Everybody Rides: A Day on the Bus
Spend a day on a public bus in the gorge and you’re bound to meet all kinds of people. The Gorge TransLink motto is “Everybody rides”, after all.
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By Cole Goodwin
Spend a day on a public bus in the gorge and you’re bound to meet all kinds of people. The Gorge TransLink motto is “Everybody rides”, after all.
On any given day you can find a diverse sampling of the Gorge Community on public transit. So sure, everybody rides, but why do they ride?
CCC News spent two hours on the CAT Bus in Hood River to find out.
What we discovered is that spending even a single hour on the bus can reveal a lot about a community, its needs, and how public transit creates access to vital services locally and regionally.
It’s 10:30 on a Wednesday.
I’m standing at a bus stop at the Hood River Waterfront soaking up the view and sweating it out in the hundred degree heat when the CAT Bus, in all its bright purple and air-conditioned glory pulls up to the stop.
I introduce myself to the driver.
His name is Troy Webster, he’s been a driver for twenty-two years. He tells me his favorite thing about the job is the people that he meets.
I take that as a good sign I’ll meet some cool people on the bus today.
Troy Webster, bus driver Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
First up is Brian Smith.
“I’ve been using the bus system in Hood River since 2012, or 2013, somewhere in there,” says Brian Smith, lifelong resident of Hood River County “I use it to get from A to B. It’s a lot quicker, so that way I can get done what I need done, dealt with. Everything from heading to a job to running errands. If it’s local here in Hood River I usually just walk, but if I have to go up to Parkdale or Odell I’ll take the bus.”
Brian Smith smiles for the camera. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
We get interrupted by the bus coming to a stop.
“I got to jump out here on 7th and Columbia,” says Brian. “Got to go check out a few potential job prospects.”
I wish him luck as he heads out the door.
The bus driver Troy and I start talking.
“The bus seems like a super easy way to drink responsibly,” I say, “If I lived here or was staying at a hotel I could see myself grabbing the bus down to the waterfront, having a few pints and jumping back on.”
“People do that all the time. It’s great,” says Troy. “A lot of locals have figured out you can park at Rosauers and avoid all the heavy traffic downtown.”
You can avoid the paid parking that way too.
I tell him I’ve just moved to Lyle, WA, so he asks me where and it turns out that we’re neighbors!
We pull up to the CAT offices where several people are waiting for buses.
Patricia Grant waiting for the bus. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
I jump out to chat with them while Troy waits for his replacement driver.
That’s how I meet Hipsey, a Pacific Crest Trail hiker, who recently became sick and needed medical treatment before they could get back on the trail.
Hipsey says they’re using the bus to go back to Cascade Locks.
“It’s the only way to get around,” they said, “I had to stay in Hood River for a couple days because I had a tooth infection.”
“Oh no!” I say, “Are you alright?”
“I got antibiotics so I’m all good,” says Hipsey.
Happy Trails Hipsey!
Hipsey smiles big into the sunshine, showing off their no longer infected teeth. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
Troy tells me that he meets a lot of PCT hikers on the bus
“I had a guy on my bus from Cuba the other day and a lady from Taiwan,” says Troy.
Troy’s replacement arrives and I have to jump back on the bus before it takes off without me.
Her name is Heather Muma, she’s lived in Hood River since she was nine years old, and she’s been driving for Columbia Area Transit for about a year.
“It’s a great place to work,” says Heather. “You meet a lot of people.”
She waves to a man on the street.
“That’s Keith,” she says. “When you do the City route you get to know everybody.”
She pulls up to the Walmart stop and we pick up a rider.
Eduardo Arenhnal, of Odell jumps on the bus.
Eduardo enjoying running his errands around town. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
I ask Eduardo why he rides the bus. He doesn’t seem to hear me, and at first it is hard for us to understand one another. But after a bit of back and forth in Spanish and English we work it out.
He tells me that he rides the bus for many reasons but mostly to get to the store and to doctors appointments. Today he is headed to Walgreens.
The bus stops to pick up some more riders.
Gary Balance, who’s lived in Hood River for over sixty years, says he’s riding the bus today because his pick-up is broken down.
“I’m only a half a block away from the stop and for $3.40 a month, even if I had my transportation going, I’d still ride the bus. You can ride to Portland for almost nothing. If you use the bus three times a day it’s worth it.”
Gary says with gas prices as high as they are, and the low annual cost of the Gorge Pass ($40 a year for adults and $20 for youth) it just makes financial sense to ride the bus.
Another rider, Lee jumps on the bus to pick up his wife and go shopping.
Lee, Gary and Heather all know each other and start conversing and joking immediately.
I ask about it and it turns out they all grew up together.
“We grew up two blocks from each other,” said Gary.
Riding the bus gives them an opportunity to reconnect while they go about their busy lives.
Lee and Heather joking with Gary (who is off camera). Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
Lee tells me that like Gary, he also likes riding the bus because it's a money saver “It goes everywhere in town and I bet you save over a thousand (dollars) or even several thousand a year riding the bus. Forty dollars and you can go everywhere. And every forty-five to fifty minutes the bus comes back around.”
Lee says he usually rides the bus to work. Especially in the winter time.
I leave them to their reconnecting and go to chat with the other passengers.
Precious and Pey McBride wear color coordinating outfits on their trip into town. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
Precious McBride, 34, was riding the bus because her son Pey, age 3, asked if they could go on a bus ride. Pey loves riding the bus. His favorite bus is The Pink Trolley which runs the Hood River City route on the weekends. He also loves riding in cars, trains, and planes.
“He likes to ride. He asked to get on it when we saw it. And I was like we missed it, we got to wait an hour to get back on it,” says Precious. “He loves it, (riding the bus) when we get home he’ll say, I saw this today, I saw that today. He just loves it.”
Precious says she’s going to multi-task the trip by making a stop at the store while they’re out and about.
Next I meet Layla Whiteside, age 17, from Parkdale who is using the bus to return items to the Library and to travel to a friend's house.
Layla Whiteside jumped on the bus at the library stop. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
“I dropped off a movie called “Don’t Breathe” and this other viking movie,” says Layla. “I live in Parkdale. But I’m spending the night at my friend's house until Friday.”
Layla and her friend both liked the movie, although Layla said it was “really slow” in the beginning.
The CAT stops at the office to switch out drivers again.
I check the time and realize my parking is about to run out.
Next I meet Andrew Lee and Loki the dog.
Andrew is well known locally for having worked construction and for wearing a very colorful hat.
But before I can ask them why they are riding the bus today, we arrive at my stop and I have to disembark, leaving the reason for their journey a mystery.
As I step out into the sunshine, I think to myself that everybody really does ride, and that using public transportation is a great way to meet your neighbors, save money, and serve your community by reducing fossil fuels and traffic congestion.
To learn more about the CAT Bus and view today’s schedule visit RideCATBus.org.
For more information about public transit in the Gorge visit GorgeTranslink.com.
Related Reading: A Day on the Bus (in The Dalles)
