Astoria transit agency resumes some bus routes after suspending services, laying off workers

The Sunset Empire Transportation District recently resumed bus service on some of its routes in Clatsop County, including weekday service along Highway 101 between Astoria and Cannon Beach. The Astorian earlier reported that the transit district would restore some services after it had abruptly suspended operations and laid off workers due to a six-figure budget shortfall which first came to light at a board meeting last month. The Oregon Department of Transportation provided a $505,000 emergency loan to the district to help it start operating again and bring back furloughed staff. It will also conduct an audit of the district’s finances in the coming weeks, according to Paul Lewicki, the interim executive director of the Sunset Empire Transportation District. Lewicki joins us to talk about the upcoming audit, the current and long term challenges the district faces, and why he thinks it may take six months or longer for transit services to be fully restored.

This transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller, coming to you all this week from Grant County in Eastern Oregon. We’re going to hear more about life here in just a bit. But we start today on the other side of the state, in Astoria. Last month, out of nowhere, public transit in Clatsop County came to a grinding halt. The Sunset Empire Transportation District had to suspend all operations and furlough all of its staff because it had run out of money. The district recently got a loan from the state to restart some service, but there are some big questions remaining. Joining us to answer some of these questions is Paul Lewicki. He is the new interim executive director of the district. Paul Lewicki, welcome to Think Out Loud.

Paul Lewicki: Thank you, David.

Miller: So you served as a chief operating officer from 2017 to 2022 when you retired and then you have been brought back when the executive director stepped down recently, brought back on an interim basis to try to right this ship. When did you find out that the district was out of money?

Lewicki: There was a meeting on April 18th, a special board meeting, at which it was revealed that we were out of cash.

Miller: What went through your mind when you heard that?

Lewicki: Well, like the rest of the community here, I was blindsided. I had no inkling ahead of time that there was such a situation brewing. And so it was a shocking revelation to all of us.

Miller: As I noted, you retired from the district in December. Were there no warning signs up to that time that there was a financial cliff on the horizon?

Lewicki: Well, David, I actually retired in June of ‘22. So it had been about a year and although I had stayed in touch with the district and followed its operations and had attended the board meetings as a private citizen, I did not see any red flags. There was no apparent evidence of the shortage.

Miller: The state is gonna be doing a full audit and they’ve now said there are some discrepancies in financial reporting. And that has not started yet. But do you have any sense yet for what happened?

Lewicki: No, it’s difficult to say and I hesitate to speculate. There will be an extensive forensic audit that will look at the district’s books going back three or four years. And I think that they’ll make a determination based on evidence rather than speculation.

Miller: Well, let’s turn to what this has meant for the community. Can you give us a sense for what ridership was like before all operations had to stop?

Lewicki: Well, of course, we had suffered some with the pandemic and we were rebuilding our service and rebuilding our ridership when we had to suspend service. Typically, we would provide over 100,000 rides a year to the seniors and disabled and folks who relied on us to get to their medical appointments or treatments, get to their jobs, get to their classes at public schools or in the college. And they were all impacted by this action and continue to be. Even though we returned some service to the road, there are still a lot of people who have been badly impacted by this event.

Miller: We’ll get to the incremental return to service in just a second. But what have you heard from riders or what kind of rider stories have you heard about what this has meant for them, people who depended on your service?

Lewicki: [There have been] mostly pleas for help. There’s not much alternative to the service that we provided. We do have taxicab service here in the county, but it’s very expensive compared to what our fares were on the buses. People have had to find other ways if they can, neighbors or friends or family to help them with their transportation. There are some community organizations… I don’t have the names of them in front of me here… that have worked to start up little networks to help those people who still have appointments they have to keep and do not have the bus service available.

Miller: ODOT recently gave you a half million dollar loan. What have you been able to do with that money?

Lewicki: That money has allowed us to recall some drivers, some administrative staff and to catch up on some of our accounts payable. That funding will carry us into the second half of June and we’re still working on some other opportunities to continue funding beyond that point.

Miller: The second half of June. So, meaning just about a month or so, and then what?

Lewicki: Well, that remains to be seen. We’re having meetings regularly with ODOT and other partners, it may mean a second loan. It may mean some reimbursement on grants that we have outstanding. Again, I hate to say definitively because I don’t know what direction that will take. But I expect that we will have additional funding to get us through to the beginning of the fiscal year in July, in which we have a new round of funding available from the state.

Miller: How much service have you been able to restore with that half million dollar loan from the Department of Transportation?

Lewicki: Well, on May 8th, we restarted our Paratransit service. That’s a service that’s a curb-to-curb demand service for those people who otherwise would not be able to get to our fixed-routes for their transportation. These are folks who are disabled, who need to get to medical appointments such as dialysis or chemotherapy, people who absolutely require some transportation to continue their lives, in many cases. We started two buses for Paratransit service.

And then on May 15th, we restarted our Route 101, which used to serve the county between the Astoria Transit Center and the cinema in Seaside. And we modified that route now to serve those people in Emerald Heights, east of town. And two times a day we go all the way down to Cannon Beach. So we’re running that service, four loops a day, Monday through Friday. And then on the 20th, we started our Pacific Connector route, which is basically a weekend 101 Route and serves our riders from Astoria down to Cannon Beach.

Miller: I recognize that there’s still a ton of uncertainty. Not least is the fact that you don’t yet know where money is gonna come for just the end of next month before the next fiscal year starts. So it’s probably the case that this is impossible to answer definitively. But what’s your best hope for when service can be fully restored to what it was pre-suspension?

Lewicki: Well, that is a difficult one. Unfortunately, when furloughed, employees have a tendency to go and find employment at other places. And so when you’re ready to start up and when you need them, they may not be able to come back. And so we’re faced with having to recruit new staff if that’s the case.

Miller: You said generally when that happens. I mean, do you already know that that’s gonna be the case? And I should say you have something like 46 employees who were furloughed overnight. Do you already know that some of them are just moving on?

Lewicki: I do. We try and stay in touch with those people at least on a weekly basis so that we have a feeling for who might be available to come back so we have the work for them, and who has already found other employment or other directions for their careers.

Miller: In other words, even when let’s say money were to come through sometime soon, that at this point, even that wouldn’t be enough to be able to resume service because you’re gonna have to do some hiring for drivers or operators or mechanics or administrators?

Lewicki: And that’s true, David. You know, to be honest with you, I expect to add some service within the next six months. But I would look closer to a year before we’re approaching the service levels that we had before we had to suspend service.

Miller: Why did you come out of one year’s retirement to take on this interim job?

Lewicki: Well, that’s a good question. My wife asked me that same question. I had spent 25 years in Los Angeles, working for Metro down there. And so I had the experience. I had served for five years on Sunset District’s Board of Commissioners when I first moved up here and retired the first time in 2009. And so I had a familiarity with the operation and with the people. And when they needed an interim operations manager back in 2017, I told them that I would handle that for them and then ended up staying five years. So I have familiarity with the industry, with operations, and with the employees here and the people in the county. So it just felt like I was in a place that I should be and the district needed help. And so I decided to help.

Miller: If you were talking directly to riders right now, people who have depended on the service, which has come back a little bit. But only a little bit. If you’re talking directly to them right now, what would you tell them?

Lewicki: Well, I would say that I hope you know how greatly we regret the situation that the district has found itself in. I know that the few staff who have been recalled as well as the board, as well as people at ODOT, are all working, and I tell you, daily and tirelessly, to find an effective path back. It’s important to all of us here to restore the service that we know all of our riders depend on. And we will work until that’s done.

Miller: Paul Lewicki, thanks very much for your time.

Lewicki: Thank you, David.

Miller: Paul Lewicki is the interim executive director of the Sunset Empire Transportation District. He joined us to talk about the recent suspension of public transit services on Oregon’s North Coast and the slow process to get that service back online.

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