The POINT Intercity Bus Service is a four-route,

intercity bus An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public tr ...

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 Depar ...

(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 Travel Washington is an intercity bus service in the U.S. state of Washington funded by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). It has four routes that connect major cities to other modes, including Amtrak and Greyhound Lines. ...

buses in neighboring

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

History

ODOT began investing heavily in intercity bus services in 1994. The decline in

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...

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 MTR Western is an American motorcoach operator active in the western United States and Canada. Services MTR Western provides group charters, sightseeing tours, driver-narrated tour programs, and on-call emergency transportation. Charter client ...

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 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 was ...

Routes

* Cascades Route (established July 2012), operating from Portland (

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

) 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 Ca ...

with 9 stops in between * NorthWest Route (established March 2010): Portland (

) to Astoria with 7 stops in between * SouthWest Route (established April 2009):

to Medford and Cave Junction to Brookings, 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