Portland’s TriMet used 5M gallons of R99 during its first year of use

In Oregon, since Dec. 2, 2021, TriMet’s nearly 700 fixed-route buses have run on R99, a blend of 99% renewable diesel and 1% petroleum. Its LIFT paratransit vans and buses along with its WES commuter rail trains made the switch to the greener, cleaner-burning fuel on May 1, 2022. In the past year, the public transit system in Portland used more than 5 million gallons of R99, a move which created cleaner air for its community, reduced maintenance costs and helped TriMet exceed milestones on our road to net-zero emissions by 2050. 

The move to renewable diesel, combined with its shift to renewable electricity for the MAX light rail system and all TriMet-owned facilities in June 2021, reduced TriMet’s greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 70%. It estimates that these climate actions will help TriMet avoid more than 193 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year. That is equivalent to taking almost 19,000 automobiles off the road annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.