Cherriots recently added free wifi service to all its buses capable of providing connection for simple online tasks.
The network on each bus is called “Cherriots Public Bus WiFi.”
The network speed is not meant for streaming video and music and it’s limited to the areas where mobile phones receive a good signal. Regional riders should prepare for the signal to drop in certain rural areas of the Santiam Canyon, for example.
Cherriots encourages riders to wait to connect until after leaving transit centers so they do not pick up signals from a different bus.
USB ports for charging small electronics were also installed Cherriots Route 1X buses.
Cherriots Local buses have seen an average year-over-year increase in weekday ridership of 6.4 percent each month since September, and the figures do not include ridership on the recently-reinstated Saturday service.