Portland Transit | TriMet/Mass Transit News

[MNTimberjack]

Due to the lack of sales tax, I propose funding TriMet through traffic cameras on the Transit Mall and Morrison/Yamhill and on buses. I often eat lunch overlooking the tracks downtown and usually notice at least one car every light cycle driving on the tracks.

For example for a three minute light cycle at one location there would be 20 cars per hour on a track. If they just levied $100 fines for an eight hour period each day this would collect about $5.8 million per year.

MTA is currently using cameras affixed to their buses to enforce bus lanes.
https://www.mobility.siemens.com/us/en/c...ne-enforcement-solution-in-new-york.html

[dizflip]

Portland Streetcar takes delivery of first of three LRVs from Brookville.

https://twitter.com/mickjpg/status/1641112958339280896?t=9ej3TdN06zQSR1MS8a18vQ&s=19

[dizflip]

TriMet pilot at Hollywood/NE 42nd Ave looks to improve elevator reliability and curb unwanted behavior

https://news.trimet.org/2023/05/trimet-p...-reliability-and-curb-unwanted-behavior/

[maccoinnich]

TriMet shuts down MAX Red Line to PDX for more than 4 months beginning Sunday



Planning travel to the Portland International Airport this summer? Don’t rely on a MAX train ride. TriMet will shut down MAX Red Line service from Gateway to PDX beginning Sunday, June 18 and won’t restore it until as late as October 21.

Those needing to travel between the two stations will be served by shuttle buses. Shuttles will use surface roads to ferry riders between Gateway and PDX and serve all stops in between. Riders should plan at least an extra 30 minutes for their trips. Longer if there’s traffic disruptions on Interstate 205.

Red Line trains will continue running west of the Gateway Transit Center during the duration of the project. But trains between Beaverton Transit Center and Gateway Transit Center will be arriving less often - every 30 minutes instead of every 15.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[subterranean]

TriMet Max train, streetcar collide in Portland, injuring two

[aquaticko]

^^More ammo for the "build a downtown MAX tunnel" guns. Whatever dispatching/signalling slip-up made the collision possible deserves investigation.

I can at least attest that the shuttle buses worked perfectly fine to bridge the gap that day; I had an appointment near the NE 7th Ave. station, and was encouraged both by the number of people I'd seen riding the MAX, even all the way from/to Beaverton

[subterranean]

I too have been heartened by what I've been seeing in terms of ridership. However, I recently took transit to Seattle with my 4 year old, including to and from the Amtrak station via MAX, and that will be the last time I do that with a child. Not only was I concerned with his safety, he was exposed to shouted obscenities and racial slurs I hoped to never expose him to as a child. Same happened in Seattle on the bus. It made me seriously question my parenting. I will of course still use it myself on a weekly basis, but no more trips with kids for me.

[aquaticko]

If it's any consolation, your kid probably had no idea what he was listening to. I'm sorry you were exposed to it, too. I will say, there was someone drinking on the shuttle bus that replaced the MAX between those stations that day, but he wasn't completely intoxicated, and was actually being very pleasant and funny in a controlled sort of way.

It's worth remembering that not all behaviors that make us uncomfortable are inherently bad, even though some undeniably are. Being a little self-critical about it isn't totally wrong, even if it shouldn't always be necessary.

[maccoinnich]

Links to the January and February Interstate Bridge Replacement Program CAG meetings. The presentations include concepts for the Vancouver Waterfront and Hayden Island MAX stations respectively.

[Jakz]

https://www.portland.gov/transportation/.../2024-online-open-house/chapter-3-vision

Good to see that PBOT is shooting high for the 82nd Avenue redesign. Bus lanes in both directions!

[jb111120]

Question for my fellow city and transit nerds: Has anyone put together a study of the number of housing units within walking distance of each MAX stop? I know Trimet releases statistics about ridership/boardings/etc. but do we know how many people actually live near these stops?

And approximately how many units these areas could hypothetically accommodate based on current zoning?

[downtownpdx]

Reports of drug use on TriMet plummet as ridership rebounds

by Victor ParkSat, May 17th 2025 at 4:34 PM

New data from TriMet shows reports of smoking on one of the busiest transit systems in the country have significantly dropped, as ridership continues to recover from the pandemic.

"Reports of smoking on buses and MAX – often, but not exclusively, from illicit drugs – have dropped drastically since they reached their highest points in 2023," TriMet spokesperson Tyler Graf said.

In Feb. 2023, reports of smoke/fumes on its rail system peaked at 193, but in Feb. 2025, that number plummeted to just six reports, according to TriMet.

Meanwhile, reports of smoke/fumes on TriMet buses peaked at 52 in May 2023. That number dropped to just six the year after, and continues to remain under 10 reports this year.

TriMet credits increased an increased security presence.

"We've got almost 500 people now working in the Safety, Security, Division here at Tri-Met. We have grown our technological capabilities by really expanding our surveillance," said Chief Safety Officer and Executive Director of Safety and Security for TriMet Andrew Wilson.

Wilson told KATU the agency's budget for safety and security has gone up 300% since 2022.

continues - https://katu.com/news/local/reports-of-d...ic-max-bus-train-trolley-portland-oregon

[urbanlife]

That is fantastic news, and its good to hear people are returning to Trimet because that is what the system needs to stay healthy and active. Hopefully this increase in ridership will make developing more housing developments around the stations more of a focus.

[MarkDaMan]

Has anyone else noticed that they built a new 82nd Ave MAX station to the west of the current station, and are now tearing up and replacing the old station? Anybody have any idea why? And, are they planning on leaving the temp station for some time in the future in case they want to extend the number of cars per train?

[dizflip]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Has anyone else noticed that they built a new 82nd Ave MAX station to the west of the current station, and are now tearing up and replacing the old station? Anybody have any idea why? And, are they planning on leaving the temp station for some time in the future in case they want to extend the number of cars per train?

They are renovating the station, much like what they did at Gresham City Hall and E 122nd. The platforms are temporary and will be removed after the renovation. TriMet is not planning on running more than 2-car trains anytime soon, owing to the downtown alignment. They will only ever consider it if the downtown tunnel project is green lit.

[subterranean]

TriMet Announces Service Cuts, Other Reductions to Address Budget Shortfall after Oregon Legislature Fails to Act - TriMet News


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In the wake of the Oregon Legislature’s failure to pass House Bill 2025 — the Oregon Transportation Reinvestment Package (TRIP) — TriMet will make a series of budget reductions beginning this year, including service cuts, to address a significant, growing fiscal challenge.

Service cuts are necessary now for TriMet to avoid drastic cuts in the future and continue providing the vital transit service our riders rely on to get to jobs, schools, services and other vital destinations across our 533-square-mile service district.

The failure of HB2025 leaves many of Oregon’s transit agencies, including TriMet, without the sufficient funding needed to sustain service levels in the years ahead. We are encouraged by Gov. Tina Kotek’s call for a special session to address funding for the Oregon Department of Transportation, local jurisdictions and transit districts. But the absence of legislative action in June has forced TriMet to make service cuts this November and in March 2026, with additional reductions necessary in the years ahead to begin closing a projected $300 million gap between our annual expenditures and revenues.

“We are facing a fiscal cliff in 2030, so we must act now to balance our budget for the long term,” said TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr.

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Source: https://news.trimet.org/2025/07/trimet-announces-service-cuts-other-reductions-to-address-budget-shortfall-after-oregon-legislature-fails-to-act/

[downtownpdx]

Uuugh let’s hope the legislature gets its act together and passes something soon.

[babs]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Uuugh let’s hope the legislature gets its act together and passes something soon.

Trimet's major issue that additional funding will just mask. Our transit system is mostly focused on moving folks downtown and back. With downtown struggling due to perceived safety issues, massive office vacancies, and hybrid/remote work schedules, just throwing money at low ridership buses and trains isn't the answer. There needs to be a fundamental rethinking of transit service in the region. Perhaps it's funneling more people to MAX stations with fewer lines that go downtown. I don't have the answers but I hope a better and stronger transit system comes out of this rather than continuing to run the current downtown heavy system in a time of change.

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by babs

Trimet's major issue that additional funding will just mask. Our transit system is mostly focused on moving folks downtown and back. With downtown struggling due to perceived safety issues, massive office vacancies, and hybrid/remote work schedules, just throwing money at low ridership buses and trains isn't the answer. There needs to be a fundamental rethinking of transit service in the region. Perhaps it's funneling more people to MAX stations with fewer lines that go downtown. I don't have the answers but I hope a better and stronger transit system comes out of this rather than continuing to run the current downtown heavy system in a time of change.

I was just looking at Trimet ridership. YTD MAX (through May) max is up 8% YOY. But then decreased in last 2 months, with May being down almost 2.5% from last May. I wonder why the decrease suddenly? Weather was great this May. June data will be interesting to see when it's released, if a trend down exists or not.

I bet part of initial bump YOY is Fed worker returning to office. Not a big Federal city, but with such small overall ridership, say even 2,000 workers returning to office would add around 40,000 monthly trips. From my friends in fed service, they all get fully paid transit, so reasonable to believe a very large % of fed works take trimet.

[aquaticko]

The confusing thing for me viz a vis MAX ridership is that the peak of ridership was, at this point, years ago: 2016 (per a graph from TriMet posted on the Wikipedia page), at just over 40 million. Prior to measure 110, prior to COVID, prior to work-from-home, etc., the system was annually down over a million riders from its peak. What happened to cause that change?

I grant that frequency's not great, but the idea of built a rail transit system is to spur development around stations, which has mostly not happened. Don't bother mentioning things like Orenco; it's almost like in terms of its influence on Portland urban structure, it may as well not exist. It's just kind of a joke to say "MAX was just a favor for developers", because if it was, it clearly didn't work. The way this is all supposed to work--or at least does in places with good transit ridership--is that land values increase around transit nodes; cities reap tax windfalls; taxes go to running/maintaining/improving/expanding transit services; land values around transit nodes continues to increase, etc., etc.

As far as I can tell, Portland never had a particularly strong urban structure; it was (and is) highly decentralized in a way similar to places like LA and other younger, car-centric cities that developed mostly in the latter half of the 20th century, which show similarly poor transit usage.

So...even if it was a gift to developers, why didn't they take the bait?