Does the person who benefits from an easement have to maintain or repair the area it covers?

Generally, yes, unless the granting document says otherwise. Because the dominant owner, the one who benefits from the easement, is the one actually relying on it, using a right-of-way driveway, for instance, that owner is typically responsible for maintaining and repairing whatever is needed to keep the easement usable for its intended purpose, rather than expecting the servient owner, whose land it crosses, to do that upkeep.

The servient owner's obligations run the other way: as the underlying property owner, they generally shouldn't obstruct the easement or interfere with the dominant owner's ability to use and maintain it, but they aren't typically expected to actively repair or improve something they don't personally benefit from. Where the easement is genuinely shared, like a driveway both properties actually use, the more sensible and common approach is splitting maintenance responsibilities and costs between both owners, but that arrangement needs to actually be documented rather than assumed.

Given how often this becomes a source of disagreement, particularly for something like a shared driveway used by both properties, a well-drafted easement agreement should spell out exactly who maintains what and how costs are shared, rather than leaving it to be worked out informally after a problem arises.