New CV bus route starts; students get free rides on all buses
August 28, 2009 1:48 PM
After years of anticipation, a new city bus route between downtown Corvallis and Crescent Valley High School will begin Sept. 8.
City officials and the Corvallis School District agreed to the new route last spring. They also approved a plan to allow all 509J students to get free rides on the entire transit system -- including the Philomath Connection -- between Sept. 8 and June 30, 2010.
The new CV route will run only on school days. Twice each morning, at 7 and 8:55 a.m., a bus will run from the downtown transit center along Northwest Highland Drive to the high school and back. In the afternoon, one route will begin at the corner of Highland and Walnut Boulevard at 3:55 p.m. and another will leave the transit center at 5:10 p.m. to go to Crescent Valley and bring riders back to Corvallis.
The 35-minute round trip includes a stop at the corner of 11th Street and Buchanan Avenue, near Corvallis High School.
The intent is to provide service for Crescent Valley residents and district faculty for work trips in the early morning and late afternoon and to offer an optional transportation system for students before and after school.
The general public must pay the usual bus fare on the CV route, but a free park and ride facility will be available in the high school's west parking lot. Middle and high school students who ride on the CV or any other city bus route will be asked to show their student identification cards. Elementary students, however, will not need to show identification.
"We are really pleased to partner with the city in this effort to reduce the parking and vehicle congestion around our schools," said Greg Lecuyer, facilities manager. "We're hoping a lot of our students and staff, as well as local residents, will take advantage of the new CV bus route which a number of people have been requesting for years."
The CV bus service will run for a trial period of two years. Each year, the city will conduct a ridership survey to see how many people are using it. The district has agreed to pay the city $32,000 to help cover the costs of the CV service and the free ridership program during the 2009-10 school year.
To see a map of the CV bus route and a detailed schedule of stops along the way, click here.
