TriMet FY2013 budget includes fare increases, service cuts Options

[KevinKorell]

Progressive Railroading, 6/14/12:

Yesterday, the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon’s (TriMet) board adopted a fiscal-year 2013 budget that includes layoffs, service cuts, fare changes and a reduction in the agency’s contribution to the Portland Streetcar project to address a $12 million budget shortfall.

Read this.

[KevinKorell]

Oregonian, Portland, OR, 6/13/12:

TriMet board kills Portland's Free Rail Zone, raises fares, cuts bus service over protesters' shouts, jeers

TriMet's Free Rail Zone in downtown Portland? Gone.

A ticket to ride? Going up -- again.

More bad news

[KevinKorell]

Oregonian, Portland, OR, 6/14/12:

Will the city still pay TriMet for free rail service when free rail service is gone?

One tangent to TriMet's decision to eliminate the Free Rail Zone: money Portland currently kicks in to subsidize that service.

This story

[KevinKorell]

Oregonian, 6/18/12:

Portland Streetcar ready to follow TriMet and eliminate fareless zone

After nearly 40 years, free transit rides in Portland will likely become a ghost of the past this summer.

Following TriMet's lead, Portland Streetcar is moving forward with plans to kill its free-ride zone through downtown and much of the Pearl District.

It's here. Portland Streetcar is really a private operation, but wisely its fare instruments have been integrated with TriMet's. So it would follow that the fareless zone elimination would apply to the Streetcar as well.