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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2019)
SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2019 | 7A 541-997-2422 +DVLWEHHQ\HDUVRUPRUHVLQFH\RXU WDQNZDVSXPSHG"7KHQLW¶VWLPH &DOOXVWRWRGD\WRVFKHGXOHDQDSSRLQWPHQW &KHFN6DWXUGD\¶VSDSHUIRUDFRXSRQJRRGRQ\RXUQH[WVHUYLFH /RZHVW3ULFHV*XDUDQWHHG²:HZLOOPDWFKDQ\FRPSHWLWRUVSULFH We invite you to join us. • Tuesday morning Ladies study group @ 10am • Sunday Worship 9:00am and 10:45am Corner of 10th & Maple St. • 541-997-3533 florencecrossroadag.org email: office@florencecrossroadag.org DENTURE SERVICES INC. LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED Open 4 days a week! Here to serve your denture needs: Dentures Partial Dentures Immediate Dentures Implant Dentures Relines & Repairs Same Day Monday-Thursday 10am - 2 pm William Foster LD Sherry, Offi ce Manager “As a denture wearer myself, I can answer your questions and address your denture concerns.” ~ William Foster, LD Financing: Citi Health Card 12 Month no Interest 524 Laurel St. 541-997-6054 (Above) Bob Riggs of Newport is the only passenger on board the Florence-Yachats Connector headed to Florence to see a friend after taking a Lincoln County Transit bus to Yachats, where there was a stopover long enough to grab lunch. “I’m so glad they have this now. I don’t drive; I don’t have a car.” (Right) Alan Herring drives the Florence-Yachats Connector PHOTOS BY QUINTON SMIITH/YACHATSNEWS.COM bus four roundtrips a day between the two cities. The 10-pas- senger bus has room for two wheelchairs or four bikes, Herring says, and dogs “as long as they behave.” The Florence-Yachats Connector makes a stop each way at the day-use area of Carl Washburne State Park about halfway between the two cities. It will also stop, if flagged down, at Tenmile Road. Yachats Bus from page 1A the mid-Oregon coast and southern Willamette Valley, the service has carried just and Lane Transit wants to 839 people between the two concentrate on its core ser- cities. That’s an average of vice area around Eugene. four people a day — or one “The past is what it is,” person per trip — over 210 Bernard said. “It was an weekdays of service from imperfect rollout for the pi- September through June. lot. That’s why we need to Herring, who handles all continue this program … to the driving, says some days really see if it works. — especially in the winter “The summer will be the — there’s no one on board. key — to give a real clear In January and February picture of what we might only 32 people rode each see,” he said. “The state of month. That bumped up to Oregon has a vested inter- 124 in June as weather im- est in this succeeding. But proved. if it doesn’t work, then it Fares are $2.50 one way, won’t receive funding.” per person or $5 for an all- day pass. The philosophy and After getting money to reality start the one-year pilot For Oregon and regional project last September, the transit officials, the ulti- state of Oregon is giving mate goal is to have an un- Eugene-based Lane Tran- broken network of bus sys- sit District $40,000 more tems crisscrossing the state to continue the service along its major roads and through the summer. highways. Although there Then, if the Oregon are some lonely routes and Transportation Commis- inconvenient transfers, you sion approves a $450,000 can ride a bus from Astoria grant in August, the Lane to Ontario, from Portland to Council of Governments Klamath Falls. will take over the project But there is one missing for two years starting Oct. link in Oregon — that 23 1. miles separating Yachats The Oregon Department and Florence along High- of Transportation is paying way 101. for the pilot program and Three years ago state offi- appreciates Lane Transit cials began looking for a way stepping up to operate it. to close that gap and found But the agency realizes a partner in Lane Transit, there are issues, said Mark whose buses connect with Bernard, who oversees its private carriers running be- public transit programs for tween Eugene and the coast and helps fund the Rhody Express bus system in Flor- ence. Lincoln County also has a rudimentary bus system running between all the county’s cities and provides connections to private carri- ers heading north to Astoria and east to Corvallis. But there was nothing from Yachats going south. The state wanted to give people — locals, long-dis- tance travelers and tourists — the option of taking a bus from Point A to Point B, said Bernard. “Do you want transpor- tation choices?” he asked. “What about people without Tee it up for Military Museum! Florence Golf Links Saturday August 24, 2019 Fun and unique event with different format on each hole! RaŋĞƉƌizĞƐ͕ŚŽůĞ-in- tĞƐƚ͕ĐloƐĞƐƚtŽƉŝŶΘůoŶŐĞƐtĚƌŝvĞƐ! $100 per player includes awards dinner at Oregon Coast Military Museum! Forms available at Museum, Beach House www.oregoncoastmilitarymuseum.com Help us honor our Veterans! cars, the transit-dependent people?” Lane Transit agreed to run the pilot program. It started planning in 2017, talking to people in Florence and Yachats, conducting an online survey and trying to gauge interest and need. Some $100,000 of the grant was used to purchase and equip a new bus, but it didn’t arrive until July. The connector needed to link up with Florence’s Rhody Express system, but where? Lane Transit chose a bus stop near Grocery Out- let where people can catch a bus on the north or south loops of Florence’s system. The service — awarded to River Cities Taxi, which also operates the Rhody Express — was supposed to start last June. But problems in get- ting a temporary bus with a lift for wheelchairs and other complications delayed the start until September — after the coast’s best weather and tourist season. While it put flyers an- nouncing the service around both cities, Lane Transit did little else to promote the new service. The first two months of service saw 137 and 136 riders, respectively, but that dropped off to 32 in January and February. In May ridership was 119, in- creasing by five for June. “Ridership directly paral- lels the weather,” said John Ahlen, a Lane Transit man- ager overseeing the Yach- ats-Florence connector. The bus doesn’t operate on weekends, the busiest time for tourists or when lo- cals might go shopping, out to eat or attend an event in either town. There are also questions whether a bus terminus on the north edge of Florence rather than in Old Town or near the new Florence City Hall is the best location. “Transfers are killers” for higher use of public transit, says Bernard. over the Florence-Yachats Connector in October. In early June, an ODOT advi- sory committee ranked its application for a $450,000 grant to run the system as No. 1 of 17 requests it funded. The No. 2-ranked appli- cation was LCOG’s $1.23 million request to operate regular bus service be- tween Florence and Eu- gene, which planners ex- pect to be quite popular. In addition, Coos Coun- ty is asking for money to establish regular service — a private company offers it now — between North Bend and Florence. The effect, say ODOT and LCOG planners, is to establish a more coherent and reliable system that runs north, south, east through Florence. “We’re excited about making Florence a trans- portation hub,” said Kelly Clarke, the LCOG trans- portation planner heading up the projects. “We’re all working together to make it a seamless project.” While the agreement with Lane Transit is in place to run the Flor- ence-Yachats Connector through September and the Lane Council of Gov- ernments is all but guar- anteed to pick it up in Oc- tober, the real decision of continuing the service will come in two years. Clarke said her agency would like to expand the Yachats-Florence service to weekends, especially after the Eugene-Florence route starts operating next spring. It plans to establish an advisory group to get better feedback, communi- ty expectations and advice on any changes. “The good thing on pilot programs is that you can make adjustments easier to place, time and days,” she said. There are no stated rid- ership goals — numbers to What’s next? meet — in any of the grant The Lane Council of Gov- applications. ernments is poised to take Bernard believes “locals” from Yachats and Florence should constitute half of the riders. Tourists and travelers “will be the ones who lift this service,” he said. “And Oregon is at- tracting a lot of visitors. Do we want to give them a choice of getting out of their cars?” Bernard believes LCOG has to aggressively market the bus service, especial- ly after it gets the Flor- ence-to-Eugene link up and running, and examine adding weekend service. And ridership? Bernard would like to see an average of 500 riders a month, more than three times its current, highest monthly ridership. “The big decision point will come in two years,” Bernard said. “I’m not pre- tending that this service is going to float. And if it doesn’t float we’re not go- ing to fund it anymore.”
