Summer shuttle to provide service to great outdoors

Scott Swanson

Hankering for a trip to the mountains but don’t have a way to get there?

Not too eager to risk summer weekend parking gridlock at Clear Lake?

Wanna do some hiking and camping but don’t want to leave your vehicle parked overnight at the wilderness trailhead?

Ken Bronson has options for you.

Bronson, who manages the Linn Shuttle transit program, has organized a shuttle service that will run from Sweet Home to Clear Lake on seven weekends this summer – June 13-14 and 27-28, July 11-12 and 25-26, Aug. 8-9 and 22-23, and Sept. 5-6.

The service will run a 20-passenger bus on Saturday mornings beginning at 13th Avenue-and-Kalmia Street bus stop in Sweet Home, starting at 8 a.m. It will stop at the U.S. Forest Service headquarters at 44th Avenue and Main Street, Shea Point Rest Area on Highway 20 at Foster Lake, Sunnyside County Park, River Bend County Park, Cascadia State Park, Trout Creek Trail Head, Yukwah Campground, Mountain House Trailhead, Seven Mile Horse Camp, Tombstone Pass, Lost Prairie Campground, Lava Lake Snow Park, Fish Lake/McKenzie River Trail and Clear Lake, where it will arrive at 9:52 a.m.

The morning bus will then return to Sweet Home, making the same stops, arriving at 13th and Kalmia at 12:05 p.m.

A 30-passenger afternoon bus will leave 13th and Kalmia at 1 p.m., arriving at Clear Lake at 2:52. It will return at 3:22 p.m., arriving at 13th and Kalmia at 5:04 p.m. The buses will pull a trailer, set up to haul bicycles, that has been provided by Anderson Auto Body of Sweet Home. Other sponsors are Linn County Parks Department, the U.S. Forest Service and the Liveabilty Initiative.

Cost for a one-way trip is $3 for riders 12 or older. Round-trip fare is $5. Children under 12 will ride free when accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

“What we’re trying to do is access those trailheads and campgrounds so people can use them,” Bronson said. “You can ride this bus up to Tombstone Pass and go off in multiple different directions. You can hike Iron Mountain or you can mountain bike down the Santiam Wagon Road, or you can go look at wildflowers. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

“We’re calling this ‘An Outdoor Adventure,’” said Bronson, who is an avid hiker and cyclist himself.

The idea for the service was born in Sweet Home’s Liveability Assessment, a Federal Highway Administration research project that aims to improve livability in communities that exist in close proximity to public land. Sweet Home’s Liveability Assessment, which began in 2013, has focused on improving the community’s economy, access to affordable housing and improving its transporation options in environmentally viable ways.

The $6,000 in funding for two buses and drivers is coming from a variety of sources – $2,000 from a Rural Transportation Assistance (5311) Grant, $1,500 from unused funds provided by the City of Sweet Home for the Downtown Shopper service, and $2,500 donated by Senior Center members.

“I had to be creative but I made it work,” Bronson said. “We’re not ones to come up with this idea and talk about it for a year or two. We want to get it done.”

He said the program’s first year will be a test and the schedule is subject to change. Also, scheduled times will be “approximate,” so users are encouraged to arrive early at pickup points.

The Linn County service is modeled after the Mt. Hood Express bus operated by the city of Sandy and Clackamas County.

“That’s just taking off, it’s going crazy,” Bronson said. “They have a custom bike trailer they built and it’s already too small. They’re needing a third bus.”

He said he doesn’t necessarily expect a similar response here, but Bronson noted that Sweet Home has an advantage over Mt. Hood for bus riders: all the trailheads and campgrounds are easily accessible from Highway 20.

“It’s not like Mt. Hood, where they can’t access the campgrounds and trailheads from the highway.”

Bronson said the possiblities are endless. He recalled how he and a friend once rode their mountain bikes down the Santiam Wagon Road from Tombstone Pass to Mountain House. His friend’s chain broke midway, but Bronson encouraged him not to quit.

“It was a great ride, downhill most of the way. We coasted 90 percent of the way down off the mountain and he made it.”

Feedback from the cycling commununity has been enthusiastic so far, he said.

“There’s a lot of buzz about it. We think this is a good opportunity.”

For more information and updated schedule information, call (541) 367-4775 or visit http://www.linnshuttle.com.

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