By Andrew Spreadborough, executive director of Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council
Andrew Spreadborough is the executive director of Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council (COIC), which is a Council of Governments providing services to Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson Counties. COIC’s responsibilities include employment training, business loans, community and economic development, as well as operating Cascades East Transit. Andrew is a native Oregonian and has been with COIC for 16 years.
Cascades East Transit has experienced slow, yet steady growth in recent years. Riders utilize CET for their commute to work, earning degrees at Central Oregon Community College and OSU-Cascades, running errands like shopping and attending to wellness needs at St. Charles Health System. Some even prefer to let CET take them up the mountain and back to recreate on the snowy slopes of Mt. Bachelor.
Just as there are numerous destinations riders travel to and from, the benefits of transit are too numerous to list. Any savvy person probably knows that transit is beneficial for the environment, is a catalyst for the local economy and an equitable system that allows any person, regardless of income or physical ability, the opportunity to be mobile. Cascades East Transit supports our treasured Central Oregon region for all these reasons and more.
In the coming years, we see a bright future ahead for CET and hope you will too. For those who do not take advantage of CET already, imagine tomorrow’s transit so convenient that it rivals your other options of commuting. What does that look like for you? How can we make your commute easier? COIC envisions CET having quality public transportation that is accessible and easy for any person in Central Oregon to use in their daily life to wherever they are going.
If you have not hopped on CET lately, give it a try and let us know what you think. CET runs a fixed-route service, along with complementary paratransit service in the City of Bend, community connector shuttles across Central Oregon and general public Dial-A-Ride services in the other Central Oregon cities. We are grateful to serve Central Oregon – Bend, Redmond, Prineville, Madras, Sisters, Culver, Metolius, La Pine and Warm Springs – with our region’s transportation needs.
Pick up the Bend Chamber’s February edition of the Bend Business Journal to learn more information about where transit is heading and how Cascades East Transit helps our local economy.