TriMet Outlines FY2022 Budget

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
TriMet’s overall budget, which runs July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022, totals just over $1.64 billion.

TriMet’s overall budget, which runs July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022, totals just over $1.64 billion.

Portland, Ore.-based TriMet is proposing a fiscal year 2022 budget that includes $607.1 million for operations and $301.2 million for capital improvements.

The overall budget, which runs July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022, totals just over $1.64 billion, which accounts for “debt service, pass through funds that TriMet provides other governmental agencies, fund balances and contingency,” according to the agency. Additionally, it provides nearly $58 million more than TriMet estimates spending in the current-year budget, and is said to set “TriMet, the region and our riders up for a return to pre-pandemic outlooks.”

Currently, service is at about 90% of pre-pandemic levels with ridership down 60%.

The operating budget will allow TriMet to “restore fixed-route service gradually as riders return; continue supplying riders and staff with masks and hand sanitizer; maintain high-level cleaning and sanitizing of buses and [light rail and commuter] trains; and sustain fare equity efforts through the Low-Income Fare Program and fare assistance for high school students, as well as other programs funded through Keep Oregon Moving (HB2017).”

For the ninth consecutive year, the budget does not include an increase in the single adult fare.

Among the projects slated to receive FY2022 capex funding:

• TriMet’s “A Better Red.” This project aims to increase on-time performance of the MAX light rail system by double-tracking the existing Red Line from Gateway Transit Center to Portland International Airport. TriMet has a Small Starts Construction Grant Agreement with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for the more than $210 million project, and hopes to receive a $100 million FTA Capital Investment Grant allocation this year. It is looking to kick off construction in second-half 2021. (TriMet selected Parametrix to complete the final design of the project in February 2020.)

• MAX improvement projects. These include replacing sections of track and switch machines (see above), and continuing work with partners on small roadway changes to speed up buses around traffic congestion, according to TriMet.

• MAX light rail vehicles. Funding is included for continued design and initial manufacturing of next-generation LRVs (Type 6). TriMet plans to replace its 26 oldest cars (Type 1), built in 1986, with new vehicles that will start rolling out as early as 2022. Major overhauls will also continue, the agency said.

• Public safety. In July 2020, TriMet cut six Transit Police positions and reallocated $1.8 million from police contracts and other sources, according to the agency. Among its new “reimagining public safety on transit” efforts is the development, with community and jurisdictional partners, of a new Crisis Team pilot model. Crisis Team members will be trained to address mental and behavioral health and other quality of life issues, TriMet reported. Transit Police will continue to serve under a community-based policing model. Additionally, TriMet staff will spend more time on the system, helping and supporting riders, according to the agency.

A formal Budget Committee hearing is scheduled for March 24. Once approved, the budget will be submitted to the Tax Supervising & Conservation Commission (TSCC) in advance of the TSCC Public Hearing on April 28. The TriMet Board of Directors will consider adoption of the budget May 26.

Overcoming the Pandemic

Despite a drop in fare and payroll tax revenues in 2020, TriMet has been able to avoid layoffs, the agency said. That’s in large part due to budget-cutting efforts and federal stimulus funds: about $185 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) funds and an expected $195 million in Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) funding.

TriMet interim General Manager Sam Desue

“As vaccines rollout, people return to daily activities they enjoyed before the pandemic and jobs return, TriMet will be ready and able to restore service and get people moving as our region recovers,” TriMet interim General Manager Sam Desue said. “TriMet’s staff—especially our operators, frontline staff and mission critical workers—have shown tremendous heart and dedication during the pandemic and that has put the agency in a strong position for the future.”

Tags: ,