did not criticize TriMet on some of the issues that generated headlines in recent years, however. Among other things, it did not find that the agency’s financial problems were caused by its extensive involvement in regional MAX light-rail projects. Nor did the audit mention the salary increases quietly given to managers while the agency was cutting service. In fact, the audit found that the earnings of general and administrative employees have fallen 7 percent since 2006, while the earnings of maintenance workers have grown 7 percent and the earnings of transportation workers have increased 10 percent
Lake Oswego should exit TriMet
ReplyDeleteI agree. Tell me what the city should do instead.
ReplyDeleteLook at Dan Willams plan. Have City Manager tell us what Sandy did. Look at other similar sized cities.
DeleteThat should get us started.