From the Program Administrator –

In January 2023, ridership increased on every service. SAM had an overall increase of 19.60% compared to January 2022 and is at the highest ridership since the beginning of the pandemic. SAM-Gresham provided 5,289 rides in January 2023, an increase of 14.83%. SAM-Estacada grew 18.50%, with 506 riders. The Shopper Shuttle increased by 61.40, providing 552 rides, 110 more than the previous January.

SAM rides had an increase of 30.12% compared with January 2022. and ED,. with the greatest percent increase, grew 63.16% compared to last year. It appears that the post pandemic ridership is on the rise and headed on an upward trajectory.

Our new ITS equipment has been installed on all the buses. The next step is providing administrative and operational training of the hardware and software. Once that is complete we will launch the new app. There will be a lag time between the old service and the new service but dispatch has the ability to track bus locations via our new radio software.

We welcome our new MV General Manager, Tim Williams. He comes from Salem with a history in management and several years of experience in public transit. He has already been hard at work learning our system, hiring drivers and boosting employee morale.