An adult man riding a bicycle was left with life-threatening injuries Monday after colliding with a TriMet Lift paratransit bus in Southeast Portland, prompting a street closure and an ongoing police investigation. Emergency crews responded to the 4300 block of SE 136th Avenue in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, where the bicyclist was found in critical condition.
The bus driver remained at the scene and is cooperating with investigators, according to Portland police officials, as reported by KATU. Police have not released details about what led to the crash, and the investigation into exactly what happened remains open. The incident has been assigned case number 26-276823.
Authorities closed SE 136th Avenue in both directions between SE Center Street and SE Cora Street while crews worked the scene, KATU's report noted. Investigators are asking anyone who witnessed the crash to email the Traffic Division at [email protected], per the same account.
A Corridor Recently Rebuilt for Safety
The crash unfolded on a stretch of roadway that Portland officials had specifically redesigned to protect cyclists. In November 2021, the Portland Bureau of Transportation completed a $6.7 million “Fixing Our Streets” project along SE 136th Avenue, with $4 million funded by Fixing Our Streets and $2.7 million from Transportation System Development Charges, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation, adding protected bike lanes, continuous sidewalks, and fresh pavement between SE Division Street and SE Foster Road. SE Holgate Boulevard was identified as a separate bikeway connection between SE 136th and SE 130th avenues.
Despite those upgrades, SE 136th Avenue and the surrounding East Portland corridors remain part of the city's High Crash Network — a designation for streets that make up just 8% of Portland's roadway grid but accounted for 62% to 67% of citywide traffic deaths between 2020 and 2024, per BikePortland. Just blocks from Monday's crash site, the intersection of SE 136th Avenue and SE Powell Boulevard has been identified as a high-risk intersection.
How TriMet Lift Operates
The vehicle involved was a TriMet Lift bus, part of the agency's door-to-door paratransit service for riders with disabilities or mobility needs. The LIFT partnership includes Transdev as a dedicated fleet operator, according to background reported via Uber. Lift vehicles operate within three-quarters of a mile of all fixed-route bus and light rail lines, meaning they regularly navigate both residential side streets and busy arterials like SE 136th Avenue.
TriMet's paratransit fleet has faced its own scrutiny in recent years. In an August 2024 state funding report, TriMet disclosed that 177 of its 268 Lift vehicles — about 66% of the fleet — were operating beyond state useful life benchmarks, contributing to maintenance and reliability challenges, according to a filing with the State of Oregon.
What Oregon Law Requires
Any investigation into a vehicle-bicycle collision on a road like SE 136th Avenue will likely turn on Oregon's passing and lane-use statutes. Under Oregon Revised Statute 811.065, drivers passing a bicyclist must pass on the left at a safe distance, per legal background compiled by OregonLaws.
A legal explainer from The Advocates discusses bicyclists' use of designated bike lanes and exceptions involving hazards and turns, according to a legal explainer from The Advocates. Whether the bicyclist or the Lift bus was navigating a lane transition at the time of Monday's crash has not been detailed by police.
Transit Crashes and Traffic Safety
Monday's collision adds to concerns about traffic incidents involving transit vehicles.
Portland's broader traffic-fatality totals have varied, with BikePortland citing 69 deaths in one year and 58 in another. East Portland has accounted for a disproportionate share of traffic deaths, per the same reporting.
Police have not released further details on the sequence of events leading up to Monday's crash, and it remains unclear when investigators expect to determine fault. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Traffic Division by email, as authorities have requested.
