8
S moke S ignals
AUGUST 15, 2017
Public transit options to change in Grand Ronde
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Grand Ronde-area residents who
rely on public transit to get to and
from Salem will have a new ride
starting in 2018.
On July 27, the Salem Area Mass
Transit District Board of Direc-
tors voted to end the Cherriots 2X
service between Salem and Grand
Ronde on Friday, Dec. 29.
The route currently provides
public transit service from Spirit
Mountain Casino to Salem eight
times daily Monday through Friday
starting at 7:30 a.m. and running
through 11:30 p.m.
The Salem Area Mass Transit
District has been operating the bus
service between Grand Ronde and
Salem since 2009 through a con-
tract with the Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde.
Funding for the bus service comes
primarily from federal Tribal tran-
sit dollars provided through the
Tribe’s federal and state transit
grants from the Federal Transit
Administration and the Oregon
Department of Transportation. The
Transit District agreed to cover the
cost of one of the round-trips.
When the Tribe recently request-
ed new proposals for the same route,
the Salem Area Mass Transit Dis-
trict decided not to bid again, accord-
ing to the board’s meeting memo.
Much of the reasoning had to do
with declining ridership, Trans-
portation Development Director
Stephen Dickey said.
Ridership on the Cherriots 2X
route hit an annual high of 25,514
in fiscal year 2011-12 and declined
to 17,204 in fiscal year 2016-17.
During the last two fiscal years,
Cherriots 2X has seen double-digit
percentage decreases in ridership.
“It’s not an anomaly,” Dickey
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
A rider boards a Cherriots 2X bus at Spirit Mountain Casino on Wednesday,
Aug. 9. The bus that provides service between Salem and Grand Ronde
will end on Friday, Dec. 29. The Tribe is working with the Tillamook County
Transportation District to provide service between Grand Ronde and Salem
in 2018.
said about other public transit
providers, such as Tri-Met in Port-
land, seeing a decline in ridership.
“”Lower gas prices are putting more
cars on the road.”
Tribal Planning & Grants Man-
ager Kim Rogers said the service
was originally going to end in Sep-
tember, but the board opted to end
the service at the end of the year to
give the Tribe more time to arrange
another public transit option for
Tribal members, area residents and
casino employees.
Rogers said the Tribe is working
with the Tillamook County Trans-
portation District to provide service
between Grand Ronde and Salem.
Tillamook County Transit Dis-
trict currently operates the Coastal
Connector that runs from Lincoln
City to Grand Ronde three times
daily and on to Salem on Saturday
and Sunday. Cherriots 2X does not
operate on weekends.
“TCTD has new grant funds to
help provide three daily round-trips
all the way to Salem instead of just
weekends, including going to the
Amtrak station,” Rogers said. “The
Tribe has met with TCTD about
adding more Grand Ronde-to-Sa-
lem round-trips during the week.”
Rogers said that it would proba-
bly be an additional three round-
trips for a total of six weekly trips
to Salem.
“The schedule has yet to be de-
veloped and no contract has been
signed regarding these added trips,
but that is what TCTD and the
Tribe plan to do,” Rogers said.
In August 2015, the Grand Ronde
Tribe signed an agreement with
the Tillamook County Transpor-
tation District to start a Coastal
Connector route from Lincoln City
to Grand Ronde Monday through
Friday and all the way to Salem
on weekends. Earlier this year, the
Tillamook County Transit District
updated its transit plan and recom-
mended that it run daily to Salem
instead of transferring to Cherriots
in Grand Ronde.
Salem Area Mass Transit District
funds used to help pay for the Cher-
riots 2X route will be allocated to
the West Salem fixed-route service,
the board’s meeting memo stated.
The Tribal agreement with the
Transit District for the route was
originally drawn up with the in-
tent that the Tribe would pay the
added cost to the Transit District
to provide the route, except for
one round-trip. When the current
finances of the agreement were
reviewed in more detail, as part
of potential renewal, the Transit
District determined it was covering
the cost of more than three of the
eight round-trips, Rogers said.
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