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
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Office Spaces Available
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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. Main St., John Day
541-575-1188
John Day, OR (GCD)
Unicom 122.8
us online at
Open Visit
8-4 Monday-Saturday
Grant County Chambers of Commerce
www.gcoregonlive.com
541-575-1151