Two additional runs for the Mt. Hood Express bus service have seen good
results since they started in April. Muna Rustam, Transit Program
Administrator for the City of Sandy, noted that the two runs totaled 278
passenger rides in April, followed by 294 in May and 400 in June.

“We expected that there would be this need,” Rustam said. “A lot of workers
heading up to Timberline needed the midday service.”

That midday service leaves Sandy’s Operation Center at 11:15 a.m., reaching
Timberline Lodge at 12:30 p.m. and then heading back. The other additional
run, part of the Villages Shuttle route, leaves the Operations Center at 6:45
p.m. and includes a stop at Sandy High School before reaching its terminus in
Rhododendron at 7:25 p.m. and then returning.

The additions were made possible by a new state employee tax that was
passed in 2017, which dedicated the money to enhance current service or
start new service. The Mt. Hood Express conducted a survey to learn what
times would be the highest priorities for ridership.

Rustam noted that adding the stop at the high school is also a benefit to the
riders.

“That (Villages Shuttle) run makes an extra stop at Sandy High School, so if
there are events students want to get to or get home from, they can utilize
that,” she said. “So many people needed to get into town and get back in the
evening. We definitely knew it would be utilized.”

Rustam added that the tax collected goes into the community where it was
drawn from to help fund things on a local level. She also noted that a transit
master plan that will encompass all of Clackamas County is in the works, with
the goal of promoting connections between cities, possibly putting a regional
hub on the mountain to make other connections, such as to the Columbia
River Gorge and Hood River, while the Mt. Hood Express is expected to
receive two new busses in the near future.

“The mountain route is pretty rough on the buses,” Rustam said. “They have a
shorter lifespan than most busses would.”