The Downtown Transit Center sat empty Tuesday, March 31 after Cherriots announced it was suspending service. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter)
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Caleb Wechsler uses Cherriots each weekday to get from his home in Dallas to Salem, then hops on a bus at the downtown transit center to reach his job as a construction estimator.
Wechsler is one of thousands of area residents suddenly with no public transit to get to work, the grocery store, or other chores after Cherriots on Monday announced it would suspend service.
It’s the first time the Salem Area Mass Transit District has completely shut down service in its 41-year history and comes on the heels of seven employees testing positive for COVID-19. Dozens more have called out sick since March 13.
Wechsler said it’s too expensive to take a taxi, so his employer is looking for a way for him to work remotely until he can get back into the office.
“I understand the reasoning, and I wouldn’t want anyone to put their health in jeopardy so I can’t be upset, but I don’t have a backup mode of transportation. So it is going to affect me majorly if it lasts for much longer,” he said.
Midori Trevett works for a bank and relies on buses to get to work, go to the grocery store and run errands.
“I am required to go to work because my job is an essential but without public transportation I have been stressed and scared of how I will get to work,” Trevett said in an email.
A normally bustling bus center in downtown Salem that serves thousands of riders a day sat empty Tuesday afternoon.
Inside the downtown transit center on 555 Court St. N.E., drivers would normally be taking breaks in a 50-by-100-foot space with lockers, a kitchenette, bathrooms and a quiet room for naps.
Instead, security guards shooed people away from the building now that it’s closed.
Mikel Burke, executive board officer for Amalgamated Transit Union 757, which represents 124 Cherriots drivers, said on Monday he initially recommended Cherriots shut down service for two weeks so the agency had time to evaluate which drivers are returning, estimate service levels and determine how often the buses need to be cleaned.
The union was scheduled to meet with Cherriots managers Thursday to determine how they can return bus service while still protecting employees, especially those who are at higher risk because they’re older or have underlying medical conditions. Burke said the union is asking that a crew clean buses all day. The practice had been to do deep cleanings at night and wipe down surfaces during the day.
Burke said social distance needs to be enforced on the buses, especially if there are fewer buses running.
“We’re concerned that with reduced service we have buses that have reduced seating areas we fill up faster. We want to avoid a situation where the public has standing room only,” he said.
He said the confirmed cases at the agency have been mild and none of the drivers have been hospitalized.
On March 13, Burke said he stood next to the first driver who would later test positive. They were chatting on the bus and Burke told the driver not to work an overtime shift on his day off as he was experiencing shortness of breath.
Burke said he didn’t immediately consider that the driver might have the novel coronavirus because it’s flu and allergy season.
“You’re not feeling well? It could just be you’re tired, worn out a bit,” he said.
Burke said if he’s contracted the virus, he’s likely asymptomatic.
Salem Health announced on March 25 it would stop testing people with respiratory illnesses for flu or the novel coronavirus at outpatient clinics and the hospital emergency room. Wednesday morning, Salem Health said it resumed outpatient testing for COVID-19 at its three respiratory clinics.
Six of the employees who tested positive are drivers and another 85 employees have called in sick since March 13, according to Cherriots spokeswoman Patricia Feeny.
Last week, Cherriots offered employees with underlying medical conditions or those 65 and older the choice to go on paid administrative leave until Sunday, March 29.
After that, General Manager Allan Pollock said in a memo to employees, those who wanted to remain off the job after Sunday could use vacation time or sick leave until April 5. Employees without paid time off available would not be paid after Sunday if they remained off work, Pollock said in a memo dated March 26.
Now that the system is shut down, drivers are still getting paid, Burke said.
He said he hopes older workers and those with medical conditions will continue to be protected as negotiations on returning to work move forward.
When the rest of the workforce returns Burke said, “We want them ready, able and available so that we can meet whatever service level demands we have.”
Feeny said the leadership team is meeting twice a day to come up with a plan to restore service, but hasn’t determined a date of when that will be.
“We are in day two of the temporary suspension. There is a great amount of research being done, a lot of consulting with our transit and other partners, and myriad questions to answer,” she said in an email.
Cherriots is funded through a mix of property taxes, state funds, federal revenue and passenger fares. The agency spends about $1.1 million each month in payroll costs, according to Feeny.
Property taxes at $12.8 million account for the largest amount of the agency’s $28 million in annual revenue.
The agency’s annual financial report shows total ridership has dropped since 2015, from 3.6 million riders to 3.2 million in fiscal year 2019. That’s an average of 14,000 riders each day last year.
There are 64 buses that operate local service and another 12 that run regional routes.
This story was updated to reflect additional comments from spokeswoman Patricia Feeny.
Have a tip? Contact reporter Saphara Harrell at 503-549-6250, [email protected] or @daisysaphara.
