In the wake of the Oregon Legislature’s failure to pass House Bill 2025 — the Oregon Transportation Reinvestment Package (TRIP) — TriMet will make a series of budget reductions beginning this year, including service cuts, to address a significant, growing fiscal challenge. 

According to an agency release, the service cuts are necessary to avoid drastic fiscal cuts in the future. The failure of HB2025 leaves many of Oregon’s transit agencies without sufficient funding to sustain service levels in the years ahead.

TriMet will make service cuts this November and March 2026, with additional reductions necessary in the years ahead to begin closing a projected $300 million gap between the agency’s annual expenditures and revenues.

“We are facing a fiscal cliff in 2030, so we must act now to balance our budget for the long term,” said TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr. “As Oregon’s largest public transit provider, we have a tremendous responsibility to keep people in our region moving. Cutting service now means avoiding sudden, catastrophic cuts in the future.”

Funding Gap Forces TriMet to Cut Routes, Reduce Frequencies

TriMet’s fiscal year 2026 budget, adopted in May 2025, did not include expected funding from HB2025 and the Statewide Transportation Improvement fund. TriMet identified $24.2 million in discretionary spending cuts to address the resulting shortfall and plans further internal savings and reductions. The agency aims to balance its budget by July 1, 2028.

TriMet announced they “must” reduce their service this winter, with a series of further cuts over the next few years, resulting in a 10% overall cut to service by the end of August 2027. Without an increase in revenue, TriMet will be forced to cut another $48 million in service and other spending.

Initially, service cuts will focus on reducing frequencies on some bus lines. Following that, TriMet will need to eliminate some bus lines, adjust some bus routes, and adjust MAX service. Because of the bus and MAX service changes, the agency’s LIFT paratransit service will also be reduced. 

TriMet Plans Staggered Service Cuts Starting November 2025

If TriMet is unsuccessful in increasing our revenue by fall 2027, more service cuts will be needed. Service cuts include:

November 2025

TriMet will reduce service on November 30, 2025, by cutting the frequency, or how often buses run, on the following:

• Some Frequent Service lines during evenings and mornings.

• FX2-Division bus line at night.

• Up to eight other bus lines during all service hours.

March 2026:

TriMet will need to make additional service cuts, effective March 1, 2026.  We will be engaging our riders and the public this fall to discuss these cuts, but the proposed cuts would include:

• Eliminating some low ridership bus lines.

• Eliminating evening service on lower ridership bus lines.

• Changing routes on some bus lines to increase efficiency.

• Reducing the MAX Green Line route. Green Line trains would only serve stations between Clackamas Town Center and Gateway Transit Center. Riders would need to transfer to other trains at Gateway Transit Center.

May 2026 Through August 2027

Further service cuts will be required between May 2026 and August 2027 to reach the needed 10% service reduction. Without an increase in revenue, TriMet will have to cut additional service above that 10% to balance our budget. 

These service reductions will likely include:

• Additional cuts to frequency on at least a dozen bus lines.

• Eliminating other bus lines or portions of lines.

• Reducing the frequency on all MAX lines during some parts of the day.

The anticipated service cuts outlined above add up to about an 18% overall reduction in MAX service — the largest cut to MAX in its history — and about an 8% reduction in bus service — the third largest cut since at least 1986. 

TriMet will launch a dedicated web page at trimet.org/budget in the weeks ahead.