TriMet is working to improve transit accessibility for students and faculty at Mt. Hood Community College with a new bus stop. The stop is the new endpoint for Line 25-Glisan/Troutdale Rd, which runs between the college campus in Gresham and the Gateway/NE 99th Ave Transit Center in outer Northeast Portland.
The bus stop can be found near the campus’ student union and other major hubs. Line 25 also links students with the regional transit system, with connections to the MAX Blue, Green and Red lines at the Gateway Transit Center, plus more than a dozen other bus lines.
TriMet recently extended Line 25 to Fairview, Wood Village, Troutdale and Northeast Gresham. It now serves both Mt. Hood Community College and Reynolds High School, among other destinations. In addition, Line 25 now runs on all days, with buses arriving every 30 minutes for most of the day.
Traci Simmons, Associate Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Mt. Hood Community College, calls it a “game-changer” for Mt. Hood students.
Line 25 was one of several bus lines that saw major upgrades as part of the agency’s most recent service improvements, which was rolled out Aug. 25. These improvements are part of TriMet’s Forward Together service concept which works towards providing bus service throughout the tri-county area. The program also focuses on increasing ridership and making the bus a better option for more people, particularly those with low or limited income.
Many students “don’t have access to a lot of resources like money, or gas or even a car,” said Isaias Damian Figueroa, a second-year student. He usually rides his bike to school, or he catches another bus at a stop that is a lot further from his home. Line 25 runs right past his neighborhood, though — and he says now that it connects his home to campus, he’ll be taking the bus a lot more often.
