PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON
From Pilot Rock to Mission and Walla Walla to La Grande, white shuttle buses shuffle travelers around Northeast Oregon every day.
On July 1, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Public Transit System added two cities to its burgeoning transportation network: Umatilla and Irrigon.
The new stops extend the route of the “Hermiston Hopper,” a free bus which begins and ends its day at the Nixyaawii Governance Center in Mission. Driving from Irrigon City Hall to the Governance Center would be a 50-mile direct trip; instead, the Hopper makes 23 stops on its mid-morning and mid-afternoon routes, including in Pendleton, Stanfield and Hermiston.
CTUIR Planning Director Jim Beard said Umatilla and Irrigon were natural expansions of the system.
“We’ve been working on this for four or five years now,” he said. “I guess I just thought that it was an area that we could cover that we haven’t yet in the western part of the county. It just provided a logical connection to an area out there that has a significant rural population that doesn’t have any public transportation.”
On weekdays, the first of the new stops is McNary Market at 9:41 a.m., followed by the Umatilla Recycle Depot at 9:46, Irrigon City Hall at 9:58 and the Irrigon Post office at 9:59. The bus swings by Umatilla City Hall at 10:12, the Umatilla Post Office at 10:14 before returning to the Hermiston Wal-Mart at 10:26, and the Hermiston Conference Center at 10:30.
At the conference center, riders can choose to continue to Pendleton and Mission via the Hopper or jump on a connector to take the Tri-City Trolley. The CTUIR Transit Service also offers the “Pilot Rocket,” “La Grande Arrow,” “Walla Walla Whistler” and “Tutuilla Tripper,” as well as its original route – “The Mission Metro” – which began in 2001.
Beard said the Irrigon stop now opens the door for Morrow County to launch its own smaller-scale transportation system connected with the CTUIR system. A shuttle could transport riders between Ione, Boardman, Heppner and Irrigon, where they could connect to the Hermiston Hopper.
“Since we’re out there in Hermiston, it was a logical expansion of the service to go to Irrigon and we were able to work it out logistically to get back to Hermiston the same time we were before,” he said. “We couldn’t logistically serve Boardman and get back to Hermiston to get people here at a reasonable time to the workplace, but having service to Irrigon makes it accessible to the rest of Morrow County.”
That timeline is important for commuters who use the transportation system to travel to work in other cities. For example, three shuttles – The Hermiston Hopper, La Grande Arrow and Walla Walla Whistler – have drop off and pick up schedules that allow employees from the three cities to work the 8-5 shift at technology business Cayuse Technologies in Mission.
“That’s important,” Beard said. “Many people have told us that they wouldn’t be able to drive from Hermiston to outlying areas; they wouldn’t be able to take these jobs if it wasn’t for public transportation because they couldn’t afford to drive their personal vehicle to work every day and have it work out for them.”
Economic growth in Morrow County could be the biggest factor in expanding services to that area.
“I believe it will evolve and that Boardman will eventually become a part of a route that includes Boardman, Irrigon, Umatilla, Hermiston and McNary,” Beard said. “There’s no public transportation in Boardman and they have a lot of economic growth down there. The jobs may be in Boardman but they depend on the region for their workforce.”
City Managers in Umatilla and Irrigon agreed.
In February, the Umatilla City Council authorized a $4,000 annual match toward an approximately $80,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to expand the service to the two cities.
“I think this would improve the quality of life here,” Umatilla City Manager Bob Ward said during that meeting.
Last week, Ward said he was unsure how many riders had taken advantage of the service, but many residents had picked up information and schedules from Umatilla City Hall.
“I think that there has been some interest, but I don’t think that there has been that much utilization as of yet,” he said. “I think more awareness would probably help.”
Beard agreed, but don’t expect to see any advertisements for the CTUIR Transit Service any time soon.
“We’ve learned that it takes a while for people to know about the bus and learn how to use it for whatever their individuals purposes are. It’s not really something we can advertise in the paper,” he said. “The best way to advertise the bus is just the bus being out there.” For bus routes and schedules, visit the CTUIR Public Transit website.
