In December 2020, the operation costs per rider for WES was $108, compared to $9.32 for MAX light rail and $9.82 for bus service.
Source: WES commuter rail is costing TriMet $108 per passenger | kgw.com
For someone commuting 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year, that comes to $27,000 per commuter-for just one year. It would be cheaper to buy each rider a car. Every year.
But Tri-Met cannot shut it down as they’ve leased the rail line for decades into the future.
It might be $54,000 per year since most people ride that train twice each day. Ouch.
