Think the slow drive home in your car was rough Tuesday night? Well, at least you weren't in the crowd of TriMet bus riders who apparently waited nearly two hours for a Tigard-bound 78 or 76 bus to arrive at the Beaverton Transit Center.
Agnes Galbraith of Tigard said the delay stretched her normal hour-long commute by MAX and bus from her accounting job in downtown Portland to nearly three hours. "I didn't get home until 7:30," Galbraith, who described herself as "60-something," said.
She said the platform was packed full of people, many of whom got so cold and tired that they wound up calling cabs "they couldn't really afford" to get home. She also got frustrated with several TriMet workers she said were sitting inside a station office. "I don't understand why they didn't come outside to ask us what bus we were waiting for or to tell us what was happening," Galbraith said.
TriMet has warned that bus routes are running 10 to 30 minutes late due to the weather this week. But nearly two hours?
Mary Fetsch, a TriMet spokeswoman, said she is looking into the reported delay but had no answers this morning.
At the same time, it shouldn't go without mentioning that based on my experiences and e-mails from riders TriMet has really come through on most routes this week. MAX lines have run with few glitches and bus drivers have done an incredible job keeping their routes moving. Some have even slept with their buses at night.
Still, Galbraith thinks things could run smoother. "Denver and Salt Lake City get big snow storms and the buses there don't leave people waiting like that," she said.
-- Joseph Rose; josephrose@news.oregonian.com