Cherriots Adopts Account-Based Fare Payment System, Salem, OR, 2023

The Salem Area Mass Transit District (SAMTD, aka Cherriots) has launched a new account-based fare payment system. This system allows customers to pay for their fares by scanning a QR code on a smartphone app or tapping a card to a validator. Customers can preload balances through an online portal, via the smartphone app, or at designated customer service locations. When customers tap a card or scan a QR code on the validator, it deducts a stored value from their account. Umo, a subsidiary of Cubic Transportation Systems, During August 2023, transit customers can get the fare cards for free. After that, cards will cost $3.

Cherriots is using this effort to ease peoples’ experiences paying for transit and implement fare capping. Fare capping allows transit customers to accumulate the daily, weekly, or monthly fare pass as they pay for individual rides within a designated period instead of paying for the entire fare value upfront. Fare capping can improve transit equity as customers avoid the burden of paying a larger sum of money for a pass at once.

Last updated August 8, 2023