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(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!
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Saturday
August 24, 2019
Fun and unique event with
different format on each hole!
RaŋĞƉƌizĞƐ͕ŚŽůĞ-in-
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$100 per player includes awards
dinner at
Oregon Coast Military Museum!
Forms available at Museum, Beach House
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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.”
