If you still harbor painful memories of digging out your car during the snowy winter of 2026, imagine trying to do that with a city bus.
Some of the storms were heavy enough to close or delay transit service in many parts of the region, including the Poconos.
"We actually closed twice for the whole day because we just weren't able to get everything pulled out," Monroe County Transportation Authority CEO Rich Schlameuss said. "There were some days that we had to delay service because we had to clean off all our buses before they were ready to go on the street."
A new project will help minimize delays like that, among other benefits.
MCTA, popularly known as the "Pocono Pony," recently broke ground on its new $32 million Wayne P. Mazur Sr. Bus Depot.
Named for one of the agency's founding board members, the 44,000-square-foot bus depot in Swiftwater will mark the largest expansion in Pocono Pony’s 47-year history, officials said.
Keeping the fleet safe indoors
The new facility will provide covered storage for the entire fleet — helping ensure buses are protected from severe weather, not just snow — and include rehabilitated, expanded maintenance areas with modern equipment, according to MCTA.
MCTA has a fleet of 59 buses — 14 are fixed-route vehicles and the rest are paratransit vehicles for the agency's paratransit operations that serve senior citizens and other people with mobility challenges. Pocono Pony provided over 230,000 fixed route trips last year, and another 80,000 through its paratransit program.
The depot project "gives our team the tools they need to operate at the highest level and ensures our community has a transit system that is as resilient as the people it serves,” Schlameuss said.
Mazur, who serves as MCTA's board chairman, said the indoor storage is better for Pocono Pony's vehicles because of the fuel they use.
"Diesel and compressed natural gas do not like cold weather," Mazur said. "It's going to be a lot easier to start those buses in the morning so they can get out on the road."
It's also intended to protect the buses from theft and vandalism.
"We had an event where several vehicles had their catalytic converter stolen," Schlameuss said. "It cost us $1,000 for each vehicle to get a new catalytic converter."
The project will draw on funding from the Federal Transit Administration, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and a Local Share Account grant.
It is expected to be complete by spring 2028.
Mazur: 'It blew me away'
For Mazur, the project is a major milestone both personally and professionally.
A lifelong Pocono Township resident, he was an original board member when MCTA was founded in 1979 and currently serves as the board's chairman. He was instrumental in the construction of MCTA's current facility in the 1990s and further upgrades, officials said.
Mazur said MCTA has two existing buildings: One was named after Martha Kitchen, "the mother of our authority." The other was named for former board member Roland Featherman, who Mazur said was born blind and rode the bus daily.
"So to be placed in the same seat as both Roland and Martha Kitchen is quite an honor," he said. "It blew me away."
Schlameuss said it is appropriate.
"It's a really important tribute to him and his leadership over all these years to get us to this point," he said of Mazur.
