PENDLETON – Parking is a premium during Round-Up and from Main Street to the Pendleton Convention Center, parking problems abound.

City Manager Larry Lehman said the city runs into plenty of parking situations Round-Up week each year and the city tries to have the police resolve those.

To help alleviate the need to park downtown and near the Round-Up Grounds, the Chamber of Commerce provides a shuttle service every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. today through Saturday. The cost is $1 per ride and buses depart from several locations throughout town.

Likewise, the chamber provides a shuttle bus to get people to and from Happy Canyon, which also starts tonight.

For a complete list of shuttle locations, see the accompanying schedule.

Additionally, the city runs its own call-in-advance transportation service. People needing a ride between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. can call Elite Taxi at 276-TAXI (8294) to request the service a day in advance. Riders also will need to work out pick-up times with drivers. Rides cost a dollar each way.

Even with the shuttle and dollar rides, there are plenty of folks who have to drive and that means plenty of instances in which the city has to call Blue Mountain Towing and Recovery to haul away problem vehicles.

The city contracts with the local company to do much of the towing inside the city. Lehman said during Round-Up the city will bring in Blue Mountain Towing when a vehicle has created a difficult or dangerous situation.

Blue Mountain Towing and Recovery declined to discuss its arrangement with the city, but did say business picks up during Round-Up.

Other towing companies also see an increase in demand this time of year.

Quincy Hoeft drives a tow truck for Schilling’s Towing, which handles calls from the Oregon State Police.

“Most of what we do is broke-down cars and wrecks,” he said.

Additional traffic coming to town means additional work for towing companies, usually beginning the Friday before Round-Up.

“So, you probably have 10 days of all the good stuff,” he said.

Keith Montee, owner and operator of A-1 Auto Towing, said he lets most of that “good stuff” go.

“I’m a one-man operation. I get by enough just hauling people who want to be towed,” he said.

Moreover, Montee said hauling vehicles during Round-Up could mean dealing with folks who have imbibed or are inebriated. Also, it means having to be available at the office to release the vehicle when they come by.

Doing it all himself makes it a bit tough, he said.