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Salem Area Mass Transit District history
Salem Area Mass Transit District company history timeline
In 1966, local government started operating the transit system when the city of Salem purchased Capitol City Lines, a driver-owned bus company.
Voters in 1979 passed a measure to create the Salem Area Mass Transit District.
February 1981: Voters pass the Transit District’s first property tax levy.
The one-year operating levy of more than $2.1 million provides funds for the operation of an area-wide bus system starting July 1,1981.The area within city limits was formerly served by the city of Salem bus system.
July 1981: The District begins operation of the bus system.
September 1981: Gordon Aoyagi, a transit executive from Westport, Conn., selected as the first General Manager.
July 1982: All remaining transit operations are spun out of the city of Salem.
August 1983: Bus service on Lancaster Route 11 begins.
September 1983: A new passenger loading area, called a transit island, opens on High Street in front of Marion County Courthouse.
May 1984: Voters reject a $2.29 million tax base to support transit.
March 1985: Voters reject a three-year, $6 million transit levy.
September 1985: Cherriots General Manager Gordon Aoyagi takes a new job with a transit agency in Montgomery County, Maryland and announces his resignation from Cherriots.
February 1986: The Cherriots Board of Directors adopts a package of recommendations intended to fix problems with budgeting, accounting, and investment practices.
May 1986: Voters pass a $1.5 million tax base for transit.
The base replaces a $1.2 million one-year levy that expires in June 1987.
June 1988: City of Salem officials ask the District to find a new home for the bus terminal on High Street NE. The current location creates a traffic bottleneck.
November 1989: Cherriots celebrates its 10th anniversary.
November 1989: The Cherriots Board of Directors chooses the block bounded by High, Church, Court and Chemeketa streets NE as its first choice for a new transit center and office building.
August 1990: The city of Salem joins Marion County and the District on a task force looking at options for a downtown transit center.
March 1991: Plans to move the downtown transit center from its current location on High Street NE, near Marion County Courthouse, are put on hold indefinitely.
July 1992: Four Cherriots buses are the first in the nation to have a system that announces bus stops in a human-sounding voice.
September 1992: Cherriots dips into its reserves to balance its budget and looks for a new funding source.
February 1993: General Manager Greg Cook warns that Cherriots could face service cuts in two years without additional revenue.
June 1993: The Cherriots Board of Directors sends a payroll tax to voters.
September 1993: Salem-area voters reject a payroll tax for transit by a more than 2 to 1 margin.
April 1995: General Manager Greg Cook announces that he is leaving Cherriots for a higher-paying job with a transit agency in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
August 1995: R.G. Andersen-Wyckoff, a former Salem mayor, is hired as general manager.
December 1995: The Board of Directors approves the concept for Courthouse Square, an office building and transit center in the 200 block of Church Street NE. The property is the Senator Hotel Block, which is mostly owned by Marion County.
May 1996: Two private development teams compete for the Courthouse Square project.
May 1996: Voters approve the new $5.9 million tax base.
July 1996: For the first time, Cherriots begins providing evening bus service.
February 1997: The Courthouse Square project has problems staying on budget.
September 1998: The state employee bus pass program begins.
November 1998: The Board of Marion County Commissioners gives its OK to sell $22 million worth of bonds to help finance the construction of Courthouse Square.
January 1999: R.G. Andersen-Wyckoff announces his resignation effective in February.
March 1999: Excavation begins on Courthouse Square site.
September 2000: The $34 million Courthouse Square office building and transit center has its grand-opening ceremony.
February 2001: Construction of Courthouse Square comes in nearly $900,000 under budget.
August 2002: CARTS service for north Marion County residents is reduced by 20 percent.
December 2003: Annual ridership on Cherriots passes the 5 million mark for the first time.
July 2005: Cherriots takes over Mid Valley Rideshare (now the Transportation Options program). The program, promoting carpooling and vanpooling, was previously operated by the city of Salem.
July 2006: The Cherriots Board of Directors decides to go out with another tax measure in November at a rate of 60-cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
October 2006: General Manager Jeff Hamm announces he is leaving Cherriots in December to take a job with the transit system in Vancouver, Washington.
November 2006: Structural and nonstructural defects at the Courthouse Square office building result in more litigation filed by the District and Marion County.
August 2007: The District's plans call for adding transit centers in south Salem and Keizer.
May 2008: To avoid budget cuts, the Board of Directors approves a plan to use nearly all of the District's reserves.
November 2009: Cherriots celebrates its 30th anniversary.
February 2010: The Keizer Transit Center project moves forward after years of discussion and many public meetings.
September 2010: Cherriots raises adult fares to $1.50, a 20 percent increase.
November 2010: Questions arise about whether Courthouse Square should be repaired or demolished.
May 2011: An investigation by forensic engineers with Golder Associates Inc. determines that Courthouse Square’s problems started with bad engineering and worsened when early signs of structural defects were downplayed.
December 2011: Cherriots purchases a hybrid gas-electric bus that will be used for its rural regional service.
July 2013: The repair project at Courthouse Square is halfway complete.
December 2013: Keizer Transit Center wins The Governor's Award for Sustainability.
April 2014: Courthouse Square has its grand re-opening after a $23 million repair job.
May 2015: Cherriots surveys the public to gauge support for an employer payroll tax to fund transit.
June 2015: The West Salem Connector, a pilot project to test on-demand bus service in West Salem, makes its debut.
The changes are made after staff monitored the performance of the 2015 Moving Forward service redesign.
July 2016: Cherriots creates an award-winning marketing campaign by capitalizing on the Pokemon GO craze.
Other sources include news posted on the Cherriots website, minutes from the Cherriots Board of Directors meetings, and the Cherriots 2016-17 Annual Report.
HB 2017 could bring $7 million in its first year to support transit in Marion and Polk counties.
Kate Brown signs House Bill 2017, a landmark transportation funding package.
January 2018: The West Salem Connector, an on-demand bus service, is discontinued.
Michael Rose, a former Statesman Journal reporter hired by Cherriots, wrote this timeline in January 2018.
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Salem Area Mass Transit District competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority | - | $13.2M | 300 | 3 |
| Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | 1967 | $1.8B | 15,000 | 37 |
| San Diego Metropolitan Transit System | 1975 | $360.0M | 3,000 | 1 |
| Valley Metro | 1985 | $175.1M | 90 | 4 |
| Des Moines Area Regional Transit | - | $20.0M | 350 | - |
| GRTC Transit System | 1860 | $34.1M | 200 | 14 |
| Knoxville Area Transit | - | $3.8M | 27 | - |
| Bloom's Bus Lines | 1946 | $13.9M | 200 | - |
| Lakeland Bus Lines | 1952 | $12.2M | 100 | 5 |
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