Mountain Express stuck in slow lane
A Welches group faces roadblocks while trying to get a bus running from Sandy to Rhododendron
March 30, 2004
MELISSA L. JONES
WELCHES -- And you think you've waited a long time for the bus. A group of Welches volunteers has been trying to get a bus up and down the Mount Hood corridor for the past year -- and they're still waiting.
The Mountain Express bus service has been stalled for months as volunteers work through government regulations needed to set up a line between Rhododendron and Sandy.
"People expected us to be started well before the first of the year," said Mike Wells, a Welches developer and bus supporter.
The Mountain Express concept, which has been shepherded by volunteers such as Wells, won a $60,000 grant from the Mt. Hood Economic Alliance last year. But the group hasn't been able to spend the money because the concept keeps running into roadblocks.
The Mountain Express would be a one-bus system providing two round trips from Sandy to Rhododendron in the morning and three round trips in the evenings.
The route would be built to serve the 7,500 people who live in and between the four villages of Rhododendron, Welches, Zigzag and Brightwood. The focus would not be on skiers or tourists, but rather on helping senior citizens, teenagers and workers. The ride would cost $2 each way.
Several issues have delayed the project.
"What they're trying to do is complicated," said Martin Loring, administrator of the Oregon Department of Transportation's public transit division.
Loring said that the state supports what the community is trying to do but that it must meet legal requirements first.
When the project was first pitched, the city of Sandy was involved. Now it is not. That leaves the group of volunteers, known as the Welches Public Transportation Steering Committee, trying to organize things that only local governments can do.
The group must find someone or some entity that is allowed to receive and spend public grant money -- something a group of private individuals can't do.
"It's a self-appointed group," Loring said. "It doesn't exist as a legal entity."
Clackamas County has agreed to be the fiscal agent for the bus system, but doesn't want to handle any scheduling or paperwork.
Hoodland Fire District 74 was supposed to be the official public administrator that monitors paperwork. But the Department of Transportation has questioned whether a fire district has the legal authority to support any transportation other than ambulance.
So Wells is looking into other options.
Long-term funding has been a concern to some working on the project. Wells has enough funding for the first year of operation, but money for subsequent years is not secured.
"We've been concentrating on getting it going," Wells said. "First, we've got to demonstrate that the public needs it."
Wells said his group is looking into grants and help from the U.S. Forest Service for future years.
In the meantime, the Mt. Hood Economic Alliance, which gave Mountain Express its biggest grant, is being patient. The alliance has extended two deadlines set for spending the grant money.
"Our board is understanding of some of the bumps along the road," said Mary McArthur, administrator of the alliance, which distributes lottery money in Clackamas and Hood River counties.