The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, branded as TriMet, is a transit agency that serves most of the Oregon part of the Portland metropolitan area. Created in 1969 by the Oregon legislature, the district replaced five private bus companies that operated in the three counties: Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas. TriMet began operating a light rail system, MAX, in 1986, which has since been expanded to five lines that now cover . It also operates the WES Commuter Rail line since 2009. It also provides the operators and maintenance personnel for the city of Portland-owned Portland Streetcar system. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
In addition to rail lines, TriMet provides the region's bus system, as well as LIFT paratransit service. There are over 650 buses on 79 lines as of September 2025. In 2018, the entire system averaged 310,000 rides per weekday and operates buses and trains between the hours of approximately 5 a.m. and 2 a.m. TriMet's annual budget for FY 2018 is $525.8 million, with 30% of resources coming from a district-wide payroll tax and 10% from fares. The district is overseen by a seven-person board of directors appointed by the state's governor. , the agency has around 3,428 employees.
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.Board of Directors. TriMet It has its own boundary, which currently encompasses an area of about . 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 the 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."Tri-Met Takes Bus Control; Strike Averted" (December 1, 1969). The Oregonian, p. 1. 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."Federman, Stan (September 2, 1970). "Tri-Met Action Averts Strike Of Bus Drivers; Agency To Assume Operation Of Four Suburban Blue Lines". The Oregonian, p. 1. Eighty-eight buses owned by the four suburban companies were transferred to TriMet,"Tri-Met To Get Blue Buses Sunday; New Suburban Runs To Start Tuesday" (September 5, 1970). The Oregonian, Section 1, p. 15. but many were found to be in poor condition"Tri-Met Takes Over Operation Of Blue Buses, Finds Rolling Stock In Bad Condition" (September 9, 1970). The Oregonian, p. 9. and the TriMet board soon took action to replace them with new buses.
, TriMet operates a total of 669 buses on 79 routes, 149 MAX light rail cars on five lines, and 274 LIFT paratransit vehicles. Each of the five MAX lines and 17 of the bus lines are designated as "Frequent Service" lines, scheduled to operate at headways of 15 minutes or less seven days a week and for most of the service day (service is less frequent in the early morning and late evening). Five of the 79 total bus lines serve as late-night replacements for the Blue, Orange, Red, and Yellow MAX service during the night; this service change was implemented in August 2024 to allow more time for routine overnight maintenance on the MAX system.
TriMet connects to several other public transit systems:Other Local Transit Services. TriMet. Retrieved October 2, 2009. Portland Streetcar, a circulator streetcar service in downtown Portland and nearby neighborhoods C-Tran, serving Vancouver and Clark County, Washington Canby Area Transit, serving Canby and rural areas south of Oregon City along Highway 99E (formerly within the TriMet district) Cherriots, the public transit service for Salem and Keizer, connecting at the Wilsonville WES station Columbia County Rider, serving Scappoose, St. Helens, and Columbia County Sandy Area Metro, serving Sandy (formerly within the TriMet district) SMART, serving Wilsonville (formerly within the TriMet district) South Clackamas Transportation District, serving Molalla and rural areas south of Oregon City along Highway 213 (formerly within the TriMet district) Tillamook County Transportation District, serving Tillamook County Yamhill County Transit Area, serving Yamhill County
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.
The agency's administrative headquarters was, for more than 40 years, located in Southeast Portland, at SE 17th Avenue and Center Street, the site of the largest of its three garages; the current office building at that site replaced an older one in 1978. In early 2013, the administrative offices were relocated to downtown Portland, to leased space in a building at SW 1st Avenue and Harrison Street known as Harrison Square, with the former administration building becoming TriMet's Operations Headquarters. The administrative offices were moved again in 2023, within downtown, to space in the One Main Place building.
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:
Light rail Blue Line: Hillsboro – Beaverton – City Center – Gresham Green Line: Gateway Transit Center – Clackamas Orange Line: Union Station – City Center – Milwaukie Red Line: Hillsboro – Beaverton – City Center – Portland International Airport Yellow Line: Expo Center – City Center – Portland State University Commuter rail WES: Beaverton – Tigard – Tualatin – Wilsonville
From 1991 until 2014, TriMet also operated the Portland Vintage Trolley service, which ran on a portion of the MAX system on most weekends.Tramways & Urban Transit, February 2014, p. 92. UK: LRTA Publishing Ltd. It was reduced to only seven dates per year in 2011 and was discontinued entirely in July 2014.
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 also provides a portion of the funding for the streetcar lines.
Bus service
, TriMet operates 79 bus routes (including the FX route, plus five routes that replace the MAX light rail service in late-night hours). Each route is identified by both a number and a name. The numbers are mostly in the range 1–99, but there are currently nine 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.
Nineteen 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 an additional green sign.
The bus system includes 15 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.
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. This service was created at the request of Governor Kate Brown and it went into service on April 29, 2020.
On September 18, 2022, TriMet started its FX (Frequent Express) service, a limited-stop bus route with some bus rapid transit features. FX replaced the 2-Division, the sixth busiest bus route in the system, and features articulated buses, all-door boarding, transit signal priority, bus lanes and frequent service (12-minute headways all day).
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. Single-fare tickets permit unlimited transfers to other routes within 2½ hours, and passes are valid until end of the service day.
Several different methods of fare payment are available. On buses, riders can pay with cash, but no change is given. On the MAX Light Rail system, in common with most other North American light rail systems and on the WES Commuter Rail line, TriMet uses a proof-of-payment fare system, requiring riders not already in possession of a valid fare to purchase or validate one before boarding. Ticket vending machines at MAX and WES stations accept cash and credit and debit cards. For both bus and rail riders, a number of other payment methods are available as an alternative to cash.
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.Austin, David (July 20, 2001). "Streetcar safety". The Oregonian, "Back on Track" special section, p. 20.