Survey looks for ways to improve Valley transportation

Analysts are looking into how to improve transportation in Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. Eastgate Regional Council of Governments is asking the community for their input on what things are like across all rides whether that be public like WRTA route or private such as transport services for seniors.

“We’re looking at a multitude of things: what the weaknesses are, what our strengths are, what our priorities and our strategies are,” Mirta Reyes - Chapman, the Transit Program Manager at Eastgate said. 

Eastgate makes a coordinated plan about the transportation sector every four years in order to get federal grant funding. 

The biggest concerns people have brought up so far are outdated vehicles and the ending WRTA routes in Trumbull County. Some things people have said they want to see added are cross county trips and better connections between the different types of service providers.

The analyst will take all the feedback and put them in a single report for both counties to reference when trying to find solutions.

“We’ll tend to work with the big picture items but then we also will then focus in on some of those unique and specific concerns people have,” Robbie Sarles, the President of RLS and Associates Inc. conducting the survey said. “We're all about really coming up with solutions…that this community can really embrace and move forward with.” 

Survey responses will be accepted over the next month. Mahoning County riders can respond here and Trumbull County riders can respond here.

The survey can be requested in an alternate form by contacting RLS at 937-299-5007 or by emailing jschafer@rlsandassoc.com 

The final report will be published in September.

“We’ll do the best to our ability to help this community come to a consensus about how we can approach those so we can work through as many of those situations as possible,” Sarles said.