General manager doesn’t see any restoration of eliminated bus lines anytime soon; ‘It’s time to quit politicizing this’

By James Sloan, Rogue Valley Times

The cash-strapped Rogue Valley Transportation District will be forced to institute previously announced service reductions for multiple bus routes starting Tuesday, Sept. 2. 

The changes and reductions to services include eliminating 10 bus routes throughout the Rogue Valley, switching to shorter weekday operating hours and eliminating Saturday service. 

Federal funding freezes enacted by the Trump administration have delayed many annual grants used by RVTD and other transportation districts, leading to lawsuits and confusion among states and transportation agencies, with many scrambling to manage their budgets. 

RVTD will have a 62.5% decrease in its total number of routes, changing from 16 to only six, RVTD General Manager Julie Brown said. 

The routes that will be eliminated on Sept. 2 include: Medford-Ashland Express (Route 1X), West Medford (Route 2), Ashland Crosstown (Route 17), Southwest Medford (Route 25), East Medford (Route 26), Medford Crosstown (Route 27), Jacksonville (Route 30), Central Point Crosstown (Route 41), RCC Table Rock (Route 61) and Eagle Point (Route 63). 

The transportation district’s routes that will remain in operation are Medford to Ashland (Route 10), North Medford (Route 21), Central Point (Route 40), White City (Route 60), Front Street Station to Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center (Route 24) and the new Route 4, which will serve portions of West Medford. 

“For the short term, the thing we’ve been talking to employees about is, ‘Will we see changes in the next 6 months? Probably not,’” Brown said of the potential to bring some of the routes back. “There will be no routes in Jacksonville, and there will be no routes in Eagle Point.”

RVTD spent the past several weeks notifying riders of the route changes, posting notices at each bus stop indicating whether service at the stop will be changed or suspended. 

“I’ve been trying to deal with federal funding since February, so we were aware of what was coming and to figure it out,” Brown said. 

“It is frustrating because really, frankly, a conversation needs to happen in Oregon on how to handle all the cuts from federal funding, and some will probably play out in court,” Brown said. “It’s time to quit politicizing this and start to talk to each other and that’s hard to do; I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on, we need to hammer out the best solution.” 

Some of the people most affected by the service reductions will be elderly and disabled riders who will no longer have a bus route to their jobs, homes and for errands such as going to the grocery store. 

Riders can access updated printed maps and schedules at RVTD’s customer service office at 200 S. Front St. in Medford or on the district’s website at rvtd.org.

Reach reporter James Sloan at jsloan@rv-times.com. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.

Related stories:

Ashland Circulator to shut down as RVTD board cuts services (July 24, 2025)

Significant cuts in bus service expected Sept. 2 (July 21, 2025)

RVTD might cut two-thirds of bus routes, lay off up to 82 employees (June 27, 2025)