Last week’s ribbon cutting for the new Redmond Transit Hub wasn’t just opening a bus station, it was the “dawn of a new day in public transit in Central Oregon,” according to one official.

The new $1.7 million Cascades East Transit facility, located at 777 SW Kalama Ave. between Fred Meyer and Lowe’s, features a park-and-ride lot, restrooms and loading bays allowing multiple buses to load and unload passengers at the same time.

“It will preserve the capacity we already have and build for the future,” Michelle Rhoads, transportation manager for the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, said before the June 21 event. “Central Oregon is growing and public transit is one of the ways to build community livability.”

The new transit hub, which opens to the public July 2, will serve as a transfer point for the Community Connector intercity bus service, with direct connections to Bend, Prineville, Madras and Sisters.

It features loading bays with a “sawtooth” curb design, allowing the buses to pull in and leave more smoothly.

Buses at the Redmond Public Library, where the transit center has been for the last decade, have to line up behind each other. While the library has been a great partner, Rhoads said the facility isn’t designed as a true transit hub.

Jordan Ohlde of Bend, a member of the Transit Advisory Committee, said some transit users caused problems with restrooms at the library. He is hopeful the new facility will be treated better.

“I think the Redmond community will make it their own,” he said.

Users like Ohlde, who has cerebral palsy and uses a motorized wheelchair, will benefit from the ADA-accessible features at the new transit hub, Carol Fulkerson, a disability advocate with the Central Oregon Coalition for Access, told the audience of about 50 people. It features details like “No Parking” being stamped in the striped access aisle to keep cars from making disabled access more difficult.

“There’s details here that Cascades East has added to help make this more usable, functional,” she said. “This is a tremendous asset for folks with disabilities.”

Other details include electronic signage that shows riders when the next buses are scheduled to arrive, as well as public artwork, including a converted fire pit sculpture. More art and benches are expected to be installed in a “waiting garden,” where rides can sit around flowers while waiting for the bus.

The bulk of funding for the project came from a $1.1 million Connect Oregon grant through the state Department of Transportation. Money also came from agencies including the city’s urban renewal program, the Oregon Community Foundation and the intergovernmental council.

“This is a $1.7 million project, and any of you in public funding know that that’s nothing,” said Karen Friend, the intergovernmental council’s executive director. “So as you look around at what’s been accomplished here, it’s really a huge accomplishment.”

Cascades East now provides service trough dial-a-ride and seven intercity connector routes in Redmond. Rhoads said the new hub will allow that to grow, possibly including fixed routes between in-town stops eventually.

“We’ll be able to handle quite a few more years of growth,” she said.

The hub is just the latest transit gem for Redmond, which also has Cascades East’s maintenance center at its public works facility, said Mayor George Endicott.

The mayor also touted the trail’s location near the southern part of the under-construction Homestead Canal Trail, which will run from St. Charles hospital south to Odem Medo Road.

“People don’t necessarily have to climb in their vehicle to get to where they’re going,” he said.

Also nearby is the 48-unit Cook Crossing development, which Housing Works opened last year for low income residents age 55 and older. Endicott said residents there will have free transit access.

People in Bend might be jealous of the new transit hub, Ohlde said.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “I’m sure there are plans to do this only a little bigger in Bend. It’s a really good thing to have the connectivity.”

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com