Bethany and Cedar Mill bus riders face uncertainty ahead of August 23, when TriMet will change or cut more than 30 routes to close a widening budget gap.

The agency has not published a complete list of affected lines, and whether Line 67, the Bethany/158th route connecting riders to PCC Rock Creek and the MAX Blue Line, is among them remains unconfirmed.

The budget driving the cuts

The TriMet Board of Directors voted 5-1 to adopt a $1.75 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-27, cutting $64.5 million in spending. That includes $11 million in bus and MAX service reductions and $53 million in administrative cuts. Board member JT Flowers cast the lone dissenting vote.

About 400 positions have been eliminated, with 170 workers laid off. General Manager Sam Desue Jr. froze executive salaries and called the cuts "among the hardest actions I and the agency have seen over the last 30 years."

The budget pressure deepened in May when Oregon voters rejected Measure 120, a statewide transportation funding measure, by nearly 83%. System-wide ridership in fiscal year 2025 was roughly 65 million annual rides, about 70% of the 96 million recorded in 2019. The new budget relies on $127 million in reserve funds, and TriMet still faces a remaining structural deficit of $160 million.

How TriMet ranks routes for cuts

Tom Mills, TriMet's director of planning and policy who has been with the agency nearly 30 years, explained the process in an OPB feature published Friday, July 11.

His team measures each route's productivity by "rides per hour," weighing density, mix of land uses, income levels, wages, and pedestrian infrastructure.

"If we had all the money in the world, we would run buses frequently everywhere, but unfortunately that's not our reality and so we do have to make choices," Mills told OPB.

Mills said areas "built for cars" at the edge of the region may receive service only in the highest-ridership corridors, meaning portions of those communities could lose bus access entirely. That framework disadvantages unincorporated communities on the western edge of the service area, including Bethany and Cedar Mill, which are low-density and auto-oriented outside a few commercial nodes along Cornell and 185th.

Local routes already thinned

Bethany-area riders have already absorbed cuts. TriMet reduced service on Line 52 (Farmington/185th) in November 2025 and cut frequency on Line 48 (Cornell) in March 2026, both during low-ridership periods, according to Cedar Mill News.

Line 67 (Bethany/158th) still runs 18 weekday trips between Merlo Road/SW 158th MAX Station and PCC Rock Creek, according to the schedule effective July 5.

But whether that frequency holds past August 23 is an open question.

What riders can do

TriMet's full list of August 23 service changes is available at trimet.org/servicecuts. Residents who want to weigh in on how transit cuts affect unincorporated Washington County can contact CPO 1 (Bethany) or CPO 7 (Cedar Mill), both of which address transportation issues.