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About seven miles of the MAX Green Line route will be eliminated in two months—just one of 33 changes that the TriMet service lines will undergo beginning August 23 as the agency seeks to close a large budget shortfall.
Additional cuts may loom. TriMet, which runs the Portland area’s public transit system, says it aims to reduce operations by 10% in the next two years. As the agency trims down, close transit observers say service quality could erode for the long haul if policy makers don’t find new funding sources soon.
“This is managed decline,” says Chris Smith, transportation activist and former vice chair of the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission. He adds, “The problem with cutting transit is it’s kind of a one-way ratchet to change people’s habits, and it takes a long time to change them back.”
Indeed, ridership on TriMet transit routes has already declined continuously for 10 years, with total boardings decreasing by more than a third since 2016.
The decrease in ridership on TriMet services is part of a larger nationwide trend in lower public transit usage. This can be attributed in part to a post-pandemic retreat from public transit as more people opt for remote work. TriMet’s own surveys suggest that rider fears about the behavior of other passengers also contribute.
Whatever the reason, the impact may be lasting.
“There’s obviously a danger of a continued death spiral here, which is the term we tend to use for when ridership goes down,” Jarrett Walker, public transit design and policy consultant, tells WW.
“That world of 2019 is not coming back,” Walker says. “So, transit agencies are trying to adapt to that, and… trying to be clear that they continue to be relevant, but that our expectations for ridership have to reflect the fact that the peak commute is gone.”
TriMet cites decreased revenue from rider fares as a factor in its lagging revenue, paired with lower payroll tax revenues.
Meanwhile, TriMet reports skyrocketing operational costs, which it says have risen 56% since 2019. This includes materials for buses such as seats and engine parts, but also fuel costs which the agency says surged as much as 84% over weekly budgeted amounts. This, paired with a the steady decrease in fare revenue and a loss of federal programming that provided funds during COVID-19 conspired, cloud TriMet’s financial future.
While Portland is not alone in its public transit struggle, Walker says each region in the nation is handling the issue differently, with some looking to fill the gaps through state legislature allocations and ballot measures forestalling cuts.
TriMet spokesperson Roberta Altstadt says the agency is meeting with leaders to discuss future funding options. Advocates of public transportation like Cassie Wilson, transportation policy manager at 1000 Friends of Oregon, said Portland’s public transit system needs to redirect the burden of cost away from everyday residents. Voters expressed a similar sentiment in May when they overwhelmingly rejected Measure 120, which would have increase gas taxes and other fees to fund transportation, including public transit.
“We are really pushing that, regardless of what funding mechanisms that the state moves forward with, that they be set up in a way that people with lower income are not disproportionately impacted,” Wilson says.
But for now, TriMet cuts. Along with the service reductions, the agency also plans to eliminate 400 staff positions (140 of which are already vacant).
When it announced the planned budget cuts earlier this spring, TriMet said its fiscal cliff, when the agency is on pace to effectively run out of money for its operations, lies in May 2029—a date the agency is trying to outpace. On May 27, its board moved to trim $64.5 million from the agency budget in the upcoming fiscal year. (It adopted a budget of $1.75 billion, for context.)
“We do recognize cutting service means it will not be there, even if for the few currently using it in a select area, and that those who need it will have to adjust when they ride or how far they travel to connect with our transit system,” Altstadt said in an email. “Some may have an alternative and stop riding.”
TriMet says it determined its first round of cuts based on a Service Priorities Survey of community members conducted in fall 2025, along with ridership data.
It plans to propose additional service cuts this fall, to be implemented in 2027.
Aaron Golub, a professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University, said he is hopeful TriMet will be able to successfully balance its budget and potentially bounce back due to the agency’s successful history in the city. “There definitely is a possibility that they come out of this and eventually add service back,” he says.
But the money’s got to come from somewhere. “We’ve got to decide whether we still care about this,” Walker says.
