TriMet

General information

TriMet is "a municipal corporation of the State of Oregon", with powers to tax, issue bonds, and enact police ordinances and is governed by a seven-member board of directors appointed by the Governor of Oregon. It has its own boundary, which currently encompasses an area of about 533 square miles (1,380 km²). The TriMet district serves portions of the counties of Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas; it extends from Troutdale to Forest Grove east to west, and from Sauvie Island to Oregon City and Estacada north to south.

For more than 30 years the agency called itself Tri-Met, but it formally dropped the hyphen from its name in 2002, as part of a new corporate identity strategy involving a redesigned logo and new color scheme for its vehicles and other media.

TriMet was formed in 1969 after disputes between the Portland city council and Rose City Transit Company, the private company that previously operated the bus system serving the city (but not its suburbs). The new public agency was created by an ordinance of the Portland city council, under provisions of a law enacted by the 1969 Oregon Legislature, and took over all of Rose City Transit's service and fleet effective December 1, 1969. Bus service in the suburban portions of the metropolitan area was operated by four smaller private companies which had a common union and were collectively known as the "Blue Bus" lines: Portland Stages, Tualatin Valley Buses, Intercity Buses and Estacada-Molalla Stages. These were taken over by TriMet on September 6, 1970. Eighty-eight buses owned by the four suburban companies were transferred to TriMet, but many were found to be in poor condition and the TriMet board soon took action to replace them with new buses.

As of January 2016, TriMet operates a total of 659 buses on 78 routes, 145 MAX light rail cars on five lines, and 268 LIFT paratransit vehicles. Each of the five MAX and 12 of the bus lines are designated as "Frequent Service" lines, scheduled to operate at headways of 15 minutes or less for most of the service day (service is less frequent in the early morning and late evening).

TriMet connects to several other mass transit systems:

TriMet also links to various local shuttle services operated by the following: Ride Connection, which serves Banks, Gaston, King City and North Plains; the Swan Island Transportation Management Association; the Tualatin Transportation Management Association; Intel; Nike; and Oregon Health & Science University, including the Portland Aerial Tram.

Long-range transportation planning for the metropolitan area is provided by Metro, an elected regional government. Metro also has statutory authority to take over the day-to-day operations of TriMet, but has never exercised that power, as past studies of such a merger have found it to be problematic.

Rail lines

TriMet runs the MAX Light Rail (short for Metropolitan Area Express) system, and contracts with Portland and Western Railroad to operate the WES Commuter Rail line (short for Westside Express Service). Fares on MAX (as well as WES) are the same as TriMet bus fares, and fare collection uses a proof-of-payment system (or honor system) with ticket vending machines at each station. Fare inspectors patrol the system randomly. Incidents of violence on the system have led to calls for more security, and some have argued that more thorough checking of fares would improve riders' overall feeling of safety.

The TransitTracker system uses satellite tracking on buses and sensors in the MAX tracks to predict arrival times at stops and stations. Additionally, TriMet is partnering with Google Maps to install Bluetooth low energy beacons on MAX platforms, allowing nearby Android device users to directly receive schedule and alert information.

TriMet trains operate using reporting mark TMTC.

TriMet's rail lines include:

From 1991 until 2014, TriMet also operated the Portland Vintage Trolley service, which ran on a portion of the MAX system on most weekends. It was reduced to only seven dates per year in 2011 and was discontinued entirely in July 2014.

See also: Portland Streetcar (Streetcar lines are owned by the City of Portland, but TriMet is contracted to provide operators and maintenance personnel. TriMet also provides a portion of the funding for the streetcar lines.)

Bus service

As of February 5, 2017, TriMet operates 81 bus routes. Each route is identified by both a number and a name. The numbers are mostly in the range 1–99, but there are currently five routes with three-digit numbers. From 1969 until 1973, TriMet bus routes were named but not numbered, a practice inherited from Rose City Transit and the "Blue Bus" lines, but route numbers were assigned to all routes in August 1973.

Twelve bus routes are designated as "Frequent Service Lines", which the agency defines as having a headway of 15 minutes or less most of the service day (service is less frequent in the early morning and late evening). Fifty-eight percent of all bus trips are on the frequent service lines. Bus stops that are served by a frequent service line are identified with additional green sign.

The bus system includes 17 transit centers, that allow passengers to transfer between bus routes and, at many transit centers, MAX routes.

TriMet buses began carrying bicycles on the front in 1992, on a trial basis on eight routes; the experiment was judged a success and within three years the entire bus fleet had been fitted with bike racks. Each rack can hold two bikes.

Fares

TriMet uses a "flat" fare system, with a single price (for each category of rider: adult, youth, senior or disabled) regardless of the distance of the trip. However, the single-fare tickets permit unlimited transfers to other routes within 2½ hours and passes are valid until end of service day.

TriMet tickets and passes are also valid on the Portland Streetcar, which is owned by the City of Portland but operated mostly by TriMet personnel under a contract with the city.

TriMet also has a mobile ticketing app, allowing riders to purchase and use tickets for buses, light rail, and commuter rail on their smartphones. The app, called TriMet Tickets, was developed by Portland startup GlobeSherpa and released in September 2013 at no cost to TriMet. Instead, GlobeSherpa will take a commission on every ticket sale through the app.

An e-fare system named "Hop Fastpass" is being developed by TriMet, the City of Portland, and C-TRAN that will enable riders to pay with a fare card, near field communication–equipped smartphone, or credit card, using card readers on buses and train platforms. The system is expected to cost $30 million to develop, and is expected to be fully implemented in 2017. The name is said to evoke both the speed of the rabbit and the hop plant used as an ingredient in the craft beer brewed in Portland.

Buses

As of January 2016, TriMet's fleet includes 659 buses, in lengths of either 40 or 30 feet (12 or 9 meters) for use on traditional fixed-route services. TriMet also owns a fleet of 253 minibuses and 15 vans for use on LIFT Paratransit service.

In 1997, the TriMet board decided that all buses purchased in the future should be low-floor type and equipped with air-conditioning. The decision was for a gradual phase-out of high-floor, non-air-conditioned buses as they reach the ends of their normal lifespan (about 18–20 years) and in 2013 TriMet was anticipating that by 2017 all buses would have low floors without steps. TriMet retired its last non-air-conditioned buses in late December 2015. The last series of high-floor buses in service (40-foot Gillig Phantoms built in 1997, the 2100 series) were taken out of regular use in June 2016, but with some kept serviceable for use on temporary shuttles during construction-related disruptions to MAX service.

TriMet does not currently operate any 60-foot (18 m) articulated buses. However, the Powell–Division Transit and Development Project, a bus rapid transit line currently under development and projected to open in 2020, would add 60-foot (18 m) articulated buses to the TriMet fleet.

While most of TriMet's fleet uses diesel motors for propulsion, the agency has also experimented with hybrid electric buses. The first two hybrid buses entered service in 2002, but in 2008 TriMet stated that the buses had not performed sufficiently better than its newest diesel buses to justify the estimated 50-percent-higher purchase cost, and that consequently the agency had no plans to purchase additional hybrid buses at that time. These first two hybrid buses were retired in 2012. However, with hybrid technology having improved since that earlier purchase, TriMet acquired four new hybrid buses in 2012 and placed them into service in January 2013 on line 72, a long, mostly level north–south route. TriMet acquired four more hybrid buses in 2015 with even greater electronic technology on board.

Since October 30, 2006, all TriMet buses and paratransit minibuses have been fueled by a B5 biodiesel blend. Plans to increase to a B10 or higher mix were later put on hold as a result of cost increases and problems experienced in a trial use of B10 blend in about one-quarter of the fleet.

The agency delayed new bus purchases for four years due to the recession of 2008 and the resulting decrease in income from taxes. In 2012 TriMet began to replace buses on an accelerated schedule. By that time some of the buses in the fleet were more than 20 years old and had become more expensive to maintain and less reliable. The first order of 55 40-foot Gillig buses began to enter service in fall 2012, followed by 70 buses in 2013, 60 in the summer of 2014, followed by another 30 in October 2014. In early 2015, TriMet received its first new 30-foot buses in more than 20 years. These 22 Gillig buses are similar to the rest of TriMet's new buses, but their shorter length allows them to serve routes with tighter turns and difficult terrain.

By mid-2016 TriMet plans to have 326 buses on the road under 4 years old, which will allow the agency to meet the industry standard of an average age of eight years.

TriMet's buses operate out of three garages: Powell Garage to the east, Merlo Garage on the west side, and the Center Street Garage in inner Southeast Portland.

Light rail (MAX)

Counting the newest series, currently being delivered, there are 145 light rail vehicles, of four general types: TriMet Type 1, Type 2/Type 3 (almost identical), Type 4 and Type 5. The first two cars of Type 5 entered service in April 2015.

Note on capacities:

Commuter rail (WES)

The commuter rail line between Beaverton and Wilsonville is operated primarily with trains made up from a fleet of four Colorado Railcar Aero diesel multiple unit railcars. TriMet also owns a pair of Budd RDC diesel multiple unit railcars that are used as a backup.

Timeline

Note: Items in the timeline lacking individual citations are taken mostly from TriMet's Rider Insider newsletter, November/December 2004 issue

Future

Under the Powell–Division Transit and Development Project, a new bus rapid transit line is planned to be created between Downtown Portland and Gresham. It would roughly parallel the existing MAX Blue Line, partially replacing the existing Line 4 – Division/Fessenden and becoming the first BRT line operated by TriMet. If the project is approved, it would not be completed until 2021 or later.

Initial plans had the line traveling on Tilikum Crossing, Powell Boulevard and then Division Street to the Gresham Transit Center, terminating at Mt. Hood Community College. Crossing over between Powell and Division would have taken place on either 50th, 52nd, or 82nd Avenue. However, after analysis showed that this routing would increase travel times from Gresham to Portland, the route was redesigned to solely travel along Division Street, dropping the Powell Boulevard portion. Improvements along the segment of Division Street between 82nd Avenue and 8th Avenue would include stop consolidation and traffic signal prioritization. In addition, the extension from the Gresham Transit Center to Mt. Hood Community College was dropped in September 2016 due to concerns over competitiveness for federal transportation funds.

Communities served

The following cities and unincorporated communities (*) are in the TriMet service area:

TriMet buses and commuter rail also serve Wilsonville, Oregon, which is outside the TriMet district, in order to provide connections to transit services operated by SMART in that city.

The Boring area has been removed from the TriMet District effective January 1, 2013.

Operator fatigue

An investigation by The Oregonian in 2013 led to the revelation that some TriMet drivers were working as many as 22 hours in a 24-hour period. There have also been 22 reported cases of drivers falling asleep at the wheel. In response, the agency adopted a new policy restricting the number of hours a driver is permitted to work within a 24-hour period.

Failure rate of MAX ticket vending machines

An investigation by several local Portland news outlets found that several of the MAX Light Rail ticket machines have extremely high failure rates. Many riders have claimed that they have received a fare evasion citation after boarding the MAX train without a fare after they have attempted to pay for a ticket. The official statement from TriMet is to ride to the next MAX station, de-board the train and pay for a ticket there and wait for the next train. This response has been deemed unacceptable both by riders and bus/rail operators. TriMet has begun replacing all of its older machines with newer machines, and cites a 50% drop in complaints.

Sanctioned for illegal employee negotiations behavior

On January 3, 2013 TriMet was found by The Oregon Employment Relations Board to be in violation of ORS 243.672 by restricting the ATU 757 from attending contract negotiation hearings. In retaliation to the ATU filing a ULP earlier in 2010, TriMet implemented a wage freeze requiring all employees to pay their increases in healthcare premiums and changing insurance plans after the union contract expired without first discussing it with the union.