Students looking to rent in or around Corvallis have many factors to consider, but one factor to pay close attention to is transportation – how to navigate from home to campus and around town.

While there are a multitude of ways to get around town in Corvallis, campus and city transportation officials encourage students to consider public transportation.  

“Taking a look at bus and bike routes to campus when you are selecting housing is really important,” said Sarah Bronstein, sustainable transportation manager for Oregon State University.

For students who need to get around campus, OSU transportation services operate the Beaver Bus, a free shuttle bus service that runs Monday through Friday. According to Bronstein, OSU has spent a lot of time raising awareness about the service.

“Over the summer and fall of 2022, Transportation Services attended nearly 50 events to share information about transportation and parking with students and employees,” Bronstein said. 

According to Bronstiein, most students already have access to information about the Beaver Bus, since the Beaver Bus tracker is built into the OSU mobile app.

At the moment, two Beaver Bus routes are currently running, down from the usual six, due to a nationwide shortage of drivers, according to Bronstein. However, she says that this will change as soon as OSU can hire more drivers.

“Moving forward, any changes to either reduce or increase bus service will be dependent on driver availability,” Bronstein said. “We hope to increase our Beaver Bus service as soon as more drivers become available.”

There are more than just Beaver Bus stops on campus, though.

According to Bronstein, there are 28 Corvallis Transit System bus stops on or around campus. Of these, three are shared with Beaver Bus stops, allowing riders to change bus services more easily.

For travelers traversing the town, CTS provides bus service to all parts of Corvallis, according to Tim Bates, transit coordinator for the City of Corvallis. 

Renters may be looking to avoid the added expense of gas, especially since, according to AAA, Oregon’s gas prices are currently among the nation’s highest, and the fareless CTS bus services provide an affordable alternative.

Renters may want to consider not just the proximity of potential housing to public transit, but how much service the area receives as well.

“There are areas of the city that receive a lot of service because of ridership demand,” Bates said. “Witham Hill Drive, Circle Boulevard between Witham Hill Drive and Harrison Boulevard, South Corvallis, and Kings Boulevard are among those areas.”

CTS is currently being affected by the same driver shortage as the Beaver Bus. According to their website, weekend service on all routes has been suspended due to the shortage. Furthermore, CTS has recently canceled its Night Owl routes, Route 50, Route 5 Peak Service and Route 6 Peak Service, although this is due to a lack of demand, rather than lack of drivers.

“There is no guaranteed date on which service will be restored,” Bates said. “We are working as hard as we can to make this happen.”

First time transit users may have questions, and both Bates and Bronstein offered advice about where you can get more information if you’re unfamiliar with local transit services.

“Feel free to ask questions of the bus drivers,” Bates said. “They are a great source of information.” 

Bates added that riders can also call the CTS information line at 541-766-6998 or visit the CTS website at corvallisoregon.gov/cts.

Bronstein suggests that transit users download the Transit App, which has real-time tracking for multiple local bus services. According to her, the app doesn’t just include tracking info for the Corvallis area; in fact, the service is used by transit systems nationwide.

Corvallis bus services can take you farther than just city limits, too. The Linn-Benton Loop has three routes connecting Corvallis and Albany, all of which stop at both the Corvallis Downtown Transit Center and on the OSU campus.

The service is popular with students, according to City of Albany Transit Manager Barry Hoffman. The most recent data available shows that the loop’s most popular route is the Campus Connector, a line between the OSU campus and Linn Benton Community College that’s free to OSU students.

Normally, Loop routes are free to riders with an OSU, LBCC, Hewlett Packard or Samaritan Health Services ID card. For the time being, however, the Linn Benton Loop is free for anyone to use, no ID card required. According to Hoffman, it’s possible the service may remain this way permanently.

“Re-implementing fares has been a topic at recent meetings, but there has also been discussion about trying to keep the (Linn Benton) Loop fareless,” Hoffman said. “There is no immediate plan to re-implement fares.”

Benton Area Transit and Lincoln County Transit have partnered to offer the Coast to Valley Express, a bus service from Albany to Newport which stops in Corvallis. A ride from Corvallis to Newport costs five dollars, according to the BAT website.

Besides these public transportation options, several companies also offer services from Corvallis to other cities statewide. According to the OSU Transportation Services website, Groome Transportation offers shuttle bus services from the Corvallis Hilton Garden Inn to Portland International Airport seven days a week, and FlixBus offers service to cities such as Eugene, Salem, Portland and Seattle.