Bend transit expansion ready to roll

The Cascades East Transit system in Bend is expanding come Monday, and OSU-Cascades is doing their part of meeting the community’s transportation goals.

The expansion is a 30 percent increase in service.

Three new bus routes will be added: Route 7, providing direct access from Hawthorne Station east to the medical district area;, Route 12, providing direct connection between the OSU-Cascades and COCC campuses every 30 minutes, and Route 10, providing service west from Hawthorne Station and downtown Bend to the Colorado/Simpson high tech employment and recreational areas, and to the new Westside campus every 60 minutes.

Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council Outreach Administrator Judy Watts said Tuesday other additions include increased buses and shorter wait times.

“They should be coming every 30 minutes on most routes,” Watts said. “We’re open ‘tll 8 p.m. on weekdays, and on Saturday, the wait for the next bus is 60 minutes down from 80 which it currently is,” Watts said.

One of the new route,s include the new OSU campus, and by promoting different modes of transportation, OSU-Cascades is providing a bus pass program for students and staff that will come with no additional charge to the community.

“The student government chose to fund that out of their student fees, so they’ll be able to go to not only to class but to any other type of recreational activities and any other places they want to go to by bus in Bend,” Watts said.

Watts said this expansion is just the beginning.

“We’re not ending here,” she said. “We’re going to be looking at expanding the regional system. So some of the community connectors and other routes after we kickoff this project, so we’re just hoping to get more transit service to all of Central Oregon.”

The Hawthorne Station will be holding open houses every afternoon this week with maps of the new routes.

Here’s more details in a news release from OSU-Cascades:

Students and faculty at Oregon State University – Cascades will begin the academic year with new identification cards that will each include an annual transit pass for all Cascades East Transit bus routes in Bend.

The passes will be provided at no additional charge to campus community members to encourage bus commuting. The student passes were funded through student fees. Identification cards will be distributed to students and campus employees beginning this month.

The bus pass program is part of a larger endeavor underway at all levels of the OSU-Cascades community to develop a campus culture that embraces sustainable transportation.

Kelly Sparks, associate vice president for finance and strategic planning, oversees the campus expansion and said, “Students, faculty and staff members are actively planning ways to lessen dependency on single occupancy personal vehicles and encourage other modes of transportation.”

Other efforts, either completed or underway, toward developing a multi-modal campus include:

A shared investment in CET that will benefit both students and community members. In June, OSU-Cascades contributed $100,000 toward the expansion of CET bus services, joining partners that included the City of Bend, St. Charles Health System and Central Oregon Community College. Among the additional services made possible because of the investments are new bus routes, including a route that will run between Central Oregon Community College and the new OSU campus, later service hours and shorter waits on some routes.

A pilot campus bike share program. In February, four orange bike share bicycles named Benny, Bernice, Betty and Norman were made available to faculty and staff from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays when campus is open. The bikes are being used for both official business as well as personal errands. Efforts are underway to extend the program to students on the new campus.

A slate of recommendations for transportation and parking developed by a campus-community task force. The complimentary bus passes were one of 21 recommendations made by a Campus Expansion Advisory Committee task force focused on transportation and parking. More than half of the recommendations are to be implemented on the new campus, including amenities and convenience services for bike commuters, a flex vehicle program, tiered parking fees, priority parking spaces for carpool vehicles, and education and incentive programs. The balance of the recommendations are being analyzed for next steps.

A $738,000 transformative transportation grant from the Central Oregon Regional Solutions Center. Recommendations developed by the CEAC transportation and sustainability task forces, and prioritized by the Regional Solutions Advisory Committee were impetus for a grant that will enhance public transit infrastructure for students and community members throughout the region.

In June 2014 OSU-Cascades adopted a vision for sustainability that was put forth by another CEAC task force focused on economically, socially and ecologically.

“The collaboration between students, faculty, community members and many external partners is helping us create a campus that is sustainable in many ways,” said Sparks, “with the transportation aspect being one the most crucial to address.”

About OSU-Cascades: Located in Bend, Ore., Oregon State University’s branch campus features outstanding faculty in degree programs that reflect Central Oregon’s vibrant economy and abundant natural resources. Eighteen undergraduate majors, 30 minors and options, and three graduate programs include computer science, energy systems engineering, kinesiology, hospitality management, and tourism and outdoor leadership. The branch campus will expand to a four-year university beginning fall 2015.