Central Oregonian

Cascade Esat Transit eliminating Madras to Warm Springs shuttle

January 04, 2013

All trips/runs on the Madras-Warm Springs Community Connector Shuttle (Route 20) will be eliminated effective Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013.

At the Aug. 21, 2012 Regional Public Transit Advisory Committee (RPTAC) meeting, the RPTAC created a list of recommended necessary service cuts to Cascades East Transit services across Central Oregon, due to budget shortfalls. These cuts were then deliberated and approved at the Sept. 6, 2012 Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council (COIC) Board meeting. Most of the cuts took effect on Oct. 1, 2012 and have already been implemented. A Q&A on the service cuts is attached for reference.

At their Aug. 21, 2012 meeting, the RPTAC recommended elimination of the Madras-Warm Springs Community Connector Shuttle, due to lack of ridership and a loss of all funding from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to support the shuttle. At the time of these meetings, there were still efforts under way to identify gap funding to sustain the shuttle. Therefore, at their Sept. 6, 2012 meeting, the COIC Board elected to wait until Dec. 31 2012 to eliminate the shuttle, giving CET staff, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and the Oregon Department of Transportation additional time to identify funding to support the shuttle. As of Dec. 31, 2012, no additional funding has been identified. Therefore, the elimination of the Madras-Warm Springs shuttle (Route 20) has now been activated.

The shuttle may be reinstated at a later date, pending the identification of funding to support its operation.

For further information, please contact Scott Aycock, Transportation Planner, at 541-548-9520 or scotta@coic.org