Salem-Keizer Transit
 |
|
Salem's Courthouse Square Transit Mall
|
|
| Founded | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 550 Court Street NE, Salem |
| Service area | Salem and Keizer, Oregon |
| Service type | bus service, paratransit |
| Routes | 21 |
| Fleet | 64 |
| Fuel type | Diesel, CNG (Natural Gas) |
| Website | cherriots.org |
Salem-Keizer Transit, branded and popularly known as Cherriots (due to Salem's "Cherry City" sobriquet) and more formally the Salem Area Mass Transit District, is a public agency that operates mass transit in the metropolitan area of Salem and Keizer, Oregon, United States. Cherriots provides the region's bus system and CherryLift paratransit service required by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. It has operated mass transit in the Salem area since 1979.
Cherriots currently operates Monday through Friday. There are 19 bus routes within Salem and Keizer and 2 express bus routes to Grand Ronde and Wilsonville. The Wilsonville express route is partially operated by SMART and connects with TriMet of Portland. Cherriots connects at Salem Transit Mall with Chemeketa Area Regional Transportation System (CARTS), which provides bus service connecting Salem to destinations as far north as Woodburn, as far west as Dallas, and to the east to Silverton and up the Santiam Canyon to Mill City.
Most Cherriots bus routes radiate from the Downtown Transit Center around Courthouse Square in Downtown Salem between High and Church Streets, or the Glen Creek Transit Center in West Salem, between Glen Creek and Taybin Roads. A new transit center in Keizer was opened on July 1, 2013.
In 2009, Cherriots routes underwent major changes due to funding limitations. Service hours were reduced and Saturday service was eliminated. The removal of Saturday service left much of the population without weekend transport; it is a serious problem for many citizens. At the same time, Cherriots redesigned many of its routes to provide better service within funding levels.
In 2015, Cherriots started a "Moving Forward" plan which made new routes. On certain routes, (i.e. Route 1) run every 15 minutes. Others, (i.e. 5/5A) buses run every 15 minutes on trunk part of route, and every 30 minutes on branch parts of the route (Red routes). Then, some routes (i.e. 8/8A) run every 30 minutes on trunk, and every 60 minutes on branch (Blue routes). Standard routes are every 60 minutes (Gray routes). Click here to see new map
...
Wikipedia