In the private sector you must grow your market share to stay afloat and make money. The mass transit monopoly, Tri Met, has no such requirement. As alert 5th Listener Craig notes the Tri Met “market share” has gone down steadily:

Craig had previously sent me the US marketshare. Here is the Tri Met marketshare:

US Urban Personal Vehicle &
Public Transport Market Share from 1900
link

http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-usptshare45.pdf

----------------------------

here is The Portland metro graph
http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-porshare.pdf 

Portland, Oregon (3-County) Transit
Urban Travel Market Share ( measured in the miles traveled)
Compared to Before Light Rail

Roadway
1985--97.9%
2007--97.9%

Transit
1985---2.1%
2007---2.1%

Transit Share: Change from 1985 = 0%

Motorized travel
Data from US Department of Transportation & Texas Transportation Institute
Assumes national automobile occupancy rate of 1.6"

Monday, February 20, 2012 2:25 PM

Public Transit Market Share from 1900
———–Transit
1900 —100.00%
1905—-98.55%
1910—-93.77%
1915— 79.33%
1920— 50.25%
1925 —28.91%
1930 —21.06%
1935 —14.20%
1940 —35.00%
1950 —18.26%
1955 —10.43%
1960 — 7.11%
1965 — 5.19%
1970 — 3.63%
1975 — 2.90%
1980 — 2.82%
1981 — 2.68%
1982 — 2.51%
1983 — 2.46%
1984 — 2.48%
1985 — 2.42%
1986 — 2.40%
1987 — 2.32%
1988 — 2.23%
1989 — 2.06%
1990 — 1.90%
1991 — 1.86%
1992 — 1.76%
1993 — 1.67%
1994 — 1.72%
1995 — 1.71%
1996 — 1.67%
1997 — 1.66%
1998 — 1.70%
1999 — 1.74%
2000 — 1.70%
2001 — 1.74%
2002 — 1.69%
2003 — 1.61%
2004 — 1.57%
2005 — 1.51%
2006 — 1.56%
2007 — 1.58%
United States Urban Transport Statistics