Is there any way I can help support the Greasebus in person? In addition to riding it as much as possible.

Hmmm, good question. One that we would like to get more often. For now i think riding it as much as possible is a good start. For next winter we're going to be hiring on an intern, or two, so if you're a student you might qualify. If not, maybe you could help us find someone who could. Aside from that, we're always looking for new sponsors that want to help support stuff like Greasebus. Finally, maybe you know someone who owns a restaurant that has clean grease to dispose of, we're always up for more of that. Oh, and i just checked out http://motivemd.com/ good stuff, maybe you could help us spread the word with a link or a story. Thanks! Mike.

Are you going to operate the Grease Bus throughout the Spring Season ?
I.e. for those who purchased the $179 Spring Pass which is valid
March and April ?

Please advise, thanks.
MPaul

Yup, we'll run until Meadows closes.

I just found this site today - this is great!! I'm not seeing any dates to sign up for in March or April, though. When will those calendar dates be available for sign up? (Looks like all the remaining weekend days in February are full.)

Hi Allison, we usually post the next months dates around the last week of the previous month. I think next season we will probably have the dates go up on the 15th of the month before so that everyone has a fair chance to grab a seat, they do fill up quick.

I live in Sandy. any chance for a pickup at the donghnut shop in Sandy on hwy 26?

Hey Ben, right now we do a pick up in Hood River for those on the way to Meadows so unfortunately Sandy is out of the question. Next year we will probably do a Timberline bus that will have a stop in Sandy. Check back early next season for an update on that.

Will the bus ever leave any earlyer because i like to get a full day of skiing in?

Not very likely, we've experimented with a variety of times and it seems 8am is the happiest medium we can find. We started the service at 7am and people complained quite a bit that it was too early. In the spring of last year we tried out 9am and people complained that it was too late. Since we settled on 8am we haven't had many comments at all, actually, i think yours might be the first. People suggested we leave early on "powder days" but that would just be a logistics nightmare where some people would be left behind for sure. It seems consistency it the key to our departure and arrival time so we'll probably stick with 8. Sorry 'bout that. Mike.

What if I sign up and something unexpected happens and i don't show up and don't cancel before hand??? Will anything happen??

You will be stricken with swine flu. No, really we appreciate it when people let us know they can't make it, especially if it's 24 hours in advance. Pretty soon you'll have to pay with paypal when you sign up. In the morning if you don't show up you won't get a refund but if you email the day before to cancel you'll get a refund. We're still working on the programing for that but for now not much will happen other than swine flu.

How much does the bus cost if I do not pay online but pay with cash on the day of the trip. Or can i even do that???

As of right now you can bring cash the day of, it costs $15 instead of $10. Pretty soon we're going to change it to Paypal only because we get a lot of people who sign up and then don't show.

Would it be an appropriate transportation option for my 14 year olds? (Twins). Looking for a nice way for them to spend time during Winter break.
Thank you.

Yes, we can take kids 13 and up without a parent or guardian, just be sure to print out and sign the PDF waiver form on the sign up page.

Do people of all age groups ride the Greasebus to Meadows or is it mainly teens and 20 somethings? I'm sort of older...40, are there other people my age riding the bus? Its all good though I'm cool with riding with the younger peeps

We get a pretty broad spectrum of ages on the bus, most of the riders are 15-25 but there's almost always some older and younger than that.

Season begins December 3rd for night skiing. Are there going to be any night skiing trips to Mt. Hood Meadows this year? Also, I am a PSU student. Why would I want to become a member of the PSU club when I can just pay you $10 every time that you head up to the mountain?

As of right now we don't have any plans to do night trips. We're looking into getting another bus and we have been talking about doing specific night trips with that bus. For now, we're focused on covering the days but hopefully we'll be taking some night trips soon. You'll know when we have a second bus, it'll be all over our site.

If you become a member of the PSU club you get to ride the bus as much as you want for the weekdays that they have booked out and one day each weekend. If you think you'd ride the bus on those days more than four times then it would be cost effective, plus you get to go on the overnight trips, meet other snowboarders from the school and win free stuff at the meetings.

Does the Greasebus emit any strong odors? I got stuck behind a grease-burning car at a stoplight once and it smelled like a dead hooker. The Governator says vegetable oil cars smell like french fries, but I have my doubts.

Hmmm, i would say the Governator's comment (for once) is right. There must have been something wrong with that car in front of you, perhaps an actual dead hooker in the trunk. For the most part, vegetable oil powered vehicles do have a pretty delightful smell that actually makes people hungry. Some grease vehicles smell stronger than others, but i've never heard of one smelling bad. The Greasebus actually doesn't have the strongest of french fry smells. It does smell better than when it is running on diesel and vegetable oil exhaust doesn't cause cancer, unlike petroleum. The biggest attribute to using organic based fuels is that plants pulled more CO2 out of the atmosphere to create that fuel then you release when you burn it. Next time you see a vegetable oil powered vehicle that smells like dead hooker, better report it.

Mike.

What time does a 9am bus departure usually get folks up to the hill?
Are there any days that the bus leaves earlier?

Actually, the bus leaves at 8am, what you saw on the site was our old spring departure time from last year. I think this year we'll probably do 8am all year round. With an 8am departure time we generally get up to Meadows right around 10am. Thanks.

Any more thoughts on having a bus exclusively go to Timberline?

We'd still love to have another bus that was setup just for Timberline. Unfortunately, it's a matter of getting the startup costs covered to buy, convert and set up the bus. For this year we definitely won't be able to make it happen, but maybe next year. Thanks for supporting a Timberline bus. - Mike.

can i get a seasion pass for the bus??

We don't offer a pass because we're working with a lot of clubs and teams this season. If we had a season pass it wouldn't be fair to blackout all the days effected by the group rentals. Sorry about that, i love the idea of a season pass though. In the future we're hoping to have one bus dedicated to the public service and another to private groups. If that we're the case we could probably do a seasons pass. Thanks. Mike.

How often is the shuttle canceled due to weather conditions?

So far 0% of the time. We carry chains and are rolling on traction tires so we can usually make it up to Meadows as long as the roads are open. I would assume there will be a couple days a season where we have to cancel if it gets real bad, but so far so good.

UPDATE: On 11/22/2009 Meadows had the lifts on Wind Hold, the Greasebus made it up to the hill with no problems, other than the tree we had to move out of the road. However they never opened the lifts, so around 11:30 we headed back down to Portland. In this case the bus wasn't canceled but the mountain was, bummer.

If u have a mt hood meadows season pass can you ride the grease bus for free?

The Greasebus is a separate business from Meadows so we can't really offer an incentive to season pass holders. Sorry 'bout that.

Say the bus is at max or barely over max capacity, could I show up anyways to see if there was a last minute cancellation? Do you get no shows often? Thanks!

Yeah, it's no guarantee but most days we have one or two no shows. People that aren't signed up will be considered on a first come first serve basis. Some days when the calendar is "full" we are actually working with a group, club or team. If that is the case we are probably picking them up at their location so if you show up to Voodoo you might not find the bus there. Be sure regular public service applies to the day you are interested in, an email to mike@greasenotgas.com would work.

How old do you need to be to ride Greasebus?

If you're under 18 you need to have a parent sign the waiver form, print it out and bring it. If you're under 13 you'll have to be traveling with a parent or guardian on the trip.

if i get a group of 10+ friends together would you be willing to drive up to timberline in a few weeks?

Sure thing, just email me at mike@greasenotgas.com to set something up.

Does the Bus run during the Summer?

The bus will be at HCSC during parts of the summer. It's available for group rentals, events and parties but the regular service to the mountain will probably end around the time Meadows closes.

if i reserve a seat and dont pay the ten right away online, can i still pay it at a later time?

Yeah, right now the best way to do that is to just sign up again and pay with paypal then. Once you've done that if you could send me an email (mike@greasenotgas.com) to let me know that would be great and i'll erase your first sign up at that point. In our next version of the website we'll address that to make it easier.

- Mike

Does the bus stay parked at Mt. Hood Meadows while I'm there? Would I be able to keep any belongings on the bus; such as a backpack with food and drinks that I could get to? Do the riders need to be on the bus prior to 4:00 so that you're driving away right at 4:00?

Thanks,
Gina

Yeah, the bus is parked in the same spot all day and you're welcome to leave stuff on it. However, it is locked up so it's best to bring your lunch in and get a locker for stuff like that. Sometimes i'll make sure people have my cell phone number if they think they might want to get back in, but usually people just locker their stuff. Once we arrive we remind people that we're planning to leave at four and if they can meet up around 3:50 or so that would be best, although we don't leave until everyone it accounted for, of course. Thanks.

- Mike.

What route do folks take to Mt. Hood? I'm asking because I am curious to know if you go through hood river, and if it would be possible to get dropped off there on the way home.
Thanks- and I think it is awesome that y'all are doing this!!

Hi Karen, we actually just changed out route to go through Hood River. I'm not sure if we'll officially have the programming for a second pick up spot on the site this season, but for now we are going through Hood River and will probably start to do a pick up shortly. It's in the works. Thanks for your support. Mike. 3/26

hey do you guys do ski bowl drop offs?

No, we used to but found it to be a terrible headache to try and meet back up with people. At ski bowl people would be late or in the wrong spot and this is no good when you've got a bus full of tired people who want to get home. We recently started to take the Hood River route so we actually don't even go past Ski Bowl anymore. Sorry 'bout that.

- Mike

How likely are midweek trips to reach the minimum number of passengers? How soon in advance do you know if your trip is canceled or not? Great idea guys! Thanks!

Hey Lisa, so far midweek days have been pretty slow, although on Presidents Day we were totally full. It's best to just sign up for the days you want to go and then if they get canceled you get a refund. I send an email out the evening before a trip to let people know whether or not we're going. In the near future this will be automated through our database. Thanks for the support.

- Mike