The Sunset Empire Transportation District plans to restore two bus routes on Oct. 9, the first expansion of service since May.

After a financial collapse in late April, which led to an abrupt shutdown of public transportation in Clatsop County, the transit district restored partial service on its U.S. Highway 101 route and the Pacific Connector route, as well as reinstating partial paratransit and Dial-A-Ride services.

Jennifer Geisler, the transit district’s operations officer, presented the draft route changes at a meeting of the agency’s board on Thursday.

The restored routes are those known as Route 10 and Route 20, which will operate Monday through Friday. Route 10 will begin at the Mini Mart in Warrenton and serve the Astoria area, extending to Emerald Heights with stops at Clatsop Community College’s Marine and Environmental Research and Training Station campus available by request.

Route 20 also begins at the Warrenton Mini Mart and offers service into Seaside and Cannon Beach.

The Pacific Connector, which runs on Saturdays and Sundays, will remain largely unchanged with the exception of an added stop at the Trillium House Apartments in Warrenton. Stop times will also be adjusted to reflect a decline in summer traffic.

The current Highway 101 route — which Geisler refers to as the “monster 101” — was expanded in May to include service to Emerald Heights and Cannon Beach. With the added service, the route will be scaled back to its original service area, extending from the Astoria Transit Center to the Seaside Cinema.

Geisler noted that because the switching of routes may require some riders to adjust their schedules, the Highway 101 route change will not go into effect until Nov. 1.

“With bringing back the Route 10 and reinstating the Route 20, our riders, our community, their employers, everybody has had to readjust to our monster 101,” she said. “They’ve had to alter to that, and we looked at that and said, ‘How can we do this again four months later (and) upend what they are currently adjusted to?’ … So people have time — not 11 days, but a month — to adjust to the new schedules that we’re putting out.”

Geisler also emphasized that the reinstated routes are flexible. The transit district will continue to take input from riders to evaluate community needs.

“These are fluid,” she said. “We are open to make changes and adjustments as we need them … We do have parameters we have to stay in financially. We need to be conscious of where we’re at, and so there is a limit on what we can do. There’s a lot that we want to do.”

The changes will require added staff, including bus drivers, as well as an additional mechanic and a supervisor. The transit district laid off much of its staff following the financial collapse.

At the transit board meeting on Thursday, board member Pamela Alegria asked how the district could afford to hire back this many staff, given the precarious financial position.

The transit district was able to partially restore service after the financial collapse with the help of about $1 million in state loans.

Interim executive director Paul Lewicki explained that the transit district has received more funding than anticipated because of reimbursements from the Oregon Department of Transportation and delayed payments from the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund.

“Most of what we’re doing was anticipated when we built the budget,” Lewicki said. “We actually thought that we could add service maybe in January or later in the year, but with the funding that we received … there is room. Staff, as a team, feels comfortable that we can do what we’re saying we’re going to do with the service.”

Lewicki also noted that the transit district has held off on reinstating service on Route 15, which serves Warrenton and Hammond, until staff is confident that it is financially sustainable.

“We just can’t wait anymore,” he said. “People are hurting every day. It was brought to my attention, and then it became very obvious to me, how many people we see walking across the Youngs Bay bridge these days, how many bicycles we see on 101. And I don’t have anything documented, but I know very well that’s because those folks have no other way to get where they need to go. Because it used to be us.”

Once finalized, the routes will be posted at bus shelters and will also be available through the agency’s transit app.