Tri-Met’s public transportation system is useful to a great many people. From their bus lines to MAX and now even WES, if you need to get somewhere fast and don’t or can’t drive, Tri-Met provides these services to you. And for the disabled folks like me who find the big bus environment a little too overwhelming; there is something for us too.
Tri-Met’s LIFT program was made for folks like me who still want to be a functioning, independent part of society but not have to deal with so many people and the bells and whistles that commonly occur on the other services. LIFT is a smaller fleet of lift equipped buses that can provide more “door to door” services. So far the LIFT program sounds nice from a distance, doesn’t it?
Although LIFT is run by Tri-Met, its dispatchers and drivers come from different companies. LIFT’S policy was that the drivers have a ½ hour window with which to retrieve clients who made appointments the night before. Also they made it so you could schedule rides for the week at a time.
I rode with LIFT for many of my college years, but towards the end of my time with them, things had started to get out of control. I was never quite sure if LIFT was overbooked all the time or if there was a lack of drivers. I was calling to check on my late rides almost every day, so much that some of the dispatchers knew when it was me calling again and again. I was always in contact with family and friends for fear I would be left on the side of the road sometimes for over an hour, which did happen on several occasions.
The most unpredictable part of a trip is when you wanted to be picked up from your destination and taken home. No telling when that bus would arrive, even if you had scheduled the pick up the day before. And there is no clever GPS system available to LIFT riders to tell where the bus is at this time.
The humorous part was when they were taking me from home to my destination and they took the “great circle route.” I remember going from my home, right past PCC (my destination) and all the way to Lake Grove to pick up another PCC student. The drivers try to follow pre-arranged pickup routes that don’t always make sense in the field.
If I had to give advice to someone learning to use the LIFT for the first time, these are things I would tell them. First, plan at least two hours ahead of, and behind your outing as there is just no guarantee that the bus (or you) will arrive on time. Trips on the LIFT system are sort of an “all day” affair. Second, have someone available to come assist you if the bus is late or not going to come at all. Third, be ready when the bus does show up, as they only have a few minutes to wait for you, whether or not they are early or late. And finally, learn who the Dispatchers and customer service people at LIFT are. They are generally very understanding of schedule and driver problems you have, and often they appreciate your communications with them about the service.
