BikePortland Podcast Pedaltown Media Inc

Get a front seat to all the wild drama at the TriMet Board Meeting on May 24th where they voted to increase transit fares for the first time in 11 years. Activists stormed into the meeting and made the board so uncomfortable they retreated to a private meeting room. In this episode, host Jonathan Maus takes us through the meeting and the protest rally organized by OPAL Environment Justice Oregon.
You've read the headlines, now go into the meeting with exclusive audio footage!
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Links:
BikePortland recap and photo gallery from the meetingOPAL Op-ed against the fare increaseTriMet statement on the fare increase

Your host Jonathan Maus (Editor & Publisher, BikePortland) went to the State Capitol in Salem on April 13th to cover the Transportation Future Day of Action. The event was a lobbying day organized by Just Crossing Alliance (a coalition of environmental and transportation nonprofits) as part of their "Right Size, Right Now" campaign that seeks to reduce the cost and footprint of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program project.
In this episode, you'll hear a range of interviews including:
Adah Crandall, Sunrise PDXZachary Lauritzen, Oregon WalksAaron Brown, Office of Rep. Khanh PhamBrett Morgan, 1000 Friends of OregonKhanh Pham, Oregon House RepMark Gamba, Oregon House RepAnd several others!
Links:
Day of Action event pageBikePortland Coverage and photo gallery from the day

Take a journey into the heart of Portland's amazing cycling community in this episode where host Jonathan Maus and BikePortland reporter Taylor Griggs wade into the thick crowds at Ladds 500 to chat with the assembled characters.
Links:
BikePortland coverage of Ladds 500Ladds 500 page on the Shift website

In this episode, host Jonathan Maus welcomes members of Timberwolves Cycle Recovery into he Shed. Also known as the Sith Lord Vader Squadron Timberwolves, they're a grassroots group of Portlanders who are taking the law into their own hands to recover stolen bicycles. They are led by Royal Johnson, who is the main voice you'll hear in the episode. Royal and Jonathan were joined by Laura Dallago, the group's treasurer, and Rich Baker, who coordinates their events and rides.
Royal started the group in Austin, Texas in 2011 and he maintains a chapter of the group there, as well as one in Los Angeles, Colorado, and Houston. Their MO is to enlist people to help them spot stolen bikes, research online to find out of it the bike is indeed stolen, and then if it is, they hit the streets and try to recover it.
On March 18th, Royal went on a recovery mission in the South Waterfront district that was first reported as a robbery by gunpoint. Alarmed by the initial reports, we did a story immediately based on details from an OHSU campus alert and a police report that said someone flashed a gun and robbed someone of a blue electric bike near the intersection of SW Sheridan and Moody. It was only after we published that we figured out Royal was involved and that perhaps the person who reported the gun wasn't telling the truth. It all turned into a mess, so Royal and I agreed he should come over to the shed so we could hash everything out.
Links:
What really happened with that bike theft confrontation in South Waterfront? - (BikePortland, 3/22/23)Updated: Stolen bike recovery leads to confrontation in South Waterfront (BikePortland, 3/18/23)‘Timberwolves’ look to hunt down and recover stolen bikes (BikePortland, 10/24/22)SLVS Timberwolves on Instagram

In this episode you'll get to know TriMet bus operator Dan Christensen. Known as "bus driver dan" to his many Twitter followers, Dan is more than just bus driver — he's a storyteller, a community builder and a big part of what makes Portland so special. And from his seat behind the windshield, watching what he calls "Portland on the big screen" — he's seen a lot since he started driving for TriMet 16 years ago.
Host Jonathan Maus wanted to talk with Dan not just because of what he's seen on his bus over the years, but because of how he sees it. In this interview Dan shares stories from his bus and why he thinks transit is so much more than just a way to get from point a to point b. He and Jonathan also talk about whether TriMet's bad reputation has gotten to him, how he drives around bike riders, why he still remembers the name of his first school bus driver, why he only counts some of the "Thank yous" he gets from riders, and much more.
If you love transit... Actually, if you love portland, you'll really enjoy this episode.
Links:
Dan Christensen on TwitterDan Christensen Archives on BikePortland (he's managed to get on our Front Page several times over the years!)
This podcast is a production of Pedaltown Media Incorporated. Thanks to all the subscribers and advertisers who support our work. If you aren't one of them yet, please become one today. And if you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave us a review, and tell a friend about it.

In this episode, host Jonathan Maus shares clips from a recent meeting of the Metro Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT). He highlights an exchange between county commissioners that was spurred by the "reading the of the names" - an increasingly common practice at meetings where someone reads names of people killed in traffic crashes at the outset of a meeting in order to add urgency to road safety efforts.
Jonathan shares why he thinks this practice is so important — and how it can gain even more value when it spurs an exchange like the one between two commissioners and a Metro staff person in this episode.
Links:
Nafisa Fai - Washington County Commission websitePaul Savas - Clackamas County Commission websiteJuan Carlos Gonzalez - Metro Council websiteMetro JPACT home pageDetails on Metro's $2.4 million road safety planning grant (BikePortland)