Correcting: Web site is www.ColumbiaGorgeExpress.com, not.org

Oregon Department of Transportation sent this bulletin at 05/20/2016 01:00 PM PDT

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May 20, 2016

Contacts

Kristin Stallman, 503-731-4957, Kristin.Stallman@odot.state.or.us

Don Hamilton, 503-704-7452, Don.B.Hamilton@odot.state.or.us

 

 

Resending with corrected web site address:

New Columbia Gorge Express bus service

will launch Friday, May 27

 

ODOT will launch its new Columbia Gorge Express bus Friday, May 27 with round-trip service linking the Gateway Transit Center with Rooster Rock State Park and Multnomah Falls.

The service, which will operate Friday through Sunday through Sept. 25, provides transportation options that help relieve severe parking and traffic congestion at Multnomah Falls, one of the most popular attractions in Oregon. The cost of a round trip is $5.

During the service, travelers may park for free at Rooster Rock State Park and ride the shuttle at no charge to Multnomah Falls, a 10-minute ride, allowing travelers to avoid the overcrowded Falls parking lot.

“The Gorge is home to some of our most beloved outdoor attractions,” said Rian Windsheimer, ODOT manager for the Portland area.” National Scenic Area treasures like Multnomah Falls draw thousands of tourists every year and adding this transit service is intended to help ease congestion, improve safety, relieve the parking crunch and make these areas accessible to more Oregonians."

The Columbia Gorge Express will:

  • Ease congestion and the overcrowded parking lot at Multnomah Falls, which occasionally backs up onto eastbound Interstate 84.
  • Offer an inexpensive and stress-free way to visit Rooster Rock State Park and Multnomah Falls.
  • Protect natural and cultural resources by reducing illegal parking on the Historic Columbia River Highway.

Service will begin Friday, May 27 with 12 departures a day from the Gateway Transit Center, the first at 8:45 a.m. The final bus of the day will leave Multnomah Falls at 6 p.m.

 Each bus will have rack space for three bicycles.

The service will operate again in 2017. Over the course of the two-year pilot project, ODOT and its partners will evaluate the service and explore options for expansion to Hood River beyond 2017.

In planning the service, the ODOT team gathered information about travel needs and experiences in the Gorge. Between November 2015 and March 2016, the team talked with transit service providers, held small stakeholder group discussions and conducted an online survey that received more than 1,700 responses. Feedback was also collected at a public open house in March. 

Participants in the survey chose Multnomah Falls as their top Gorge destination and more than 70 percent of respondents said they would consider using public transit or parking shuttles to reach Gorge destinations.

Multnomah Falls has struggled with limited parking. In the 22 months ending May 13, 2016, overcrowding forced closure of the parking lot there on 181 days, 129 of them a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

For more information, go to www.ColumbiaGorgeExpress.com

##ODOT##