TriMet's Sustainability Policy
TriMet is committed to advancing the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the Portland metropolitan region. We have adopted the following mission to guide our policies and practices:
TriMet provides viable transportation options to support regional livability goals by building and operating a safe, attractive, easy-to-use transit system that ensures transit equity, promotes human and ecosystem health and facilitates the use of other transportation alternatives in our community.
To fulfill this mission, we work toward continuous improvement in three main areas.
Providing quality transit service
As a key player in the regional transportation arena, we try to provide residents and visitors with achievable transportation options. When people use transit, the entire region benefits socially, economically and environmentally. In addition, regional livability and quality of life improve with better air quality, decreased traffic congestion and increased individual mobility.
Constructing community- and earth-friendly projects
As we grow Portland's transit system to meet the increasing transportation needs of the community, we work closely with our regional partners to connect land use and transportation as a way to limit the region's ecological footprint.
Each project offers the opportunity to make community- and earth-friendly use of space. By carefully selecting products, incorporating green design principles and analyzing the impact of our construction choices, we make sure that projects built today will support a healthy community tomorrow.
Incorporating sustainability into daily operations
Our basic operation—maintaining and operating heavy, passenger vehicles—presents daily sustainability challenges. These challenges present us with opportunities to continually examine ways we can minimize our social and environmental impact and find innovative solutions to common operations issues.
We are in a unique position of being able to experiment with community- and earth-friendly products, services and techniques and to encourage our industry partners to explore workable solutions.
To gauge our progress toward sustainability, we consider to what extent our services:
- promote human and ecosystem health by improving air quality, addressing global warming and encouraging healthy lifestyles.
- are affordable, attractive and efficient, while offering safer choices of types of transportation and supporting a healthy regional economy.
- limit emissions and waste by continually reducing the resources we use, using renewable resources when possible and finding alternatives to nonrenewable resources.
- support equal access to transit and the social and economic opportunities it provides, while avoiding unequal harm to community members' environmental quality.