april_2018

212 213 THE STARK AREA REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY plan a trip. Inside of PinPoint, all of our bus signs have a four-digit stop ID. It allows you to text the stop code to 321123 and it auto- matically will send you the next three times that a bus is coming to that stop. Or you can look at the map on your phone and hit your stop, and it will show you the same infor- mation. At all of our transit centers, we have real-time information signs that will know when the next bus is departing. So, we really have tried to make our system advantageous for our riders. You can also, if you have a stop near your home or a stop near your job, can set up an account where you can get alerts – a text message or an email at so many min- utes before the bus is arriving at your stop. So, if you take the bus to work, and the stop is down the street, you can put that code in and it will send you a message, say ten AT A GLANCE THE STARK AREA REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY WHAT: The Stark Area Regional Transit Authority WHERE: Canton, Ohio WEBSITE: www.sartaonline.com one route to Cleveland. Its administrative office and bus garage is located in Canton, and there are four transfer stations in the system: its main Cornerstone Transit Center, the Alliance Transfer Center, The Massillon Transfer Center, and the Belden Village Transfer Center. In 2012, SARTA opened a public/private Com- pressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station at the company headquarters in Canton, and today, about half of its fleet runs on CNG. These vehicles are quieter, require fewer oil changes, and reduce emissions by over 80 percent when compared to traditional diesel fuel buses. In addition, SARTA saves over 40 percent a year on fuel costs for its CNG vehicles. “We also have the largest hydrogen fuel cell fleet outside of California,” adds SARTA’s President, Kirt Conrad. “We have six on property and will have 13, by next year. They’re electric fuel cell buses that use hydrogen and have zero emissions.” In 2016, in recognition of its imple- mentation of alternative fuel technologies, SARTA received an Honorable Mention Award for operat- ing the Best Green Fleet in America at the Green Fleet Conference in Washington, D.C. In addition to taking advantage of the latest in transportation technologies, SARTA has also applied the latest in communications technolo- gy throughout its entire system. “For fixed-route riders, we have an app called PinPoint for your phone or computer,” says IT Director, Craig Smith. “It allows you to see exactly where your bus is while you’re at a bus stop, or at home trying to