News

STARK AREA REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY CEO ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING PROLINE

November 27, 2024

We want to thank all the riders, family members, agency partners, and citizens who took the time to attend our recent public meetings in person and/or submitted comments online. We understand your concerns, are working diligently to address them, and will provide regular updates in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

We also want to assure you SARTA will do everything possible to:

Achieving those goals as we deal with our current financial situation will be a challenge—but it is a challenge we will overcome with the support of our workforce, our riders, their families, agency partners, business, labor, and community leaders, as well as the general public.

We recognize that to earn that support we must continue to be totally transparent and accountable and provide all stakeholders with information and data that will enable them to understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, and evaluate our performance. To that end, we are issuing this statement which includes important context about ProLine and our budgetary process. 

Proline

During the recent public meetings, our staff provided an explanation of the transit service we are required to provide under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the way Proline now operates, and the vast difference between the two. That difference and its impact on those who use Proline and their families has generated an outpouring of questions and concerns that we will address as quickly as possible.

We did not, however, explain that operating Proline as a countywide, on demand, point-to-point service is simply not sustainable from a fiscal, logistical, or managerial standpoint for many reasons including:

These factors explain why no other transit agency in the state operates their ADA service in the same manner as SARTA and why we began planning to significantly alter Proline more than four years ago. During that time, we explored a variety of options and technology platforms that would enable us to control costs while meeting the needs of the residents of Stark County. Those options included SARTA Connect, an Uber-like pilot project we recently launched in Massillon and Navarre.

Despite the strain it places on our budget, we had planned to continue operating Proline as-is until we were prepared to fully implement new proven ADA and on demand services that would be accepted and embraced by our stakeholders. The fiscal challenges we now face disrupted that plan and require us to begin making incremental changes that will reduce Proline’s negative impact on our budget when they take effect in February.

As we stated above, we will do adopt changes that will cause the least possible disruption for those who need public transit most. The changes will enable us to prioritize rides by need, importance, and the nature of the requested trip. We will also work with Proline users and partner agencies to identify other transportation providers capable of meeting their needs.

While this situation is disconcerting, it will serve as a catalyst that leads to the creation of innovative new countywide, on demand service that is more efficient, cost-effective, and responsive than ever before and achieves the twin goals of delivering the greatest value for the taxpayer dollars we receive and ensuring that we deliver the best possible public transit service to the community we serve.