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Last month, the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon's (TriMet) ridership rose 0.3 percent to 8.3 million trips. But the ridership gain vs. March 2008 is deceiving.

Overall, ridership was down in all categories. The monthly figure includes ridership data for the Westside Express Service (WES), a suburb-to-suburb commuter-rail line that opened two months ago.

System-wide in March, weekly trips dropped 0.9 percent to 1.9 million, weekday trips dipped 0.4 percent to 313,240, weekend trips decreased 2.8 percent to 332,700 and rush-hour trips dropped 0.9 percent to 101,040.

On the MAX light-rail system, weekly ridership declined 2 percent to 653,900 trips, weekday trips dropped 1.4 percent to 104,100, weekend trips decreased 4.4 percent to 133,400 and rush-hour trips fell 2.8 percent to 31,100.

Meanwhile, WES ridership totaled 5,700 trips, with an average of 1,140 weekday boardings.