In the heart of Oregon's Mid-Willamette Valley, Cherriots — the operating name of the Salem Area Mass Transit District — has emerged as a case study in successful paratransit modernization. Serving a 76-square-mile area across Salem and Keizer, Cherriots operates a comprehensive transit network including 64 local buses, 12 regional buses, and a 55-vehicle paratransit operation — Cherriots LIFT. Following the largest service expansion in its 45-year history, including the historic addition of Sunday service in 2021, the agency has now tackled another challenge: modernizing its paratransit technology infrastructure.
The timing of this digital transformation is particularly significant. Thanks to state funding from House Bill 2017, Cherriots has been in a period of unprecedented growth, restoring services lost to budget cuts in 2009 and expanding operating hours until 11 p.m. on many routes. This expansion made the need for reliable, scalable paratransit technology even more crucial.
Eighteen months after implementing Via's paratransit software, Contracted Services Manager Ben Sawyer shares the key lessons learned from their modernization process.
One of the biggest challenges Cherriots faced wasn't technical — it was psychological. "At first, the drivers were wary because they wanted to drive their own routes, and dispatchers were used to writing their own routes," recalls Sawyer. "We told them to just let the system go and do its thing."
The results spoke for themselves:
“Just the other day, I listened to one of our dispatchers say ‘Amazingly enough—the system does actually know what it's doing.’ If you just leave it alone, it'll fix everything, but you have to let it do its thing.”
Rather than trying to optimize everything everywhere all at once, Cherriots took a phased approach to evolving service operations. “We picked one thing to work on at a time so we could see how it ended up affecting us," Sawyer explains. "We really wanted to slowly make adjustments and watch what it did, making sure that we weren't inadvertently affecting something else and making it worse."
The approach paid off, “We're about 18 months into it, and we've seen continuous improvement. Every month it gets better statistically.”
One key revelation for Cherriots was the importance of flexibility in their processes. "Everybody who's switching software needs to be prepared: they will have to make some operational changes," Sawyer advises. "If you're open and flexible enough, it's a lot easier."
This flexibility extended to their procurement process as well. Initially, they thought they needed specific mobile data terminals (MDTs) for their vehicles. However, they discovered that Via's approach using standard tablets was not only more cost-effective but also more appealing for operators. "We saved a couple thousand dollars because we didn't buy hardware that wasn't needed anyway," notes Sawyer.
As a smaller agency, Cherriots initially worried about receiving adequate support. "I was kind of concerned when we were talking to other companies — we're not a very big account, so I worried 'are we going to get enough attention?'" Sawyer remembers. Those concerns quickly disappeared:
“Today, I can't imagine getting any more attention than we already do. I always have somebody from Via available to talk to.”
The implementation team's expertise proved invaluable, particularly in handling Cherriots' complex fleet requirements. "The launch team created beautiful spreadsheets to track all of the different things we needed to know about," Sawyer says. "We spent a lot of time making sure the system understood that kind of critical operational information about how we're set up."
To this day, Sawyer notes that “The engineering team still checks in regularly to look at our stats and make sure we're improving. That personal touch makes it easier to bring up questions when we need help.”
This continuous improvement has positioned Cherriots to explore new service opportunities. "One of our goals is to open up same-day reservations where space is available," Sawyer shares. "We have some big dead spots in the middle of the day that we could potentially utilize.”
Microtransit is another area of interest for the agency: “ It could potentially be for hours with fewer rides, a zonal system for first and last mile trips, or areas far away from a fixed route stop. It would be more efficient to serve some Lift rides with that service.”
Agencies can future-proof their investment by ensuring the software they buy today can support additional service models they have on the horizon, like same-day service, commingling across microtransit and paratransit, or creating stronger connections between ADA service and accessible fixed routes.
Are you considering a paratransit software transition? Did you find these lessons useful? We'd love to hear from you. Drop your name below and we'll get in touch.