Bend Public Transit Set to Expand in 2025 and Beyond

As Bend continues to grow, Cascades East Transit (CET), the region’s public transportation service, plans to expand services in 2025 to increase usage and plan for necessary timing and location improvements. Following major service cuts during the pandemic, CET looks ahead to 2025 to increase service hours, buses and routes.

As a result of COVID-19, decreased services led to a significant dip in annual ridership in 2020 and 2021. Since then, CET has tried to return to pre-COVID ridership, according to Director Bob Townsend, who joined CET in September. While CET saw more riders in 2024, Townsend said the agency still needs to fill gaps in service.

In 2019, CET saw a total of 595,260 annual riders. With social distancing measures during COVID-19, ridership reached a low of 163,934 annual riders in 2021, according to data from CET. The total annual ridership then spiked, reaching 659,692 in 2024. But according to Townsend, overall ridership could be higher.

In 2025, CET hopes to increase its number of buses, drivers and locations. The top priority, Townsend said, is to improve its current services, offering better timing and more routes.

The agency will go back to its pre-pandemic hours, running from 6am to 7:30pm, offering more stability and convenience for people to get to and from work. As of today, buses on the Bend Fixed Route run from 7:30am to 5pm, making it not an option for some residents.

With its plan for more buses, CET hopes to focus on hiring more drivers, something it has struggled with in recent years. According to Townsend, the agency has been actively recruiting drivers for five years straight.

“We’re better off than we’ve been in the last few years, but we’re still short of where we want to be to get to a base level of service,” Townsend told the Source Weekly. “We could use five or 10 more drivers than we have right now. Last year, we could have used 15 more. So, we fill them, but until we get to some of those positions… we’re limited on our growth.”

Despite some increases in ridership, local bus services could still improve, according to officials. The struggles with ridership, Bend City Councilor Ariel Méndez said, reflect challenges around improving services.

“The big picture, of course, is yes, transit is important for people who don’t have the option to drive, but with 50% more people moving here in the next 20 years, we don’t really have room for 50% more cars, so we have to improve transit. Transit is such a key critical component to addressing that future demand — that’s why this is so important to figure out,” said Méndez.

To continue expanding and making services more reliable, CET plans to reintroduce fares on city routes, something it eliminated following the pandemic. Before COVID-19, the rate to ride the bus was around $1 to $1.50.

CET still charges for recreation routes, such as the ones that go to and from Mt. Bachelor, mountain trails and “Ride the River,” during summer months.

While agency officials haven’t decided on exact fare rates yet, they plan to reintroduce some form of payment this coming year, to help support future plans. According to Townsend, CET will still offer discounts for people who need them.

While most of its routes are free, CET’s paid routes are among the most utilized. According to Méndez, this suggests that it isn’t cost that’s a barrier to increasing ridership — it’s the quality of the service.

“That’s kind of the North Star for us, is, how do we get better quality service, which means better frequency, longer hours, more direct routes, things like that,” Méndez told the Source Weekly.

In addition to its growth, CET finished its major upgrades at its Hawthorne Station in February, improving safety and bus flow. In 2025, CET is set to receive six new buses through a grant to extend services to Mt. Bachelor and will switch to transit passes instead of cash.

This article appears in The Source Weekly February 6, 2025.