By Daniel Perez-Crouse
The first round of TriMet’s service cuts to balance its major budget deficit will go into effect on August 23, pending final approval from its board on May 27. Here is a breakdown of why this is happening, how it will affect SE residents who use TriMet and what comes next.
As a reminder, TriMet is facing a $300 million annual budget gap. Along with internal spending cuts and a staffing reduction, TriMet is reducing service to balance its budget.
TriMet says this is due to a 56 percent increase in operational costs since 2019 and decreasing revenue. Their financials over the last five years show that line items like “Materials and Services,” “Purchased Transportation” and more have increased considerably, in addition to the inflation of wages.
One revenue loss that compounded this is TriMet’s struggles to rebound in ridership since COVID. While not a statistically large part of its overall revenue, it is something TriMet made a concerted effort to improve and notes it as a significant part of its struggles.
Overall ridership numbers for TriMet peaked at 81 million in FY 2012. With some slight fluctuation, ridership was already showing a downward trend to around 75 million by FY 2019. In FY 2021, they had an almost 50 percent loss of ridership from the previous year to 34 million.
Initially, to close the gap, TriMet claimed to attract riders back by making “historic investments” in public safety and cleaning. Despite an increase in ridership every year since 2020, the return has not been enough. In 2025, with 56 million riders, TriMet is nowhere near pre-pandemic highs. Even with their price increase in 2024, current ticket revenue is still well below what it needs to be. At around $63,000 per year currently, this is still around 30 percent shy of its FY 2020 ticket revenue of around $90,000.
The most significant and visible of the upcoming cuts is an almost 50 percent reduction to the Max Green Line. Going forward, it will only run between Clackamas Town Center and Gateway Transit Center. When TriMet engaged with the community last winter with proposed cuts, the Green Line was put low on the priority list by those who voted.
If you’re in SE and use the Green Line to travel beyond Gateway and into downtown, you’ll have to get off at Gateway and transfer to either the Blue Line or Red Line (and vice versa). However, considering there is no longer a direct Max route to some of the Green Line’s unique stops in downtown, like Portland State University, SE residents who are looking to travel there should look into switching their route to a bus line that goes into the same area. Either the 10, 14 or 17 bus lines would be comparable.
Speaking of which, SE Portland will also have alterations in frequency and coverage to six of its bus lines.
Lines 19 and 4 will be combined. Line 19 currently begins around SE Flavel St., but the new combined line will adjust the route east of SE 52nd Ave. to initiate around Lents Town Center and cover SE Woodstock Blvd.
Line 10 will be extended on SE 52nd Ave. to serve the Line 19 route on SE Duke St., between 52nd and 72nd avenues, and on SE Flavel St. to serve Mt. Scott and Willamette National Cemetery. Service will be eliminated on part of SE Harold St.
On the 33 Line, buses between Milwaukie and Clackamas Town Center will take longer to arrive (about every 60 minutes) after 8:00 pm.
Lastly, Line 40 will be extended to replace Line 34 between the SE Tacoma St./Johnson Creek Park & Ride and Clackamas Town Center.
It’s important to recognize that this is just the beginning. TriMet says it needs to reduce service levels by at least 10 percent by July 2028 to bring them in line with operating revenue. In August of 2027, TriMet will have another round of public engagement for further proposed cuts. The cuts would be in addition to a proposed fare increase.
The future of TriMet’s funding remains uncertain. On their “Where We Stand” page, TriMet says they are pursuing all possible opportunities to generate new or additional revenue and are working with the Oregon Congressional Delegation in Washington, DC to secure additional federal funding. Portland City Councillors, like District 4’s Mitch Green, have floated the idea of using Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) dollars to support TriMet, but those conversations haven’t materialized into anything concrete yet.
For details on all service cuts, with maps, visit trimet.org/servicecuts.
SE Fuller Max Station. Photo by Daniel Perez-Crouse.
