Finances

From Portland Business Journal "TriMet: Revenue, expenses rise"

TriMet said Monday that the mid-September opening of the eastside Green Line has pushed weekly MAX light-rail ridership up nearly 12 percent from a year ago.

The Green Line that connects downtown Portland with Clackamas Town Center averaged 17,000 weekday trips in its first three weeks of operation.

TriMet reported that there were 8.3 million trips on buses, MAX and WES between Sept. 13 and 30, a 4 percent decline from a year earlier. Ridership is down mostly because of the sour economy, unemployment and lower gasoline prices this fall, according to TriMet.