The POINT Intercity Bus Service is a four-route, intercity bus service of the

Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Dep ...

(ODOT). The service is administered by ODOT's Public Transportation Division as part of its intercity grant program. The POINT service exists to connect towns and rural communities with major transportation hubs and urban centers. ODOT accomplishes this by filling gaps in Oregon's long distance transit network where no public services exist and which would otherwise be unprofitable for private companies. The service functions like a thruway bus service for Amtrak in that it makes direct connections to passenger rail service and sells tickets using Amtrak's system. However, Amtrak does not own or contract POINT buses and the service is open to the general public, not just Amtrak train passengers. The POINT program is similar to the Travel Washington buses in neighboring Washington.

History

ODOT began investing heavily in intercity bus services in 1994. The decline in Greyhound service in Oregon in the late 1990s led to a rise in local private operators. Over time, to better meet the travel needs of Oregonians and draw more ridership, ODOT created the POINT program through "a mixture of new service, expanded service and service re-branding that relies on public-private partnerships with private bus operators." The service is operated by private bus companies under contract to ODOT. MTR Western operates the Cascades and Eastern Routes, Northwest Navigator operates the NorthWest Route, and Pacific Crest Bus Lines operates the SouthWest Route. In 2019, the former High Desert POINT route was discontinued and is now operated by Pacific Crest Bus Lines as an

Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach Amtrak Thruway is a system of through-ticketed transportation services to connect passengers with areas not served by Amtrak trains. In most cases these are dedicated motorcoach routes, but can also be non-dedicated intercity bus services, transi ...

service from Redmond to

Klamath Falls Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city wa ...

Routes

* Cascades Route (established July 2012), operating from Portland ( Union Station) to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

(Eugene) with 5 stops in between * Eastern Route (established February 2011), operating from Bend to

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

with 9 stops in between * NorthWest Route (established March 2010): Portland ( Union Station) to Astoria with 7 stops in between * SouthWest Route (established April 2009):

to Medford and Cave Junction to

Brookings Brookings may refer to: Organizations * Brookings Institution, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Places * Brookings, Oregon, USA * Brookings, South Dakota, USA * Brookings County, South Dakota, USA ...

, with service in between Medford and Cave Junction provided by Josephine Community Transit

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.oregon-point.com/ Bus transportation in Oregon Transit agencies in Oregon Bus transportation in California Intercity bus companies of the United States