PENDLETON — Public transportation for Hermiston area residents working in the east end of Morrow County could become easier.

The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners last week adopted a new plan that will allow the county to seek grant funding for a transit service connecting people who live miles away from where they work, according to county and tribal officials.

J.D. Tovey, planning director for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, said money from the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund is making this possible.

The routes are called the Hermiston to Boardman Connector transit route and the Port of Morrow Circular route. The CTUIR, Kayak Public Transit and Morrow County’s transit service are leading the project. Umatilla County also is a partner, according to county documents.

“I think it’s a wonderful project,” Commissioner George Murdock said. “There’s thousands of people who go from Hermiston to that area to work every day.”

Tovey said the project will allow workers to bus with ease between Hermiston, Boardman and the Port of Morrow, an area with some of the largest workforces in Eastern Oregon, many of which are centered around the agricultural industry and food processing.

Tovey described workers moving through that area as “one of the largest intercounty migrations” in Oregon.

“The whole goal is to get people to work,” Megan Green, Umatilla County’s transit coordinator, said.

The plan also is intended to help East Morrow County residents connect to medical services and grocery stores available only in Hermiston, officials say.

And with more funds coming from the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund, they hope to begin the service sometime in the next 18 to 24 months.

“I’d love to start tomorrow if we could,” said Tovey, who added, “We’re marching forward.”

The county already has invested STIF funding into the project for the next two years, with $150,000 for the 2022 fiscal year and $166,000 for 2023. Green said the new STIF funds will go toward route development, identifying parking rights, planning funds, buying buses and getting drivers.

Tovey, who has spearheaded the project for years, said the funds will allow officials to purchase two or three additional buses that will make additional stops in places like Hermiston, Boardman, Echo, Stanfield and the Port of Morrow.

Tovey said he hopes the transit service will provide a comfortable and safe way to go back and forth to work, allowing workers to nap, read and talk with their families during their commute.