November 28, 2007

The Dalles-Portland bus service begins

By ED COX
of The Dalles Chronicle

     Residents of The Dalles and Hood River no longer need a car to visit Portland on Thursdays — just $16 and a bus schedule.
     Starting this week, the Mid-Columbia Council of Governments’ Transportation Network and Hood River County’s Columbia Area Transit (CAT) will run a new Thursday service between the three cities.
     A bus will leave The Dalles Transportation Center (201 Federal Street) at 7:30 a.m. to connect with another at CAT’s port marina office next to DMV in Hood River. The CAT bus will then leave for Portland at 8 a.m.
     Its first stop will be about 9:05 a.m. at the Gateway MAX station (nearest the I-84 and I-205 interchange), which offers access via light rail to Gresham, the Portland airport and downtown.
     From there, the bus will proceed to Sam Jackson Hall, the outpatient clinic building of Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), arriving about 9:45 a.m. and, after a 15-minute break, to Clackamas Town Center, arriving about 10:30 a.m. at the lower level, south side (main entrance west of Barnes and Noble).
     Taking the reverse route back, the bus leaves Clackamas Town Center at 2:15 p.m., arriving at OHSU about 2:45, stopping at the Gateway MAX about 3:25, and arriving in Hood River by 4:35 and The Dalles by 5:10 p.m.
     According to Dan Schwanz, who directs both CAT and the Transportation Network, the service will be one day a week for the foreseeable future. He said the choice of Thursday was based on driver availability and a desire to avoid both Monday holidays and Friday afternoon traffic in Hood River.
     This week, the bus will run only if someone shows up in The Dalles or Hood River to ride, he said. However, starting next Thursday, the route will be run faithfully regardless of ridership.
     Because it’s a fixed route, he stressed, people must be on time both heading out and returning in order to avoid being left behind.
     For the sake of simplicity, the fare is $8 each way, regardless of where a rider gets on and off.
     The route was made possible by grant money from the federal inter-city program, which also funded the new daily (weekday) commuter service between      The Dalles and Hood River, added late last month.
     The schedule for the commuter route is as follows:
Mornings
6 a.m. - leave CAT office (Hood River)
6:38 - leave intersection hwys. 197 & 30 (The Dalles)
6:46 - The Dalles Transportation Center
7:04 - Mosier’s “pocket park” (south side of bridge over railroad tracks)
7:12 - Hood River Inn
7:17 - at the Hood River Hotel
7:24 - Wal-Mart (HR)
7:30 - Rosauer’s (HR)
Evenings
5 p.m. - leave Rosauer’s (HR)
5:09 - Wal-Mart (HR)
5:16 - Hood River Hotel
5:21 - Hood River Inn
5:31 - Mosier
5:49 - TD Transport. Ctr.
5:56 - Jct. hwys. 197 & 30.
6:22 - arrive CAT office (HR)
     Schwanz also reported he will be receiving a grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to purchase a vehicle for an originally-planned midday run on that same route.
     It might be six months before he is able to add the second run, he said.
     For more information about either route, call (541) 386-4202 or toll free at (877) 875-4657. The Transportation Network continues to offer door-to-door service in and around The Dalles with 24-hour advance scheduling; call 296-7595.