“If we really got crowded on a run, we could take standing passengers if we had to,” Lazaro said. “We certainly don’t want to leave folks behind.”

The bus will make five runs a day, collecting passengers at five locations in Corvallis — Oregon State University, the downtown transit station, two local hotels and a bus shelter on Northeast Circle Boulevard — before proceeding to the Albany Amtrak station. The first run of the day will start at 5:10 a.m., with the last leaving Albany to return to Corvallis at 7:55 p.m. after the final train departs the station.

That should fill a major gap in current bus service for area residents trying to make a rail connection. The limited runs available now between Corvallis and the Albany Depot are not well-coordinated with Amtrak schedules, and no local buses run late enough to meet the final train of the evening.

Lazaro said the shuttle service will try to make allowances for train delays but may not be able to accommodate everyone.

“We’ll wait if we can,” he said. “It’s at the driver’s discretion … we can’t wait so long that it makes us late for the next run.”