UPDATE: Significant cuts in RVTD bus service expected Sept. 2; Kotek wants lifeline

Published 11:05 am Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new comments from Oregon. Gov. Tina Kotek.

Route 10 from Medford to Ashland would continue; other routes and Saturday service to be discontinued

Expect steep declines in bus service in the Rogue Valley come Sept. 2. 

That’s what the city of Ashland’s Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) was told at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting Thursday, July 17, where members received updates from Rogue Valley Transportation District Associate Planner Edem Gomez about the funding situation at RVTD and what it will mean for changes to bus routes in Ashland and the Rogue Valley.

Federal funding freezes have delayed annual grants used for regular operations and the transit agency is looking at steep cuts beginning on Sept. 2, 2025, unless funds are released.

Meanwhile, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has called a special legislative session for Aug. 29 to address a $350 million funding shortfall in the Oregon Department of Transportation’s budget that led to hundreds of state employees receiving layoff notices this month. Kotek added on Tuesday that she has asked ODOT to postpone layoffs, which were scheduled to take effect at the end of the month, for another 45 days.

Kotek said Wednesday that while legislation is still being finalized for the August special session, it will likely include a 6-cent increase in Oregon’s gas tax and higher vehicle registration fees. In addition, she said, drivers of electric vehicles, which don’t pay the gas tax, would instead pay an additional fee and enroll in the state’s OReGo program, which charges drivers a small fee for miles driven. Kotek is also looking to double the 0.1% payroll tax taken from Oregonians’ paychecks to support public transit.

Together, Kotek said, these increases would be enough to prevent hundreds of layoffs already in motion at ODOT, preserve essential services like snow plowing, brush clearing, and highway maintenance, and throw a lifeline to cities and local transit agencies that rely on state transportation dollars.

“That’s not everything they need,” she said, “but it will get them through.”

As reported by OPB, RVTD is only one of many rural transit agencies in Oregon looking to make cuts because of the dispute between the state and the Federal Transit Administration. Whether the Oregon special session will ultimately have any bearing on proposed local transit reductions is unknown.

Bus routes in Ashland have already been impacted by the funding freeze, with suspension of the Route 1X commuter bus between Ashland and Medford for the summer, which went into effect June 23.

If no funding solution is found, RVTD is proposing to eliminate the following bus routes on Sept. 2:

• Route 1X – Medford Ashland Express
• Route 2 – West Medford
• Route 17 – Ashland Crosstown
• Route 25 – Southwest Medford
• Route 26 – East Medford
• Route 27 – Medford Crosstown
• Route 30 – Jacksonville
• Route 41 – Central Point Crosstown
• Route 61 – RCC Table Rock
• Route 63 – Eagle Point

Route 10 from Ashland to Medford would continue but service times and frequency would be reduced, including elimination of Saturday service.

Suspension of Route 17 would come only weeks after the agency increased service hours and frequency on the line. Central Point’s Crosstown Route 41 only went into service in March. The route begins at the Medford airport and travels along Table Rock Road, serving neighborhoods along Hamrick Road and near Don Jones Park.

RVTD posted an announcement to its site on Thursday about the service cuts and opportunity for public comment at their monthly board meeting starting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 23 (for more details, click here).

A virtual participation option will be available for Wednesday’s board meeting, with a Zoom link to be provided in the agenda posted on RVTD’s public meetings page.

Comments may also be submitted at the RVTD online survey form: surveymonkey.com/r/passengercomments.

Consultants for Transit System Plan announced

In recent meetings, the TAC has been preparing for the upcoming Transportation System Plan (TSP) update. TSP updates are typically conducted every 5 to 7 years, but the most recent update in Ashland has been delayed in part to allow for completion of the state-mandated Climate Friendly Areas. Ashland City Council voted on the second reading of the ordinances to implement the Climate Friendly Area overly at its June 3 meeting.

Contracts for consultants assisting with the upcoming TSP update have been in progress and ODOT gave the green light to share the selected agencies at Thursday’s meeting, said Ashland Public Works Department Director Scott Fleury.

The primary consultant will be Alta Planning, who will bring in Fehr & Peers as a sub-consultant to aid in planning for emergency transportation and evacuation routes. However, given recent layoffs at ODOT after failure of the state legislature to pass a transportation funding bill, Fleury reported that finalization of the contract and beginning of the TSP process may be delayed from late summer to early fall.

Information on the different components and stages of a TSP are available on ODOT’s website at oregon.gov/odot/Planning/TSP-Guidelines/Pages/default.aspx.

Ashland resident and freelance journalist Meg Wade’s byline has appeared in Mother Earth News and other publications. This story first appeared at Ashland.news.