Matthew Conover
Service Analyst Supervisor
Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA)
- Alma Mater: Wright State University
- Favorite book: "Good to Great"
- Favorite TV show: "Parts Unknown"
- Favorite hobby(s): Backpacking and camping
Matthew Conover’s commitment to public transportation is helping steer the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) into the future with a focus on a return on investment and superior customer service. Since joining SORTA in 2012, Conover has worked to enhance how SORTA delivers service in the Southwest Ohio Region. He consistently brings a business emphasis to the agency by focusing on the customer, while using data to drive decisions.
Conover is leading the agencies effort to reinvent SORTA’s service. As the project manager of SORTA’s newest planning effort he has developed and implemented new service standards to guide SORTA’s service delivery and planning initiatives. These new performance standards focus on sustainability, decreasing the cost of providing transportation services, while increasing the quality of service to customers.
Conover has been entrusted with guiding the development of three new transit centers, which will greatly improve transit access in the region. To further benefit the region Conover is working with a team at SORTA to roll out a new mobile ticketing application in the next ninety days. The mobile ticketing app, expected to launch in August 2016, will greatly enhance the customers’ experience by enabling them to plan, track their bus in real-time and pay for their trip in one simple, secure app.
As a daily rider Conover is not only a dedicated professional, he has a personal passion for transit. He is a graduate of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Early Career Program, and a member of several APTA committees. Outside of transit, he is actively involved in the Boy Scouts of America, where he mentors and instills leadership skills to the youth in the program.
"I'm most proud of my accomplishments that directly impact our riders. I think that one of the most recent examples of that is the shared fare agreement between our new Cincinnati streetcar and bus service. While it takes a lot of work on the back end for us to process these payments, to the user upfront it seems like it is one fully integrated system."
