One word to describe yourself: Industrious
Alma Mater: Kent State University
Fast fact about yourself: I love woodworking on the weekends. It’s a fun hobby that helps develop creative skills.
What’s your best experience on transit and what made it memorable? Riding the first route that I designed and having a customer get on who explained to me why the new route was so impactful to their life. The customer had no idea who I was or that I had designed the route, so it really had a lasting impact.
Matthew A. Maier, director of operations, Laketran, started his career in the public transit industry while earning his Bachelor of Science in construction management at Kent State University. During that time, he was a student bus driver, then supervisor at the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority, which sparked his passion for transportation. After overseeing construction projects at Ohio Department of Transportation, he transitioned back into transit operations, first as an operations manager at Coach USA and then at Laketran. Within just one year at Laketran, he was promoted to director of operations.
Maier oversees 236 employees across multiple departments, including bus drivers, dispatch, scheduling and customer service teams. His leadership has been instrumental in improving and expanding transit services, including adding over 30,000 service hours—a 62 percent increase in service by adding more routes and service hours. He has been able to navigate challenges—including pandemic-related disruptions, labor shortages and supply chain issues—while ensuring high-quality service and a 19 percent ridership increase in 2023 alone, followed by another nine percent increase in 2024.
During his time at Laketran, Maier has implemented new scheduling and timekeeping software, passenger counters, customer trip booking portal, same day dial-a-ride, real-time signage for fixed route and paratransit, mobile ticketing and tablets to improve operations and the customer experience. Maier has helped Laketran convert its paratransit fleet to propane and deployed 10 battery-electric transit buses to reduce costs. He also managed a major paratransit software upgrade that included transitioning the fleet from ranger to tablets, which required extensive development, training and customer engagement.
Maier is an active member of Ohio Transit Risk Pool, NEORide and was recognized as Ohio Public Transportation Association’s Under 40 Rising Star in 2024. He is a 2020 graduate of Leadership Lake County and serves on the board of Lifeline, Lake & Geauga Counties’ Community Action Agencies.
Is there a specific experience that led you to where you are today?
In college, I started as a student bus driver looking for a higher paying job close to campus. It was not long after that I discovered how much of what I was doing helped the community. This gave what I was doing a sense of purpose that let me go home at the end of the day satisfied with what I have done for others.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I enjoy coming up with creative ways to help people and solve problems. I love being challenged to figure out better ways to accomplish a goal. I have had the opportunity to lead innovative projects that better my community.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
The most challenging part of my job is having an idea to improve something for my community and the technology to make it happen not being ready. This has led to some great partnerships with technology companies to make these ideas become reality.
What is the accomplishment you’re most proud of and why?
The 62 percent (and growing) increase in service to my community. What I do gives venerable populations access to live independently. When I started, there were areas not being served, which made it difficult for people who needed access to these areas. Providing independence to people is important to me because of the hardships that can happen to a person if they do not have that access to transportation.
What is an accomplishment you would like to work towards in your career?
I would love the ability to share more of what we do with other transit agencies and help give them the tools to improve their community.
What is your best advice/tip/best practice you can share from your area of expertise?
Any decision that you make should either promote safety, maintain excellence of the services to your community, promote financial efficiency or pioneer new innovative ways to exceed expectations. Decisions made using one of these principles will ensure you are moving forward on a project for the right reason.
About the Author
Brandon Lewis
Associate Editor
Brandon Lewis is a recent graduate of Kent State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Lewis is a former freelance editorial assistant at Vehicle Service Pros in Endeavor Business Media’s Vehicle Repair Group. Lewis brings his knowledge of web managing, copyediting and SEO practices to Mass Transit Magazine as an associate editor. He is also a co-host of the Infrastructure Technology Podcast.