BEND, OR -- Cascades East Transit met with the neighbors of their Hawthorne Station Hub Monday to discuss short, mid, and long-term solutions they think will help the line keep up with growth over the next 22 years.

Andrea Breault, with CET, says one solution they're pursuing is the concept of satellite hubs, that would serve all different kinds of transportation, and Cascades East Transit is trying to be transparent in where the plan is leading. "This plan will not exactly identify a particular intersection or street for a future site. It will be a conglomerate of information on the capacity of the area of Central Oregon, in conjunction with a lot of other property and facility needs that we have throughout the region, not just the City of Bend."

For CET, Breault says, it's about creating a way for the transportation system to grow with the region and meet its needs not just in the immediate, but for decades. They're working with everyone in the neighborhood, and law enforcement, to create solutions that will work. "Short and mid-term solutions revolve around the safety of that corridor, and what we can do to better utilize that area that we have right now, add pedestrian safety components and increased security, and then the long-term projects and planning that's going on in the area, the future of the capacity of that station, and the concept of mobility hubs." Mobility hubs are satellite stations that meet more than one kind of transportation need, bike share, scooters, pickup and drop off loading zones for rideshare and personal car, as examples, and CET is hopeful these hubs would reduce the traffic at their hub. "All modes of transportation would come in to help with the first and last mile surrounding a lot of modes of transit, and working with the city to see if that could help increase 'Choice Riders,' as well as reduce capacity at Hawthorne Station, itself."

The Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council will vote on whether to accept the plan in March of 2020.