Oregon Public Broadcasting

Many people are off work Monday  for Labor Day.  But most school kids go back to class tomorrow, and as Andrew Theen reports, TriMet is reminding Portland-area riders that fares are going up Monday.

TriMet is raising fares on buses and Max by 25 cents for adult riders.  Kids and seniors have to pay a dime more.

Peggy LaPointe with Tri-Met says that five cents of that increase covers the cost of inflation.  TriMet did the same thing last fall. But the other costs are to offset high gas prices.

Peggy LaPointe said they're expecting fuel costs to continue to rise.

Peggy LaPointe: "For this fiscal year, which ends June 30 of 2009 we're estimating that we'll average $4 per gallon.  And that's why we did the fare increase."

TriMet bought 7 million gallons of gas for buses last year, budgeted at $2.31 per gallon.  But by the end of the fiscal year -- June 30th -- gas was $3.86.