Cherriots plans for business tax to increase bus service, build transit stations

Salem’s mass transit agency wants to levy a tax on businesses in 2026 to increase weekend bus hours and fund new transit stations in south and east Salem.

The Salem Area Mass Transit District, otherwise known as Cherriots, can impose the tax under a state law passed in 2018. Voters wouldn’t get a say.

It would allow the district to levy businesses in Salem and Keizer. The taxing district follows the area’s urban growth boundary