Portland is a PR machine for light rail & streetcar

Here are Some Facts About Portland Oregon          

“It must always be remembered how cost-effectiveness works in the public sector: the cost IS the benefit.” - author unknown

Trimet now spends more than taxi fare for each passenger

Trimet has become so inefficient that it now costs more to carry each passenger each mile than taxis charge. Of course riders don’t pay this amount because Trimet’s fares are highly taxpayer subsidized, charging a system average of only 7.8% of the actual cost.

They are actually running a commuter rail line at a tax payer subsidy cost of $92.46 per ride.  (Remember that a ride is every time a person boards a transit vehicle, so a commuter’s round trip doubles this to $184.92 per day. FOR EVERY RIDER!)

Here are the numbers with the data sources & calculations below:

Trimet cost per passenger-mile…………………$2.96
Taxi cost per passenger-mile…………………...$2.34

Trimet Spending Per Household

Trimet total spending is $1.96 Billion to serve a population of 1.8 million service area residents or $1088 per resident. Of that $1.96 Billion, $555,000 is from taxes which is $308 per resident. At an average household size of 2.4 people that becomes $739 per household.

TriMet total cost………………….$1088 Total per resident (ALL trimet budget)
TriMet TAX ……………………..$  308 TAX per resident
Triment TAX cost/household…..…$   739 TAX per household (at 2.4 people/household)

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Data Sources And Arithmetic For Taxi Section:

Data: BUSMAX Expanded Audited and Updated 24Share.xlsx   found on Nov. 2025 at:

https://trimet.org/about/pdf/trimetridership.pdf

Total system passenger-miles (PM):  244,317,988

Total system cost:    724,137,240

Cost per PM: (724,137,240 / 244,317,988) =   $2.96                      <----------------------

Average trip length:   Revenue miles/Passenger-miles: 244,317,988 / 28,979,978 =8.43 miles

TAXI COST: (https://taxifare.org/us/portland-or)

cost: 9 miles ~ ($20.07 - $22.08)

Average cost per mile: (($20.07 + $22.08) / 2)  / 9 = $2.34/ mile.      <---------------------

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Data sources for Trimet Spending Per Household section

Total cost is from: pdf page 11 of https://trimet.org/budget/pdf/2026-adopted-budget.pdf

Payroll TAX is from: pdf page 11 of https://trimet.org/budget/pdf/2026-adopted-budget.pdf

Number of residents in service area from pdf page 3 of https://www.oregon.gov/lcd/TGM/TGMGrantApps/1.04-25_TriMet.pdf

People per household calculated from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multnomah_County%2C_Oregon

================ Cars use less energy too! =================

https://tedb.ornl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/TEDB_Ed_40.pdf,

“Table 2.14, Energy Intensities of Highway Passenger Modes, 1970–2019"  shows: Cars at 2,787 BTU and Transit buses at 4,634 BTU per passenger per mile..

Transit buses now use 66% MORE energy than cars to move each person each mile!

Page modified: December 24, 2025