Imagine a perfect world in which great partnerships can be formed between
public and private stakeholders. Picture a band of such disparate characters as
ODOT, City of Sandy, Forest Service, Timberline Lodge, Skibowl, The Resort
and Clackamas County coming together in an effort to enhance the lives of
the general public.

No way? Not so fast.

Behold the Mountain Express Line, and the wonders of its new services.
Teresa Christopherson, administrative services manager for Clackamas
County, announced that Mt. Hood National Forest, the City of Sandy and the
county have been awarded a grant that will expand MEL’s bus service to
Government Camp and Timberline seven days a week.

In addition, Sandy Area Metro (SAM) service between Sandy and Gresham will
include Saturday mornings and Sunday.

Bob Reeves, co-chair of The Villages at Mount Hood, was involved at the
embryonic stage of MEL in June of 2004.

“It’s still going strong,” Reeves said. “With this grant we will be able to have
seven runs a day in the winter and five runs in the summer going all the way
up (to Timberline). All of these groups have been great partners in this
project.”

The bus will operate 363 days a year, and SAM runs will be increased so the
connection to TriMet and other regional transit will be seamless.

Christopherson urges the public to attend planned meetings to obtain more
information and provide input as to stops and times of the expanded service.
Meetings will be held in:

Government Camp, 7 p.m., Aug. 10, in conjunction with the CPO meeting at
the Mt. Hood Cultural Center and Museum;
Welches, 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Aug. 15, at the Hoodland Fire Station; and
Sandy, 6 to 7 p.m., Aug. 19, at the Sandy Transit Operations Center, 16610
Champion Way.

The success of the Mountain Express Line is owed to the riders who have
shown the need for a transit system on the Mountain, Reeves noted. “I want
to thank all of those people who currently and in the past have ridden the
bus.”

And Reeves, always looking forward, added:
“Some day it would be nice to ride transit around Clackamas County and not
just into Portland.”

But this amazing group effort is a good start.