32 Facts About TriMet

TriMet, formally known as the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, is a public agency that operates mass transit in a region that spans most of the Portland metropolitan area in the US state of Oregon.

TriMet started operating a light rail system, MAX, in 1986, which has since been expanded to five lines that now cover 59.

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.

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.

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.

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Metro 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.

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.

From 1991 until 2014, TriMet operated the Portland Vintage Trolley service, which ran on a portion of the MAX system on most weekends.

Additionally, the Portland Streetcar system, which is owned and managed by the City of Portland, not TriMet, is operated and maintained by TriMet under contract with the City of Portland.

TriMet provides a portion of the funding for the streetcar lines.

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.

TriMet added a temporary free shuttle service connecting between Rose Quarter Transit Center and a temporary bottle redemption facility in industrial district in Northwest Portland specifically to address people redeeming empty containers while grocers have been relieved from the Oregon Bottle Bill during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On September 18,2022, TriMet started its FX service, a limited-stop bus route with some bus rapid transit features.

TriMet uses a flat fare system, with a single price regardless of the distance of the trip.

TriMet 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.

TriMet 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 reached the ends of their normal lifespan 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 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.

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.

In early 2015, TriMet received its first new 30-foot buses in more than 20 years.

TriMet owns four Budd RDC diesel multiple-unit railcars, of which two have entered service and are used as a backup.

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TriMet has had four main paint schemes during its five-decade history.

TriMet's Frequent Express buses will have a similar paint scheme, but with green and blue colors.

TriMet has had several artistic painted buses, some of these include Flxible Metro 1701 known as Art the Culture bus and an unknown Flxible New Look.

TriMet employs a transit police division to patrol its services.

All TriMet vehicles became fully equipped with cameras in 2014.

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.

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.