Sunset Empire Transportation District is among a consortium of five transportation districts that will share a $3.4 million federal grant to create a coordinated regional transit program serving the north and central Oregon coast.
Cindy Howe, executive director of Astoria-based Sunset Empire, said the grant will be used to create a regional marketing campaign promoting the use of public transportation, and to refine bus service transfer points among the partnering agencies to create a regionally linked service between metropolitan areas and coastal communities.
The region-wide system will share an identifying logo, shared fare system and a coordinated marketing campaign without requiring the creation of a new regional transit agency.
Howe said the program is meant to encourage people to use public transportation rather than driving to and from the coast.
"It really is a way to change the way people travel," Howe told the Coast River Business Journal. "We’re looking at a regional, coordinated service that’s seamless."
"It’s very important in small communities, like we have on the coast, to reduce traffic congestion, especially during the incredibly busy summer months," she said.
The $3,461,319 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy will be shared by SETD and transportation districts in Columbia, Tillamook, Lincoln and Benton counties.
Much of the funding will be used to develop a marketing "brand" that will identify the regional transportation program and for advertising campaigns to promote the coordinated service to potential visitors to the coast living in metropolitan areas, including Portland and Corvallis and as far away as Seattle. (Columbia County currently links with Portland’s Tri-Met service, and Benton County serves Corvallis.)
There is also an outreach program earmarked for employers on the coast to encourage their workers to utilize public transportation.
A portion of the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant also will be used to connect the transit services through expanded bus schedules or refining transfer points to better link the various services.
Sunset Empire’s share of the grant is $650,000 and will be used to expand bus service throughout Clatsop County to seven days a week, Howe said. Currently, the service is six days a week, except in Cannon Beach where service is daily.
A portion of the funds will be used by SETD for additional bus shelters and informational kiosks throughout the county. At some point, Howe said she would like to use the latest technology to provide current bus schedules through a software application that can be downloaded to cell phones.
Although much of the goal of the program is focused on getting coastal visitors to use public transportation both to and from the coast in addition to using it when they are visiting coastal communities, Howe pointed out that there also will be an effort to encourage local residents to utilize their local transit system more frequently, as well as using the regional system when traveling further distances.
Although the grant provides region-wide coordination among the transportation agencies, Howe emphasized that each agency will retain full autonomy, as they have now.
While the grant will pay for creation of a new brand to identify the coordinated transportation system, Howe pointed out that Sunset Empire will retain its present "the bus" logo and will integrate the new regional logo on its buses, kiosks and schedules.
The five agencies have until the end of September to finalize plans for use of at least 85 percent of the grant funds. They have three years to spend all of the funds.