Metro RTA opens new $61 million maintenance and operations facility in Akron, replacing 40-year-old building

Metro Regional Transit Authority is celebrating the opening of its new maintenance and operations facility, a major upgrade for the transit system that serves Summit County.

The new building replaces a facility that opened more than 40 years ago. At the time, it was built to serve 90 buses. Today, Metro's fleet has grown to more than 230, and the agency says it had simply outgrown the old space.

The project cost $61 million. More than $37 million of that came from a federal grant.

The new building spans more than 107,000 square feet and features a dedicated body shop and paint booth, state-of-the-art maintenance systems, a new dispatch center, and dedicated space for safety and training.

There are also upgrades for employees. The building includes a fitness center, a quiet room, a sleep room, and a new dayroom lounge. Outside, there are patios, a walking path, and a meadow.

Metro said the new space was built with its frontline workers in mind bus operators, mechanics, and the crews who clean and maintain the buses.

"We really have the space where we can put a bus in. Here's everything that needs fixed. Here's all the preventative work that needs done, and then it can stay there until it's done. So we're moving people and not assets," Jarrod Hampshire, chief of staff for Metro Regional Transit Authority, said.

Metro says the facility also makes room for new technology, including electric and natural gas buses, and gives the team more space to train drivers.

The maintenance team has already been working in the new space for about two months. Operations staff are moving in Thursday.