TriMet officials ask Washington to cover $7 million of IBR transit annual operating costs

John Ley 
For Clark County Today

It was a long night full of uncomfortable discussions and revelations for the C-TRAN Board of Directors last week. Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny Ogle, chairman of the board, was agitated that funding for the MAX light rail extension into Vancouver was running into a roadblock. Cross-river transit ridership continues to be flat, reducing any real need for “high capacity” mass transit service. 

The mayor was also worried about the change in control of both the White House and Congress. “The impact of the new administration is potentially significant,” the board was told.  McEnerny-Ogle pushed hard for the state legislature to fund Clark County’s $7.2-million portion of a TriMet demand for new taxes to cover light rail Operating and Maintenance (O&M) costs.

Voters must approve a new sales tax to pay for the O&M of both light rail and bus service associated with the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBR).  The board was given two possible options to raise the money with a 0.1 or a 0.2 percent sales tax increase. The federal government “wants to make sure you’re not going to scavenge funds from other service you provide in order to pay for the high capacity transit,” said staff member Steve Witter.

The proposal before the board indicated a 55 percent cost split to Oregon and 45 percent to Washington for the light rail component. It also allocated 62 percent of Express Bus service (C-TRAN routes #101 & #105) to Oregon and 38 percent to Washington. This was done by the distance/mileage of each service.

The light rail O&M costs are projected to be $20.2 million in 2033, and Express Bus costs of $1.55 million. TriMet used an average 4.5 percent assumed inflation rate in the calculations. 

Farebox recovery was estimated to cover $5.45 million of the $21.7 million annual costs. That left Oregon paying $9.07 million and Washington paying $6.8 million towards light rail, plus C-TRAN would cover an additional $442,297 for Express Bus service. This makes the Washington share $7.27 million each year.

“I’m having sticker shock here,” said Vancouver City Council Member Bart Hansen. Counselors Michelle Belkot (Clark County) and Tim Hein (Camas) pushed back against the TriMet demand after details of the $21 million in projected costs were revealed. 

The light rail transit cost is 384 times the cost of bus service, on a per mile basis. The 1.83-mile light rail extension and a 54.1-mile express bus route mileage. 

Two and a half years ago, the TriMet Board of Directors demanded “new revenues” from both Washington and Oregon to pay for the O&M costs of the MAX light rail extension. Over a year ago, it was revealed they sought $21.6 million, to which the C-TRAN board said they would not be responsible for TriMet O&M costs. 

That position changed at the November C-TRAN board meeting, where meeting minutes show Hein asked “why is the requested change proposed? What is wrong with the current language since it is not supportive of C-TRAN’s interest?” 

Deputy CEO Scott Patterson said that the language in the resolution was not drafted or written by the C-TRAN team. It appears TriMet put the entire proposal together.

Former C-TRAN Board member Philip Johnson wrote the following in a letter. “I don’t know who in the organization wants to change this agreement, but any change at this point in my opinion will only allow the anti-public transportation/anti-bridge people to declare that once again C-Tran is selling out their Washington tax paying public and kowtowing to Trimet and Oregon. At that point, I may have to agree with them.”

Last week the board faced the reality of the November decision. “This looks to me to be C-TRAN subsidizing TriMet,” Belkot said. 

“It seems to be in complete conflict with what I’ve known in the past,” said Hansen.

The $7.5 billion IBR has chosen a 1.83-mile extension (9,690 feet) of TriMet’s Yellow Line light rail for transit service on the proposed bridge. The current cost estimate ranges between $1.3 billion and $2 billion, making this potentially the most expensive rail project in the world, at $1 billion per mile. They are also demanding 19 new light rail cars at $190 million to $290 million, triple the cost they paid for four new cars on their 10 mile “Better Red” extension earlier this year.

TriMet and the IBR are supposedly promising light rail departures every 6 to 7 minutes. This contradicts all current data on transit ridership. C-TRAN staff briefed earlier in the meeting that cross river express bus ridership was essentially flat this year. Earlier this year, the Regional Transportation Council (RTC) reported a “new normal” that included more people working from home and significantly reduced transit ridership.

“At no point since the Yellow Line opened has ridership met projected levels,” the Cascade Policy Institute reports.  “By 2020 the line’s ridership was expected to have 18,100 average weekday riders. In April 2019, ridership only reached 13,270. In August, 2024, Yellow Line ridership was 10,530, 42 percent below promised 2020 levels.“

Staff reported 2019 ridership was used for transit ridership projections. There will be an updated ridership model completed before a final request for federal funding is submitted to the Federal Transit Administration in 2026.

In FY 2022, TriMet spent $128.1 million on operations for its entire 60-mile MAX light rail system. That equals about $2.1 million per mile.  Yet they are demanding over $10 million per mile for IBR O&M costs.”It’s $6.8 million to run light rail transit today and $442,000 to run the bus,” the staff told the board.

The cost numbers were provided by TriMet and escalated to 2033, when the new bridge would open and light rail service would begin. The Cascade Policy Institute has previously reported TriMet’s failure and inability to deliver anything more than 15-minute headways, or four departures an hour.

C-TRAN will be providing Bus on Shoulder (BOS) as part of the Modified Locally Preferred Alternative (MLPA) for 54.1 miles into downtown Portland.

Another complication was the total projected costs were allegedly offset by passenger fares. TriMet is predicting a 25 percent farebox recovery of operating costs. Yet when asked, the C-TRAN’s Scott Patterson said “the estimated farebox recovery of 25 percent is overly optimistic.”

The TriMet FY2024 Annual Report indicates passenger fares have dropped from $123 million in FY2015 to $59 million. Passenger fares cover 7.9 percent of the $931 million annual operating costs. Last year, TriMet lost $850 million, up nearly 30 percent from 2021’s loss of $656 million.

In Clark County, C-TRAN’s farebox recovery has dropped to under 5 percent. In the unlikely event farebox recovery doesn’t increase to 25 percent, taxpayers on both sides of the river will have to pay even more dollars to subsidize TriMet and the proposed light rail service.

Patterson told the board “the operating cost per hour (for MAX light rail) is significantly more than the operating cost for a bus.” Upon further questioning, it was revealed that the operating cost per hour is around 5 times as much as it is for a bus.

Hansen summed up the discussion. “We’re worried about where we’re going to come up with the revenue, when we should be worried about the costs,” he said. “There’s no way I could sell this with a straight face,” he concluded.

The mayor told the board and staff it takes two years for the Washington legislature to make changes for possibly funding the Washington portion of the IBR’s alleged O&M costs. She said this was a “unique opportunity” and wants staff to start the discussion immediately. 

One might wonder why the board didn’t simply reverse their November decision. Prior to that their position was “C-TRAN will not participate in LRT O&M funding.” It was suggested the board have a day-long special meeting in February to do a “deep dive” into the details.

The legislature is facing a significant reduction in planned revenues. Asking them to pay for a financial obligation that belongs to an Oregon transit system is likely a huge stretch. Especially given the reality that Vancouver was allocated $1 billion of the $17 billion Move Ahead Washington 2022 transportation package for the IBR.