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Podcast: Cascade CounterPoint
Episode: QP: Tri-Met's Death Spiral
Description: Recently The Oregonian published a feature about TriMet’s ongoing death spiral. Since 2015, the agency’s annual revenue from passenger fares has dropped from $117 million to $59 million, while operating expenses have grown. As a result, TriMet’s operating loss last year was $850 million.TriMet is begging state legislators for a bailout, but we’ve already tried that. The legislature approved payroll tax rate increases in both 2003 and 2009. As a result, TriMet is now almost entirely funded by taxpayers.TriMet anticipates that it will have to eliminate up to 51 of its bus lines by 2031 if it cannot i...