Quotable: TriMet’s Germy Buses and Trains "Good for You"

July 15, 2011

SHARE

TriMet or what should be called THE PORTLAND LIGHT RAIL COMPANY (unless you come up with a better name for it), can’t afford to pay a full time cleaning crew. And here’s why: they’re overspending on light rail lines and retirement benefits. See the deets below.
A team of microbiologists checked things for cleanliness (see story below). Fabric covered bus seats were the worst. Eighty colonies of cooties were found there. As one bus driver told KGW they get covered in urine, feces and vomit and they can’t be cleaned well.
However there’s a BRIGHT SIDE to this! The LIGHT RAIL COMPANY says they’re actually doing you a FAVOR by not cleaning!

 Mary Fetsch told KPAM news yesterday (helpfully transcribed by Assistant producer Nick),

“[Riders] are actually feeling better when they ride transit more often because they get exposed to more, you know, bacteria and different things they said, ‘I have fewer colds when I ride transit because I’ve just been exposed to more and my body’s, you know, immune system is stronger.’ So you know, it’s really interesting, being part of, you know, out in the community, umm, you know, you’re gonna come across these kinds of, uhh, you know, more bacteria and different things, but also, it’s helpful to the body as well.” 

Someone really came up to her and said thanks for the cooties? Really?

classid=”clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000″>     param value=”true” name=”allowfullscreen“/>    param value=”always” name=”allowscriptaccess“/>    param value=”high” name=”quality”/>    param value=”true” name=”cachebusting“/>    param value=”#000000″ name=”bgcolor“/>    param name=”movie” value=”http://media.bimvid.com/designvideo/bimvid_player-3_2_7.swf” />    param value=”config=http%3A//www.nwcn.com/%3Fj%3D125592973%26ref%3Dhttp%3A//www.kgw.com/news/local/Study-TriMet-cloth-seats-house-80-bacteria-colonies-on-each-TriMet-seat-125592973.html” name=”flashvars“/>    src=”http://media.bimvid.com/designvideo/bimvid_player-3_2_7.swf” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”470″ height=”264″ allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” cachebusting=”true” flashvars=”config=http%3A//www.nwcn.com/%3Fj%3D125592973%26ref%3Dhttp%3A//www.kgw.com/news/local/Study-TriMet-cloth-seats-house-80-bacteria-colonies-on-each-TriMet-seat-125592973.html” bgcolor=”#000000″ quality=”true”>   

And why can’t TriMet, er, THE PORTLAND LIGHT RAIL COMPANY, pay a cleaning crew? Perhaps this will give you some idea:

param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/4Tk80tpHulI&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3″>param>param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”>param>param name=”allowScriptAccess” value=”always”>param>src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/4Tk80tpHulI&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” allowScriptAccess=”always” width=”340″ height=”190″>

Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com