Public Transportation in Bend? Buses? (credit rating, to buy, place to live)

[Tom Burns]

Hi everyone:

I just found out that I may have a job offer in Bend and I'm doing some preliminary research.

Being from Canada (eh) I know that I won't be able to buy a new car or get a credit card to build up my credit rating until I've lived in the US for a while. So I'll be forced to resort to public transportation until that happens.

Are there any city buses in Bend? Am I way off base even asking this?

Eh?

Thanks in advance for your help and maple syrup and hockey pucks to you all.

Tom

[Bendite]

Busses in Bend - what a great topic! The short answer is, yes we have some (limited) public transportation. Last year, our good City Fathers decided in too much of a rush, to put in a public transportation system. The bad news was they didn't consider the Amercians with Disabilities Act when choosing bus stop sites and so it has cost much more money just to put in bus stops and worse still, they bought a fleet of used busses and every single one of them is broken and unusable. So, what we have now is a limited number of mini-busses that go along the main streets. The key is to find out if your job location is near a bus stop and then to find a place to live that is also close a route That shouldn't be too difficult; Bend is still small. Also, we have a wonderful bike path system, so during much of the year, people ride their bikes to work

[Tom Burns]

Thank for responding, Bendite.

That helps a lot.

Also comforting/disturbing to know that government stooges (municipal to federal) seem to be the same the world over.

Bet you the decision-makers all drive to work, too.

Cheers.

[PNW-type-gal]

I was in Bend for a few days this week, and the number of people waiting for the buses at various stops along Old 97 (aka Business 97 aka 3rd Street, aka Hwy 20 in places - is that confusing enough?) surprised me. That bus route, at least, is pretty heavily utilized. The buses, though, stop in the middle of the traffic lane instead of pulling to the curb. Odd.

Did a tour of the microbreweries for lunches and dinners. Bend Brewing wins, for food and beer.

[Tom Burns]

Thanks for your response, PNW-type-gal.

That does sound odd about stopping in the middle of the road to pick up passengers.

Maybe they're trying to get rid of their passengers by having them get run over.

Appreciate the extra info about beer even though I don't drink.

Yeah, you heard right. But I swear I'm Canadian anyways.