Gunnar Marino, 14, of Bend, grabs his snowboarding gear Saturday while being dropped off at the Mt. Bachelor Shuttle at the Bend Park-N-Ride lot across the street from the Mt. Bachelor corporate office and bus barn.

The ride to Mt. Bachelor is now a little more comfortable, with a new fleet of buses to shuttle skiers and snowboarders to and from the mountain.

Seven new 38-passenger buses went into service last week, said Mt. Bachelor spokesman Andy Goggins, part of a partnership between the resort and Cascades East Transit. The transit district purchased the buses with help from a $1 million federal grant and $200,000 in matching funds from Mt. Bachelor. It will divide their use between the Mt. Bachelor run, the local Bend bus system and the regional transit service.

The buses leave six times daily between 7 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. from the transit district’s Hawthorne Station north of the Safeway on Third Street with a stop at the Mt. Bachelor Park and Ride lot on Southwest Columbia Street. On Wednesdays, the schedule includes an additional bus leaving from Hawthorne Station at 1:10 p.m. and from the Park and Ride at 1:30 p.m. to accommodate students who get out of school early that day.

Saturday, driver Greg Menster said the service has been a little slow to catch on, though Mt. Bachelor employees are making good use of the buses.

Menster said passengers seem to like the new vehicles, particularly the cargo boxes attached to the rear bumper — skis, snowboards and poles had to be stowed underneath on Mt. Bachelor’s old buses. Gas mileage for the new buses is estimated at 10 miles per gallon, compared with 4 miles per gallon with the older buses.

Goggins said Mt. Bachelor would like to see more out-of-town visitors take advantage of the bus service.

“It’s nice for folks not from the area, if they’re not comfortable with driving on slick roads, to leave the driving to us and not have to worry about that,” he said.

The buses will also stop at Wanoga and Meissner sno-parks, Goggins said, and in the summer may run to lakes and other recreation destinations in the mountains.

A single-day round-trip ticket to Mt. Bachelor is $11. A season pass is $185.