(ABC 6 News) – For years, SMART Transit has been getting people where they need to go around southeast Minnesota, and this year marks a milestone anniversary for the company.

Jan. 2, 2024, marks exactly 10 years since SMART started.

The company provides services to adults with disabilities throughout the area and was born after Freeborn, Mower, and Steele counties combined their transit systems.

Waseca County was added to the group in 2016.

SMART serves 125,000 people with nearly 25 buses. Despite reduced services in three counties because of staffing, the company is looking ahead to the future.

“We’re going to work on new facilities in Austin here and up in Waseca. We’ve been getting some buses. We got six buses in the last couple of months. Six new ones, and we have 10 more on order we plan to get and add into our fleet. We’re also working on an electric bus with the state,” said Kirk Kuchera, the Transit Manager at SMART.

In March, the company celebrated another milestone – two million rides. That’s thanks to about 70 staff members, 11, of whom have been with the company since day one.

It’s not just the company celebrating, passengers will get to join in too. Over the next several weeks, SMART will hand out items to its riders and doing random giveaways, which could include free rides.

Kuchera says the celebrations will last all year long.

For more information on SMART, its routes, and prices, you can click here.