4.8.4 Trimet Case Study
TriMet is a public transport service run in the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon, USA. The company took over from 5 bus companies in 1969, in the late 80’s added a light rail system and in 2009 added a commuter rail line, meaning that in encompasses a large amount of the transportation service provided to the general public in this area. The company operates 127 light rail cars, 4 commuter railcars and 660 buses spanning 52.6 miles of light rail track and 14.7 miles of commuter rail track. TriMet does however suffer from a lot of problems, as juggling so many different services can cause some areas or lines to be neglected. An issue being raised with the general public is TriMet’s plans to decrease or remove funding from the bus lines in favour of their light rail services, causing it to loose some of the advantages associated with large scale bus operations. A key appeal of TriMet is its pure and widespread integration within the Portland area, connecting to over 10 other local transit systems and intercity rails systems from the surrounding areas. This level of integration from a single organisation is starting to become common in major cities around the world, but few have managed to perfect the balance of resources, funds and development needed to maximise all of the bonuses this system could offer.