Comments | trimet: how to deal with harassment?

istar in trimet

how to deal with harassment?

May 22, 2011 12:19

I had a jarring incident on the yellow line last night. I was approaching my stop, so I went to stand by my bike on the hook, and a man started yelling at me to get my hands off "his" bike. He repeated this about 10 times in the eternity it took for the train to stop. I just ignored him until the doors opened, and I loudly said "NO, this is MY ( Read more... )

Comments 4

(The comment has been removed)

istar May 22 2011, 20:27:49 UTC

Yeah, someone who would act that way on a MAX approaching one of the most heavily-policed stations obviously isn't in their right mind. I'd hate to bother the operator over random insanity, they have enough to deal with already.

lady_angelina May 22 2011, 21:11:51 UTC

It doesn't help when there's no way to discreetly alert the drivers even on the bus, let alone MAX. I've had to hold back on reporting so many incidents just because there was no way I could do it without risking letting the perpetrator of the incident know. If you're on the bus, you pretty much have to walk up to the driver, and anyone who's paying attention will know what you're talking to the driver about. And on the MAX, you not only can be seen pressing the button, but you get to have your report BROADCAST through both cars.

They need to set up a system where there's a much safer way to report this stuff. Not sure how, but one thing that comes to mind is to allow reports via text message. It obviously wouldn't be available to everyone, but it's a start.

lady_angelina May 22 2011, 21:15:12 UTC

I'm sorry to say that this kind of behavior happens ALL the time on TriMet, and it has indeed gotten worse over time. It also seems to depend on which part of town you're in or which route (and sometimes which time of the day). For instance, I was on the #6 a few years ago, and it was after 7 PM and already dark and getting cold out, so I closed the window that someone had left open. The guy sitting a couple of seats away from me promptly came up and JERKED the window back open so that it broke and could never be shut again. That really scared the hell out of me, so I immediately went all the way up to the front of the bus and took a seat there. I wanted to tell the driver, but was afraid that the guy would see me ratting on him; if he was belligerent and strong enough to break a window, I didn't want to think of what he could do to me ( ... )

:( istar May 23 2011, 15:15:00 UTC

I'm so sorry to hear of the trouble you've seen... my experience is nothing in comparison. Like leorising1959 said, don't hesitate to report incidents (once you're in a place where you feel safe). Even if there's nothing anyone can immediately do, Trimet can use report metrics to determine where to beef up police presence along transit routes.