Is Tri-Met still a bargain for commuters' budgets? 

The folks at Metro thought so, even after a fare hike this week. 

 More: TriMet fare hike

Pam Peck of Metro's "Drive Less Save More" committee said that's especially true when you consider the alternative.

"The cost of driving, just commuting to work would be an average of $168 for somebody in our area," said Peck.  "That's based on an average commute and what it costs to operate and maintain a car and that doesn't include costs like parking."

Portlandcommuter Courtney Day said she knows all about the cost of parking.  Part of her daily drive from NE Portland to Downtown includes a trip to the parking garage.

"The garage that's most convenient to my work costs me $14 a day," said Day.

Add to that what one might spend just driving to work.  A newer feature on Google.com makes estimating that cost easy and painfully clear.

KGW file

A Tri-Met bus travels through town.

To learn more, go to Google's map feature and type your starting and ending addresses using the "Get directions" feature.  After the step-by-step directions appear, click on the blue "Public Transit" link.  That will take you to a list of possible TriMet routs, schedules, and an estimation of how much it would cost you to drive the rout. 

Google estimates a 24.7 mile trip from Gresham High School to City Hall in Beaverton would cost $2.05 ($2.30 starting September 1) using TriMet, and $12.46 to drive.

It may be a better deal on paper, unless you think time is money. 

Google estimates it would take about 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete that rout using Tri-Met, but only 37 minutes to drive.  Time Day said she can't afford to lose.

"There's just not enough time in the day," she said.

Besides the fare increases, TriMet also introduced a new fare option on Wednesday -- a half-month pass which will cost $44 starting September 1.