
TriMetâs board of directors passed the transit agencyâs $1.6 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2021, which begins in July, on Wednesday. Last-minute changes to the budget reflect the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on TriMetâs revenueâand how long-lasting that impact could be.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in March, TriMetâs ridership had been steadily growing over the last year, and the agency looked forward to increasing its bus service by three percent in 2021.
âAll of the trajectories were going up,â said Dee Brookshire, TriMetâs CFO, at a budget open house earlier this month. âThen, of course, COVID-19 and the governorâs stay-at-home order changed everything. The budget had to be entirely reworked.â
As soon as Gov. Kate Brown issued sweeping stay-at-home orders, TriMetâs ridership plungedâdropping by 70 percent at the height of the pandemic. That means the transit agency lost out on an estimated $28 million in fare revenue from March through June. On top of that, TriMet also saw a reduction in payroll taxesâOregonians pay a 0.01 percent transit payroll taxâtotaling $48 million in the same three-month period, thanks to coronavirus-induced mass layoffs across the state.
The losses are expected to continue into the next fiscal year. According to TriMetâs estimates, the gap from lost fares and payroll taxes next year will total about $135 million. Those losses should be offset by the $185 million TriMet recently received from the federal CARES Actâbut thatâs a one-time allotment, and the recession prompted by COVID-19 is expected to last for years.
âWhat this means for us is less revenue,â said Tom Mills, TriMetâs service planning manager, at the budget open house. âAnd revenue is what we use to operate the bus, MAX, and WES system.â
Fare revenue alone makes up 17 percent of TriMetâs budget, and transit ridership currently hovers at about two-thirds of what it was before the pandemic started. Faced with uncertainty about if or when ridership and employment will bounce back to pre-pandemic levels, TriMet is making up for the gap in part by keeping its service reduced.
When ridership dropped in March, TriMet reduced its service by 20 percent to adjust to the decreased demand. With the tri-county area TriMet serves now in Phase 1 of reopening, TriMet is starting to restore its serviceâbut the plan is to only bring it back up to 90 percent of its previous level by August 30. After that, Mills said, further restoration in service will depend on ridership levels, funds, and the ability to properly clean vehicles in between trips.
âHopefully weâve experienced the worst of it all,â Mills said. âHopefully employment starts coming back up, and our fare revenue comes back up and we can start restoring⌠[but] we donât know whatâs going to happen. We donât know the future.â
One new investment TriMet will make in the coming year is putting $1.8 million into exploring new community-led safety strategies. However, the agency plans to continue having a transit police division, made up of officers from different police agencies in the tri-county area. Portland Police Bureau will no longer take part in the transit police after its current contract expires at the end of the year.