The Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council (COIC), operator of Cascades East Transit (CET), was recently awarded multiple competitive grants from Oregon’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF). These grants are from the STIF Discretionary Fund and Statewide Transit Network programs. The discretionary grants support a wide range of projects
COIC’s awarded projects include (project descriptions are taken from the grant applications):
Category C vehicle purchase for new routes in Redmond and Bend — $480,000
Three (3) Category C vehicles are needed to launch three (3) expansion routes described in local plans in Redmond and Bend. Routes C and D in Redmond and Route 8 in Bend will provide public transit where there has never before existed scheduled transit service, increasing the geographic area of scheduled transit coverage in Redmond by nearly 30 percent and by roughly 12 percent in Bend. This will bring transit access to an additional 26,300 people and 7,700 households (Census 2020). These routes will reach areas with greater nonwhite and Hispanic populations (Routes C and D = 25% nonwhite/Hispanic vs 12% in Redmond; Route 8 = 21% vs 12% in Bend) and lower income households relative to each city. Each route will serve multiple apartment complexes, affordable housing communities, shopping areas, and work centers. Each service area connects with transfers to broader city and regional transit services and multimodal travel options. This project will procure new vehicles fully equipped with ADA accessibility features and the same modern technologies deployed across the CET fleet. Drivers are ready and available for these new vehicles, but the expansion routes cannot be launched without these additional vehicles.
Vehicle replacement for rural Community Connector service
— $960,000
COIC is seeking discretionary funding to purchase five (5) Category B replacement vehicles that would enable Cascades East Transit to restore transit service to a pre-pandemic service levels. Recent supply chain shortages led to delayed procurement delivery, which in turn caused greater wear on CET’s existing fleet. The resulting maintenance needs from operating an aging fleet have exacerbated costs for labor and parts and now impacts other operational needs. COIC, as an ORS 190 organization relying on grant and contract funding, does not have unrestricted funds to support this purchase on its own.
The five replacement vehicles will support CET’s Community Connector service, connecting the towns of Central Oregon from Warm Springs to La Pine, Sisters to Prineville. These rural routes average 48 miles in length and CET provides frequent service with as many as eleven roundtrips per day. These communities served include greater nonwhite populations than Oregon on average, lower household incomes, and increased rates of car-free households. Rider surveys show that clients use these routes for basic shopping and medical needs, in addition to travel for work and school.
Vanpool program transition support — $480,000
COIC launched a vanpool program that exited pilot status in 2023 and is now the fastest growing program on the West Coast using Commute with Enterprise. COIC plans to transition the program from a fully subsidized model to a self-sustaining program with user fees and/or employer contributions. The requested funding will support the program through the transition period and allow continued adoption of this ridesharing option that has successfully removed over 200 single occupancy vehicles from daily commuting in the past year and in August delivered more trips than the entirety of CET’s Community Connector service.
COIC leverages subcontractors to efficiently administer its vanpool program. The program fills gaps in the Cascades East Transit network, providing public transportation during hours and in locations where and when public transit is not available. This program has been developed to meet the City of Bend’s Community Climate Action Plan and pending statewide transportation demand management goals. To-date, all vanpool trips are intercommunity and each town in Central Oregon is served by at least one current vanpool. Riders benefiting from this program include predominately schoolteachers and industrial workers. Riders have overwhelmingly cited housing affordability as the reason for living far from their work sites. Most riders report that if the vanpool service were not available, they would travel using a private single occupancy vehicle. The program has delivered 56,000 rides over more than 400,000 miles in the past year.
Rural Veterans Healthcare Transportation supplement — $150,869
COIC is seeking supplemental funding to continue its Rural Veterans Healthcare Transportation (RVHT) program in the face of rapid growth in demand. With medical services in Central Oregon concentrated in Bend, rural veterans face significant geographic barriers to care. The COIC RVHT program provides veterans on-demand transit service to qualifying medical destinations in Deschutes, Crook, and Jefferson Counties, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and a portion of northern Klamath County.
COIC leverages efficiencies in this program by working with Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) and delivering rides via a mix of directly operated and brokered services. It has served over 6,000 rides in the past year in a service area more than 80 miles across. It provides a regional benefit with trips connecting veterans in communities across Central Oregon with services in each jurisdiction.
Pacific Crest Bus Lines Bend to Klamath Fall Operations — $256,000
Pacific Crest Bus Lines (PCBL) is an intercity transit provider that connects COIC’s public transit system to the statewide transportation network. It makes connections in several Central Oregon towns with destinations in Portland, Eugene, Salem, Klamath Falls, and Burns. The routes served have historically been a transportation desert that other operators are unable to effectively serve. The requested funding will support PCBL Bend to Klamath Falls route operations from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2027.