Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) has issued its $1.94 billion budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2026, which it said “holds the line—with no increases beyond necessary contractual obligations, such as rising electricity costs.”
The fiscal year begins July 1, 2025, and runs through June 30, 2026.
TriMet provides MAX light rail, WES commuter rail, bus and LIFT paratransit services across the 533-square-mile Portland, Ore., metropolitan area.
Its budget, which will be considered by the TriMet Board on May 28, includes:
- $95.7 million in operating revenue, $550.2 million in tax revenues, and $146.3 million in federal funding.
- Day-to-day operating requirements of $900.3 million, including $593.4 million to operate the transit system; $231.9 million in general and administrative costs; $54.5 million for pension and other post-employment benefits; and $74.5 million for debt service.
- Capital Improvement Program (CIP) requirements of $221.1 million.
- Pass Through Requirements (funds received by TriMet that the agency is required to provide to other governmental agencies), Funding Exchange Payments (general funds exchanged with other governments federal funds) and Special Payments (one-time agreements to fund projects for which TriMet benefits) totaling $24.1 million.
- $77.0 million contingency, which includes $50.0 million reserves “due to federal funding uncertainties.” According to TriMet, contingency is defined as “an appropriated amount based on 3% of operating requirements and may be adjusted for known risks for those activities where the amount and timing is unknown at the time of budget adoption.”
- Ending Fund Balance totals $722.0 million, and TriMet said it is “unappropriated and not available for spending in FY26.” Fund balance includes $111.8 million in restricted bond proceeds and other restrictions to be spent after FY26; $47.6 million restricted future debt service payments; and $562.6 million in unrestricted fund balance, “which for FY26 will exceed the minimum requirement of between 2.0 and 2.5 average months operating reserves to address forecasted funding shortfalls in near-term and future years,” according to TriMet.
Capital investments are expected to cover the 82nd Avenue Transit Project, development of the Columbus Bus Base site, electric bus purchases and related charging infrastructure, and transit center expansions. Other projects include “regular replacements of equipment, track and signal infrastructure, and safety elements across the system,” according to TriMet.
TriMet, considered a “mature agency,” also said that its operating and maintenance facilities, light rail track segments and substations, and light rail vehicle are in need of upgrade or replacement. In this year’s budget and future budgets, TriMet said it is “putting significant focus on our existing assets with nearly $123.2 million, approximately 56% of the total CIP budget, focused on State of Good Repair” and that amount is expected to continue to grow in the future. For FY26, the proposed budget includes $25.2 million for bus shop equipment, platform updates, facility updates, light rail track, light rail electrification and signaling, and substation and storage facilities. There is an additional $66.1 million for light rail vehicle replacements; the funding would go toward the manufacture of new Type 6 LRVs from Siemens Mobility to replace original Type 1 LRVs purchased in the early 1980s, as well as Type 2 LRVs, for delivery through FY26. The budget proposal also includes $10.4 million for IT infrastructure, $6.0 million for farebox and ticket vending machine replacements, and $15.2 million for layover upgrades, improvements to rail crossings, transit tracker displays, and LIFT vehicles.
The transit agency said it has “updated our financial forecasts, evaluated revenue assumptions, and analyzed multiple funding scenarios to prepare for potential funding cuts.” Given the “uncertainty at the federal level—where grants have been frozen and FTA staff reductions have occurred,” it reported, “we are increasing the budgeted amount of contingency funds to allow time to adjust, if needed.
“Like other public transit agencies across the nation, TriMet is facing financial challenges and has been operating on reduced revenues since the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic led to a dramatic drop in ridership with stay-at-home orders followed by an increase in remote work. TriMet’s ridership has also been impacted by community-wide challenges including civil unrest, extreme weather events, crime, open-drug use and the homeless epidemic. TriMet has made considerable investments in response. That includes historic investments in safety and security.”
TriMet said that today it has “more safety and security personnel on our transit system than ever,” as it has increased that personnel to almost 500 over the past three years—double the number of personnel it had at the end of 2022. Calls for police services have decreased more than 40% during that same time, it noted.
The FY26 budget proposal calls for $86.4 million for the Safety & Security Division—more than double what it was in FY23 ($40.1 million).
TriMet ridership is increasing with the investments in security, along with other efforts to improve the customer experience and adjust bus service, the agency reported. “Those efforts, combined with more return to in-person work and events, has generally led to year-to-year increases in monthly ridership since 2020,” it said.
However, of course, lower ridership equals lower passenger fare revenue. “We have been using federal pandemic relief funds, which have proved a lifeline for public transit agencies across the nation, to backfill the drop in fare revenue, but those one-time stimulus funds have now been depleted,” according to Trimet.
The public can provide comments during the public forum period at upcoming TriMet Board meetings on March 26, April 23 and May 28, or during the public hearing on the budget at the Multnomah County Tax and Supervision Conservation Committee meeting on April 23. Meeting details will be posted on trimet.org/meetings/board.
