The TriMet experience will now feature an additional bus route on Tilikum Crossing, which is accessible only by transit, by bike, mobility device or foot over the Willamette River.
TriMet will move Line 19-Woodstock/Glisan to the Tilikum Crossing as part of Forward Together, to help avoid delays caused by traffic congestion on the neighboring Ross Island Bridge. And that’s not all. We’re improving service so that Line 19 buses arrive every 30 minutes for more hours of the day, every day. TriMet is also adjusting the route in Southeast Portland through the Eastmoreland neighborhood. Buses will no longer travel on Southeast Rex Street or 32nd Avenue, to speed up travel time.
The changes coming to Line 19 are part of the first large package of updates that TriMet is rolling out with Forward Together, a sweeping overhaul of transit service that were taken on coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Forward Together is focused on equity and will make it easier for more people to connect with opportunities throughout the region. It moves some service from areas with low ridership and higher incomes to those where there are more people with lower incomes, who rely on transit to connect with opportunities throughout our region.
Additional improvements include upgrading Line 54-Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway to Frequent Service and adding buses on lines 8, 15, 35, 43, 56, 44, 70, 75 and 94 to increase the hours of day, frequency and days of the week when our service is convenient, robust and reliable.
As a result, TriMet is reallocating some of their services and discontinuing lines 61, 64, 65, 66 and 68 due to low ridership. The limited, commuter-hours service will be replaced by improvements on lines 43, 54 and 56 and the current service on lines 8, 9 and MAX. Line 36-South Shore will also be retired due to very low use.
About 30 percent of TriMet bus lines will see some sort of change with this package of improvements, and TriMet asks all riders to visit trimet.org and plan a trip for Aug. 27 or later, to see how to adjust their travel after the changes take effect.
