Crazy how quickly Massillon carelessly pushed passenger rail aside. I can only imagine if just a little bit of Massillon’s robust local, regional, and national passenger lines were salvaged, Ohio would be a much more connected place. The state's electric interurbans were very extensive. By 1908 (115 years ago), both Indiana's and Ohio’s interurban lines were connected. This meant you could literally travel from Massillon, Ohio all the way to Terre Haute, near the western border of Indiana, exclusively riding electric lines. Also yes, these lines went on to cross the border in Illinois and places like Chicago in the northern part of the state. The Ohio Electric Railway and The Cincinnati Northern Traction Company owned the larger share of the Ohio routes. Major Ohio stops for both included; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, Youngstown, Sandusky, Columbus, Lima, Toledo, Dayton, among others.

By 1930, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, & Chicago Railroad had long gotten taken over by the Pennsylvania Railroad; bringing Penn to Massillon. Interestingly, the Penn Rail lines ran a straight shot to Fort Wayne, IN. In paralleling US Route 30 today notable stops included; (west of Massillon) Mansfield, Lima, Ft. Wayne, Columbus (via Marion), Toledo (via Tiffin), and Akron (via Clinton); (east of Massillon) Canton, Alliance, Ravenna, and Cleveland (via Hudson).

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was a long time favorite for the region and to no surprise also had a very extensive system. In 1940, taking a short ride from Massillon to the main Northern Ohio line via Warwick would give you access to stops spanning east-west notably at; Youngstown, Akron, Cleveland (via South Park), Lorain (via Elyria), Lodi, Sandusky, Fostoria, Toledo (via Deshler), and Sherwood among others. Furthermore, B&O had routes criss cross applesauce Ohio like nobodies business.

Around the same time, in 1940, the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway had a patchwork of connections in Ohio. W&LE worked to serve the small farm towns of Ohio’s country of rolling hills. From Massillon, a short connection south to the railway's headquarters, in Brewster, OH, allowed passengers the choice to hop on one of the two cross spanning W&LE lines in Ohio. The state's north-south route spanned stops such as; Cleveland, Kent, Canton, Coshocton, and Zanesville. The east-west route included; Steubenville, Wheeling (WV), Sherrodsville, Orrville, Bellevue, and Toledo. Both of the main lines also have numerous branch lines; including routes to Huron, Lorain, Chagrin Falls, Massillon, Carrollton, Bellaire. Cross rail line connections could also be made to Pittsburgh.

On a final note, Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA) is building a new $5,100,000 transit center. The 5,565 square foot building is practically downtown, but that didn’t stop them from putting a park-and-ride on this baby. Along with 20 additional parking spaces in a downtown that is almost one giant parking lot; EV charging stations will also be available. The gold standard of downtown park-n-rides has been born and its creator's name is Massillon, Ohio. Honestly, I really didn’t realize how much potential is being squandered until I looked at the stone cold facts.

First of all frequencies (if kept the same as of May 2023) for the 5 million dollar center you’re building would be running at 75mins, 3 times in the morning and 4 times in the afternoon. Massillon’s shamefully making nearby Canton look like NYC with those numbers. For comparison, on another SARTA line linking downtown Canton to outlying strip mall district, Belden Village. The line runs Monday thru Saturday on 3 stops routing back and forth every hour from Cornerstone to Belden Village Transit Centers; stopping in between at 34th & Cleveland twice every hour.

I’m never surprised at the transit ridership of cities that devote half their acreage to parking. On the 32 route, 1,554 stop system rides 4,900 people daily (Q1 2023) over a county with a population of 374,853. In Massillon, ridership at the old transit center was around 400 each day, with the population of Massillon at 32,146 in 2020. Being billed as “easier to find” from the highway; the new Massillon Transit Center is set to be up and running at the end of 2023.