Bus service to return to Warrenton
SEASIDE — Bus service will return to Warrenton in May for the first time in over a year.
The Sunset Empire Transportation District leadership announced the return of Warrenton Route 15 at a board meeting in Seaside on Tuesday night.
Transit district
The Sunset Empire Transportation District will restore a bus route in Warrenton.
After a financial collapse in April 2023, which led to an abrupt shutdown of public transportation in Clatsop County, the transit district restored partial service on the U.S. Highway 101 route and the Pacific Connector route, as well as reinstating partial paratransit and Dial-A-Ride services.
In October, the agency restored Route 10 — which provides service around Astoria — and Route 20, which takes riders to Seaside and Cannon Beach.
The transit district held off on reinstating service on Route 15 because of concerns about the long-term sustainability of the route given the district’s precarious financial situation.
On Tuesday, executive director Craig Johnston, who joined the transit district last fall, said the agency is confident that it can support the additional route.
“This is way overdue,” Johnston said. “We really felt bad that we haven’t been able to do this beforehand. I think we’ve approached this cautiously. And I think this is going to be nice for the people of Warrenton.”
The route will operate Monday through Friday starting at 7:45 a.m. and will include stops at Fred Meyer, the Warrenton Mini Mart, Fort Stevens and Warrenton Middle School.
Last year, the transit district board received letters from Warrenton Middle School students upset about the lack of bus service following the shutdown. According to board chair Debbie Boothe-Schmidt, this factored into the decision to include a stop at the middle school.
“We’re excited about that,” Boothe-Schmidt said after the meeting. “We made sure that we included the middle school in the route so they could start riding the bus again.”
