No free-speech rights on public transit TriMet property.

Portland, Oregon - Situated in a concrete canyon off U.S. 26, the MAX platform at Cedar Hills' Sunset Transit Center can be clamorous during any evening commute.

So, what does it take to get banned from the transit system for "making excessive noise"? 

Jennie Bricker says she simply bruised the ego of a TriMet fare inspector who was arguing with another rider waiting for the 5:10 p.m. train. 

Bricker said she heard TriMet insector Larry Boltjes tell the man to "stop talking" and that he had no free-speech rights on public transit platforms. 

"I called to him that I disagreed," Bricker says in a U.S. District Court complaint that could have sweeping consequences for how Oregon's largest transit agency polices the conduct of riders. 

Apparently, Boltjes had no idea that Bricker, who was waiting on the eastbound platform with her bike, is an attorney. Or that she works for the Portland legal juggernaut Stoel Rives, a firm that counts TriMet among its clients.

Bricker maintains that she didn't yell, but did accuse Boltjes of abusing his authority. He, in turn, wrote her a 30-day exclusion for making excessive noise.

Now, more than a year after the Oct. 5, 2011, incident, the case has landed in federal court in Portland and driven yet another free-speech thorn into the side of TriMet's daily operations.

Bricker claims TriMet violated her First Amendment rights. But she's not asking for monetary damages. Instead, the attorney wants Oregon's largest transit agency to commit to better training of its fare officers and clarifying the code used to cite riders for disruptive behavior.

So far, TriMet has refused.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2012/10/portland_attorney_says_trimets.html#incart_river_default