“TriMet Barber” Banned for Life From Riding the Bus and MAX

This year, TriMet’s board gave its general manager the authority to issue lifetime bans, in response to Jared Walter’s repeated arrests.

TriMet bus interior (TriMet)
By Aaron Mesh

For the first time in its history, TriMet has banned a person from riding the bus for the rest of his life.

The Portland-area transit agency today issued that lifetime exclusion from buses and trains to Jared Walter, the so-called "TriMet Barber" who has repeatedly assaulted women on public buses, sometimes by cutting their hair. Walter has been arrested at least 18 times for lewd acts on transit—most recently in March, when he allegedly placed his hand inside the pocket of a woman's jeans while on the MAX.

Last year, TriMet's board gave its general manager, Doug Kelsey, the authority to issue lifetime bans, in response to Walter's repeated arrests. Today, he exercised that power.

"TriMet has issued a lifetime exclusion—the agency's first—to Jared Walter," TriMet spokeswoman Roberta Altstadt says in a statement. "Police say Walter once again targeted women on the TriMet system, sexually assaulting two women in separate cases in March 2019. While Walter remains in jail, the exclusion is immediate so that when he is released, he is already barred from riding TriMet."

Walter currently faces three charges of sexual abuse in the third degree, stemming from two separate assaults in TriMet buses in March.

Correction: This post incorrectly stated that TriMet's board excluded Walter. In fact, it was the agency's general manager, Doug Kelsey.

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