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TriMet statement regarding MAX incident with boy

Posted on November 20, 2009 at 2:30 PM

Updated Monday, Nov 23 at 4:48 PM

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From TriMet spokeswoman Becki Witt:

The event with the man, Aaron Bailey, and his young child (3 years old) happened Monday, November 16, at 8:13 a.m. at SE Main St station, on the northbound platform.

As the boy was getting off the train, he had pushed the accessible ramp button on the door, causing the door to open, then close again to deploy the ramp. The door should have reopened. It did not reopen and the boy and father were separated, the boy on the platform and the father inside the train.

The door and ramp function is still under investigation, but the ramp deployment process may have been overridden, causing the ramp deployment to be interrupted.

A woman on the platform is standing by the boy. She pressed the button for the door but the door didn’t open. The dad was inside, pushing the door open button as well. Other doors on the train opened and closed as normal, finally all closing and the train left the station. The child was on the platform, the woman (stranger) staying with him. She remained with the child until dad returned about seven minutes later on a southbound train from Gateway.

Mr. Bailey reports that he pushed the intercom button inside the train to contact the operator, with no response. It appears there was a malfunction with the audio component of the intercom. That issue has been addressed.

While this kind of situation is rare, there are clear protocols for when a family is separated from each other on our system. The operator is to call our control center to report what happened. A supervisor is dispatched to the child’s location and stays with the child until he/she can be reunited. The control center also informs the next train or bus coming to the child’s location to hold there until a supervisor or the guardian arrives. In this situation, once Mr. Bailey talked with the operator, rail control was called and a supervisor came to the SE Main St station. Mr. Bailey and his son had already left.

We’ve been in contact to Mr. Bailey to apologize for this unfortunate situation and gave annual passes to he and his wife for their inconvenience.

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margu43542 said on November 20, 2009 at 3:07 PM

It's an unfortunate incident, but in the world, there are accidents. You cannot always fix "blame" on someone for accidents. This is not a perfect world, people should understand that. The immediate knee jerk reaction is to "blame" someone for everything bad that happens to ones self. It's called "litigious society", look outside yourself and fix blame on others for everything that happens. It's ignorant, it's the product of a society that is obsessed with money and political correctness.

carlitosway said on November 20, 2009 at 3:17 PM

Sure glad our red haired hero was there to take care of the child. I still haven't heard an answer as to why nobody answered the emergency call. These trains are run by humans. All in all, it turned out well.

alchemistmuffin said on November 20, 2009 at 3:32 PM

Unfortunatly, it's another problem regarding the new Type 4 MAX trains, the door malfunction. It happened on the first day when Type 4 went on service: Door malfunctioned, and it did not close, or it closed without warning. From the security camera, it looked like the train was type 4, and I was afarid, this kind of stuff was waiting to happen.

jalek said on November 20, 2009 at 7:15 PM

Maybe if they get rid of the automaton "driver" that, from this and other stories, seem not to do much that couldn't be done remotely, they'll save enough to maintain the trains better.

swtp2nia said on November 21, 2009 at 5:06 PM

The same issue happened to me and my son and daughter, when MAX was new. We didn't push any buttons. We were getting off the train, my eight year old girl stepped off onto the platform, and i was turning the stroller around with my infant son to get off. But the doors closed within 4 or 5 seconds. In a panic I pressed my face and hands against the glass and motioned and shouted the words STAY THERE, I'LL BE RIGHT BACK.. We pressed the intercom button.. it worked but it didn't matter. The driver coldless and heartless said 'you'll just have to get on a train going east at the next stop'. KATU reporter and photographer came out to record my story. It sounds like this happens more than I'd like to know. I haven't ridden the train much since the incident and surely not going forward. I have my video tape from KATU and should anything TRAGIC happen to another child, I will be standing in court with them filing complaints of a sadly, complacent attitude of TriMet

lydiahawk said on November 24, 2009 at 4:59 PM

I agree that these things happen and that MAX drivers often seem loathe to interact at all with riders. Maybe there are reasons....I don't know. I also agree that things turned out OK, the family was reunited and TriMet provided them with valuable recompense. Now let's move on.