EDITOR’S NOTE: This letter was shared with the Pioneer by Jim Heffernan, and Steve gave his okay to publish it. According to Jim, “The first bus ride I took was with Steve out to the Port. Afterwards, he and (hiw wife) Kathy and I had coffee at the Fern for about an hour. Nice people, that was back in March of 2023.” Looking at the problems for 7 years, Steve sees things I missed, particularly the human element that I was only vaguely aware of. Here it is.
From a Concerned Driver:
I’ve been a driver at the Wave for about 7 years. Being a Public Servant was something I had to learn to do. Part of my job was learning to deal with out-of-control passengers, those severely impaired or struggling with mental illness. I’ve had to call 911 numerous times to have passengers removed from my bus for others’ safety.
There’s another side of the job I find to be the most rewarding and it’s serving the passengers. Our previous General Manager Doug told me “If you don’t care about people, you can’t do this job”. Maybe this is just the times we live in, but I have seen this attitude change unfortunately in the last couple of years.
How many Managers and Board Members know who Janet is, Willet Dave, Dale from Netarts, or Pleasant Valley Kathy? I could go on and on. You might not know them, but the drivers do. The drivers might know more about them than their families do.
I really think we’re missing who’s important here. I hear the need to stand up for our drivers. Unfortunately, the Drivers have had to learn to stand up for themselves. They organized and the Union now has a voice and teeth. OHSA was called in and changes were made, and drivers’ safety concerns are being dealt with. The threat of BOLI coming in has got their payroll issues beginning to be resolved. Don’t worry about the drivers, they’re OK. But what about our passengers?
I see bad decisions being made. We need to replace the Town Loop buses that are constantly breaking down, instead of two new Freightliners that are just sitting there with no one who can drive them.
What really is a concern to me is how easily Management shuts down services. They shut down the 60X two weeks before Christmas with only a 3-day notice. They could have kept it at least until after the holidays to give passengers a chance to make other arrangements. Recently other routes were canceled with not even an attempt to call in a replacement driver or swap routes around. Merle and Arlene are passengers in their 90’s. What if they come out of Freddy’s with bags of groceries and there is no bus to take them home? People who ride in to work in the AM have no bus to go home in the PM? What about the seniors who get off the train or Max in Portland and are waiting for the bus to come to Tillamook? No manager even called Union Station to tell them the bus was canceled. Passengers have slept overnight on the benches at the transit center after cancelations due to not having anywhere to go until the next days bus.
“Sure, Sure, everyone at TCTD cares about our passengers. I can even make you a pie chart and PowerPoint presentation to prove it. Oh, look how much we care. It must all be the driver’s fault.”
We should be ashamed, I am.
Steve Schwabe
Tillamook, OR