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In January, the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) registered 7.9 million rail and bus trips, down 2.6 percent compared with January 2009 ridership.

The weak economy and a double-digit unemployment rate continue to impact ridership, primarily bus trips, TriMet officials said in a prepared statement.

In January, weekly trips declined 0.9 percent to 2 million; weekday trips dropped 0.8 percent to 321,600; weekend trips decreased 1.2 percent to 314,300; and rush-hour trips fell 2.1 percent to 104,000.

On the MAX light-rail system, weekly trips rose 11.4 percent to 716,500; weekday trips increased 11.2 percent to 116,700; weekend trips jumped 12.5 percent to 132,800; and rush-hour trips went up 9.6 percent to 35,500.

Meanwhile, the WES commuter-rail line averaged 6,150 weekly trips and 1,230 weekday/rush-hour trips in January.