Local transit service replaces tens of millions of car trips each year, reducing air pollution, congestion

More than 8 billion people share our planet. Every one of us has a responsibility to help keep it beautiful and livable.

April 22 is Earth Day! Here at TriMet, we work hard every day of the year to get people where they need to go, reducing their dependence on driving. Our riders can leave their cars at home, or at one of our TriMet Park & Ride locations, and let our professional transit operators do the driving.

Whenever you take transit instead of driving, you’re doing your part to reduce car emissions and save on gas. Plus, you’re cutting down on traffic congestion. That means better air quality, shorter travel times and safer streets.

If transit is important to you, let your legislators know you support more funding for public transit in the 2025 state transportation package. Find your legislators here. Your voice is critical to avoid service cuts to transit throughout Oregon that could leave tens of thousands of Oregonians stranded. 

Cleaner air, livable region

TriMet plays a huge role in keeping our air clean. From July 2023 to June 2024, our bus and rail service diverted 49,532 metric tons of CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent) in car emissions.

Transit also helps reduce congestion. TriMet buses and trains replaced the equivalent of 36.5 million car trips during the same period.

When traffic is heavy, the odds of a crash go way up. Gridlock on roads and freeways also means more pollution. Internal combustion engines, which power most cars and trucks, continue emitting CO₂ and other byproducts while they’re idling. When trips take longer because of congestion, more fuel and energy are consumed. That costs drivers money.

TriMet provides alternatives to driving! Plan your trip at trimet.org and find out how you can save money, lower emissions and get where you need to go.

Convenient, reliable public transportation

TriMet offers a range of transportation options, including:

• Bus service on 78 lines, serving communities across our region from Forest Grove to Estacada
• MAX service on five lines, crisscrossing Portland City Center and connecting neighborhoods, employment centers and shopping districts in Portland, Gresham, Hillsboro, Beaverton, Clackamas and Milwaukie
• WES commuter rail service, providing a traffic-free trip between Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville
• LIFT paratransit service, which allows riders with disabilities to schedule door-to-door service that meets their needs

Additionally, we partner with the Portland Streetcar and C-TRAN. That means you can use Hop Fastpass® on all of our public transportation systems, making it easy to transfer from one to another.

For questions about using TriMet, visit trimet.org/support or call or text 503-238-7433 (RIDE).

A cleaner, greener system

TriMet is actively working to promote sustainability and livability for our region.

Electric buses

In the past year, TriMet has more than tripled the number of zero-emissions buses in our fleet.

Our latest generation of battery-electric buses have extended range and more reserve power. We’ve rolled them out on some of our most popular lines. Riders on both the west side and the east side will now see “e-buses” in service, providing clean, quiet rides throughout our service area.

We’ve also laid the groundwork to introduce fuel-cell electric buses to our fleet. These zero-emissions buses would be the first of their kind to serve transit riders in Oregon.

Clean energy

Our e-buses aren’t the only way we’re lowering emissions. We’ve reduced our overall greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70% since 2022, when we switched over to R99 renewable diesel for our buses and WES trains and renewable energy to power MAX and all TriMet facilities.

MAX is all-electric, and it doesn’t generate air pollution as it travels. Since 1986, MAX has been one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly ways to get around our region!

Transit-oriented development

Transit access is game-changing for residents and businesses near MAX stations. That makes MAX attractive to developers! We celebrated the groundbreaking for hollywoodHUB, an affordable housing development just feet from our Hollywood/NE 42nd Ave MAX Station, earlier this year.

Transit-oriented development, like hollywoodHUB, is huge for the local economy. Plus, when people live close to transit, they use transit more, which is great for the environment and helps reduce congestion.

TriMet supports sustainable development. In recent years, we’ve seen redevelopment around our MAX stations in Southeast Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro and Milwaukie, too. This transit-oriented development can be a vision of the future, if we, as Oregonians, support transit.

Invaluable, but in peril

For more than 55 years, TriMet has been connecting people to opportunities, providing alternatives to driving, and promoting our vision to make our region one of the world’s most livable places.

But as important a role as TriMet and other transit providers in Oregon play, we face an uncertain future.

Inflation has driven up the cost of providing transit service by over 50% in the last five years.

Historically, transit has enjoyed bipartisan support in Oregon — but the current level of funding proposed for transit is not enough to avoid cuts to service in the future. Unless state lawmakers support more funding for transit, many Oregonians will be stranded without the transportation they depend on.

Together with transit agencies across Oregon, TriMet is calling for state lawmakers to approve a phased 0.4% increase in the employee payroll tax that funds transit over the next eight years.

Without a revenue increase to make up for the increased cost of providing service, TriMet may be forced to cut as many as 34 bus lines starting in 2027, with additional cuts to follow, until our operating budget deficit is resolved. These buses serve thousands of riders every week, connecting people to jobs, school, health care appointments and more. They take cars off the road, making our streets safer and our air cleaner.

You can help us keep our buses on the road and protect our environment. Please show your support for transit service this Earth Day.