Andrew Theen/Staff

TriMet’s newest bus line will roll out Sunday morning with late night -- or extremely early morning, depending on your point of view – service to Portland International Airport.

Line 272 will run along 82nd Avenue and on a loop along Southeast Stark and Washington streets. The new service will intersect with Line 20, another expanded route that will now offer 24-hour service between Beaverton and Gresham.

The transit agency is pairing the bus service with more MAX service to the airport, a key component of what TriMet is calling its biggest bus expansion in its history. It’s the first time since 2001 a bus will go straight to the terminal. TriMet’s board approved the airport service and expanded bus lines as part of its $1.3 billion budget in May.

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Andrew Theen/Staff

The $8 million in bus and light rail expansions comes as TriMet is set to receive tens of millions in new revenue from the state through its 2017 transportation package and as TriMet’s payroll tax ticked up in July.

Transit and airport officials say the combination of the new bus service and adding three or four extra light rail train arrivals a day to the airport will be a huge benefit to travelers wanting to get to the airport without a car and airport employees who’ve been looking for another option to get to work.

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Vincent Granato, Port of Portland chief operating officer, said getting employees to the airport without their own car is difficult once the MAX stops.

“We have folks that need to be here at all hours of all days,” he said. “For us this is a really great opportunity for employees,” he said, adding that 2 a.m. is one of the busiest times of the day for the airport.

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The Port, which owns and operates the airport, has 10,000 employees. At peak times, about 5,000 workers will be at the airport. According to the Port, about 7,500 airport employees regularly park at the airport and just 6 percent report taking MAX to work. About 46 percent of travelers take a rental car, the MAX or are dropped off at the airport by a friend or family member. TriMet said 7 percent of all MAX trips begin or end at the airport.

Buses will start with hourly service between 2 and 4 a.m. every day. The bus stop is on the lower level of the terminal near the MAX station.

Maurice Henderson, TriMet’s chief operating officer, said customers have pushed for more access “during those wee hours of the morning.”

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He said the airport bus is the next step in a partnership with the Port kickstarted 17 years ago by the opening of Red Line service to the airport.

The train-to-plane service started in 2001 and was the first of its kind on the West Coast. Airport bus service ended once the Red Line service began.

Henderson said there’s no estimate for how many riders may take the bus during those hours, but the agency will monitor ridership and may increase frequency if needed.

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-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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