TriMet's MAX light rail system turned 40 on Saturday, Sept. 5. For Hillsboro, the anniversary coincides with the agency's deepest budget crisis in decades.

The Blue Line reached Hillsboro in 1998, connecting the city to downtown Portland through the Robertson Tunnel, Oregon's longest rail tunnel at roughly three miles. The route to Hillsboro had been envisioned as a later addition to the original eastside line, but rapid regional growth fast-tracked it, with construction beginning in 1993, according to KGW.

The system kept growing. On Aug. 28, 2024, TriMet's A Better Red project opened a 10-station extension of the Red Line into Hillsboro, the system's first new station in nine years, according to TriMet. The project also double-tracked areas near Gateway and Portland International Airport to reduce bottlenecks.

But the anniversary arrives weeks after the agency enacted its deepest service cuts in decades. TriMet cut the Green Line on Aug. 22 to run only between Gateway Transit Center and Clackamas Town Center. It was the first time the agency had ever shortened an existing MAX line outside of pandemic-era frequency reductions, OPB reported.

The cuts are part of TriMet's effort to close a $300 million structural budget gap driven by inflation, lower fare revenue and insufficient funding. Operating costs surged 56% between 2019 and 2025, The Oregonian reported. Ridership remains about a third below pre-pandemic levels, with roughly 65 million boardings in fiscal year 2025 compared to 96 million in 2019.

Voters offered no relief. Nearly 83% of Oregonians rejected Measure 120 in May, denying TriMet an expected source of statewide transportation funding.

TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr. told The Oregonian in May that the cuts are "among the hardest actions I and the agency have seen over the last 30 years." Spokesperson Tia York said the Aug. 22 reductions cut the deficit by about half, to $158 million. The agency aims to balance its budget by July 2028.

Bill Lieberman, TriMet's first Manager of Rail Operations Planning, recalled the early days in a TriMet anniversary post. He started in September 1975 and wrote the agency's first light rail operators' manual in 1983.

Now a transportation planning consultant, Lieberman recalled the arrival of the first rail vehicles: "It was like the moment we had been waiting for after years of planning and engineering work. Now it was no longer theoretical… it was real!"

Hillsboro residents who want a say in what comes next have a deadline. Oregon's Rebuilding Our Transportation Vision Workgroup is collecting public input through an online survey. Responses are due by 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10. The workgroup's recommendations will feed into the 2027 legislative session.