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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2019)
PROGRESS 2019: PEOPLE MOVER MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, June 26, 2019 11 The People Mover expands with free routes Service continues to grow, offering transportation inside and outside county By Angie Jones For the Blue Mountain Eagle The People Mover has come a long way since it was founded in the 1970s. Still considered a fron- tier county, it was once a small, volunteer-ran program through the Senior Citizens Associa- tion that featured excursion shut- tles and limited Dial-A-Ride. It is now a robust public transportation program that provides services throughout Grant County and rivals many of the services found in more urban areas. Early in the People Mover’s history, the Senior Citizens Asso- ciation, in coordination with the Grant County Chamber of Com- merce, was instrumental in obtain- ing the fi rst Greyhound “Rural Connection” in Oregon, winning a national UTMA Administrators Award. At that time, around 1985, the People Mover was led primar- ily by Ken and Helen Bogart, a group of dedicated volunteers and supporters. In 1992, Grant County Trans- portation District was formed. Through a signifi cant contribu- tion from Bill and Gloria Smith, a new building was purchased and subsequently remodeled to house the People Mover operations. The Smiths were also instrumental in donating the match money to pur- chase the fi rst People Mover bus. The People Mover services grew slowly, adding a twice-a-week ser- vice into Redmond and Bend when the Trailways bus service ended. In 2006, the Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation conducted a review, and the subsequent fi nd- ings brought about a change in board members, staff and ser- vice focus, charting a new direc- tion for the People Mover. The focus shifted to public transpor- tation, moving away from carry- ing freight materials. This allowed safe transportation for the citizens of Grant County to become the pri- mary goal. Services began to slowly expand. By 2011, the People Mover was making three trips to the Bend area every week, and had expanded operating hours to 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fri- days. In 2011, the People Mover also added non-emergent medical transportation, which allowed the district to provide more services to the area, and this contract reve- nue provided increased funding for grant matches. Grants, contract revenue and ridership increased steadily through 2014 when the People Mover received its fi rst Highly Rural Veterans Transporta- Contributed photo The People Mover provided transportation to visitors during the eclipse in 2017. Contributed photo The People Mover provides transportation within Grant County with routes outside the county as well. Contributed photo Ruth Harris, a dedicated rider of the People Mover public transportation service, boards a bus in 2017. tion Grant through the VA. This allowed an additional expansion of services, and the Pendleton/Walla Walla and Burns routes were cre- ated, providing once-a-week ser- vice to Burns and the Pendleton/ Walla Walla area. Rural communi- ties along each of the routes were also being served, some having access to public transportation for the very fi rst time. Later, a Baker City route was added with the assistance of the HRTG Grant. August 2017 brought an infl ux of people into Grant County for the Great American Eclipse. That provided the People Mover with additional opportunities to design and operate temporary fi xed routes that ran from Dayville to Prairie City. The People Mover hired tem- porary staff and leased buses to ensure that it had enough capac- ity to meet the demand. Approxi- mately 19,000 people visited for several days, adding 1,100 board- ings to the passenger count. In 2011, the annual passenger count was 22,248. In 2018, the year ended with a total passenger count of 37,540. Currently, the People Mover is on track to exceed 40,000 boardings. The People Mover con- tinues to travel to Bend every Monday, Wednesday and Friday; Pendleton and Walla Walla every Tuesday; Burns the fi rst, third and fi fth Thursdays; and Baker City the second and fourth Thursdays. With the transportation pack- age that passed in 2017, the People Mover was able to deploy a devi- ated fi xed route, the Red Line, that circulates through John Day and Canyon City every hour, begin- ning at 7 a.m. and the last route departing the bus station at 6 p.m. Another deviated fi xed route, the Green Line, was deployed that runs between Prairie City and Mt. Vernon four times a day. Both deviated routes are fare free. The People Mover offers free medi- cal transportation to eligible Grant County veterans and non-emergent medical transportation through a contract with Greater Oregon Behavioral Health Inc. The People Mover also pro- vides transportation for the Long Creek, Monument and Kimberly areas to John Day, Bend and Walla Walla with reservations. The People Mover also contin- ues to provide demand response services from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. The 2017 transportation pack- age also provided the People Mover with an opportunity to expand even further. Discretion- ary grant applications have been applied for that will add a 25-pas- senger ADA-compliant bus; a bus shelter at Grant Union high school, in coordination with Ore- gon Department of Transporta- tion and Safe Routes to School; a weekly bus route from John Day to Ontario; Phase 2 of the property expansion project for earth work and paving; vehicle hardware and software that would allow real- time communication and tracking of vehicles as well as automated stop announcements and other features. Umatilla County has applied for a STIF discretionary grant that would allow the People Mover to provide free services to Umatilla County residents riding our Pend- leton/Walla Walla bus. Umatilla County would reimburse the Peo- ple Mover directly for services under this agreement. Today, the People Mover is receiving state and national atten- tion for the amazing services that it provides. The People Mover has a paid staff of 1.5 dispatchers, 10 drivers and a district manager. The district manager has been appointed to regional, state and national transportation advisory boards, ensuring that rural public transit has a voice. Grant County public transportation has a very bright future and is leading the way as an amazing example of how rural transportation ensures valuable local and regional con- nections are available to everyone. Angie Jones is the district man- ager for the People Mover/Grant County Transportation District. The Best Road Trip Through OREGON Takes You Through Grant County to the John Day Valley 1188 has “Time Well Spent” investing in our downtown infrastructure for a new business, drawing additional visitors to our area and will continue to invest time and energy into creating new concepts for a vibrant Main Street community. www.grantcountyoregon.net/150/airport Visit us at at Visit us online online www.grantcountyoregon.net/150/airport www.grantcountyoregon.net/150/airport • Well Over 2,000 Visitors to Kam Wah Chung 100LL * Jet A Courtesy Cars * Tie-Downs 541-575-1151 Conference Rooms Office Spaces Available • Well Over 4,000 Visitors to The Fossil Beds 541-575-1151 • Local Museums seeing an Increase in Visitors Enjoy Our Grant County Communities: John Day | Prairie City | Canyon City | Seneca | Mt. Vernon | Long Creek | Dayville | Monument | Kimberly | Dale | Fox | Granite 1188 Brewing Company 141 E. 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