Trimet Slashes Bus Service in First of Three Rounds of Cuts

The Portland area’s TriMet transit system, Oregon’s largest, began service cuts last weekend as part of a plan to cut costs. As Lillian Karabaic reports for OPB, “The immediate schedule change will reduce frequency on five bus lines after 7 p.m., when passenger loads are at their lowest.”

The cuts are part of a planned 10 percent reduction in service over the next two years. “Four additional bus lines will reduce service frequency in March, and even more cuts are planned later in 2026.”

According to Tia York, TriMet’s manager of media relations, the cost of providing one hour of bus service has risen by 53 percent in the last few years. “The service reductions are one strategy the agency is using to bridge its $300 million budget gap over the next two years.” 

TriMet is also considering raising fares in 2028. The agency issued a public survey asking riders to rank potential cost-saving measures, but York says “We may have to do everything that was on that survey.”