Scene at RTA Community Advisory Committee meeting

This meeting of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) was held at the RTA building, 1240 W. 6th St., at 9 a.m. on a Friday morning. I checked in at the security desk, and someone came and escorted me to the boardroom when it was time. 

The committee members were sitting around four long tables arranged in a square formation. They were not identified with nameplates, but they did speak into microphones, which helped us hear the discussion. I sat with the Documenter recording audio of the meeting, Lori Ingram, at a table off to one side. 

Committee Chair Dr. Joseph Sopko called the meeting to order at 9:01 am.

Present:

• Joseph Sopko, chair
• Alicia Howerton, vice chair
• Nichole Laird, secretary
• Johnny Brewington
• Brian Gibbons
• Charles Kennick
• Jonathan Sieck
• Cole Ware
• Loh (was absent at roll call but arrived at 9:26 a.m.)

Absent:

• Brooklyn Burmeister
• Paul Meissner

Sopko noted that the committee has been quite busy since the last full meeting on June 3, which was a special meeting called to discuss the CAC Priority Setting Exercise Report. He then called a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting. They were approved unanimously. 

The proceedings then followed the agenda in order.

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RTA Customer Experience Department update

Kimberly Wright, RTA’s manager of customer experience and performance management, gave an update on the activities of the Customer Experience (CX) department. RTA created this new department in December 2024.

Wright described how the CX department undertakes “journey mapping” — a process where employees take a trip on the RTA from beginning to end and put themselves in the customers’ shoes. The department also conducts site visits and receives complaints, helping to expedite RTA’s response to them. Wright said they are very busy, with 20 or so complaint submissions made in the past few weeks.

Natoya Walker Minor, RTA staff member, said it is exciting that RTA has created a Customer Experience department, which bridges the work of Operations and External Affairs. Minor said that the data gathered from quarterly customer experience surveys and community value surveys is driving improvements. She added that the RTA has also created a Riders Council of employees who use the RTA for transportation at least 80% of the time.

Minor encouraged the CAC members to bring issues to the attention of the CX department, while reminding them that the road to improving customer experience is a process of improvement—not a “gotcha” mechanism for pointing out flaws.

Wright also answered some of the committee’s questions about the CX department’s work.

• Multiple members asked about being able to tag along for site visits. Wright said that these are currently internal, but they are working on a legal framework to allow CAC members to attend some of them.
• Sopko said a big pain point for riders is using the fare system, so it is important that the CX employees buy fares themselves when they are testing ride systems. Wright assured him they are doing that.
• Alicia Howerton asked if the CX employees are testing out rides on paratransit in addition to the regular buses and light rail. Wright said that testing out paratransit is trickier because it requires an internal audit, but it is being done.
• Nichole Laird asked how often the department makes site visits and how often they follow up. Wright said they make them at least four times a month, with the intention of circling back within six months.
  • The expectation is that urgent needs (trash, safety issues, etc.) will be fixed within 24 to 48 hours, while more strategic problems (cracked concrete, etc.) will be fixed within six weeks

RTA Transit Access Barrier Study

Maribeth Feke, the director of RTA Planning, presented a slideshow about the RTA Transit Access Barrier Study, also known by the title “Bridging Possibilities.” This study, ongoing since summer 2024, assesses how transit access can help people in high-poverty areas of Cleveland and explores what transit barriers exist.

Through community engagement focus groups and public engagement activities, the study found that riders generally agreed that the fare structure is fair, that the transit services go to the areas where they want to go, and that they appreciate the work of the transit operators. The common areas of concern were safety, security and the availability/frequency of service.

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The focus areas for improvement highlighted by the study include:

• Cleanliness
• Education about how transfers work
• Enhancing neighborhood stops
• Stroller accessibility
• Clearer information about re-routes
• Better regional connectivity (for example, to Akron)
• More reliable follow-ups to customer complaints

Feke said the study is now in the “Recommendations” phase. The next steps are to research and identify best practices for the areas of improvement, to continue researching the links between access to public transportation and poverty, and to present those findings to the Board of Trustees.

Loh said the committee members should have had the option to sit in as observers during the focus group sessions conducted for this survey. Minor pushed back on this, saying that Loh’s statement implied that the RTA does not know how to talk to the community, but they do. 

“ There are rules of engagement,” Minor said. “This committee is valuable, but it does not usurp the work that the Transit Authority has to do. We are being intentional with our invitations to bring the CAC to community meetings where and when we can. It cannot, it cannot, replace the work and responsibility that we are charged with as public administrators.”

Feke added that the meetings were conducted properly, with the use of a facilitator, and that the RTA team remained largely silent and did not intrude upon the conversation.

Updates from Subcommittee Chairs

Sopko asked Johnny Brewington, who chairs the Rules Subcommittee, for an update on the subcommittee’s activities. Brewington said that the subcommittee reviewed and made some adjustments to operating guidelines at its meetings on June 12 and July 24.

Dawn Tarka, RTA’s associate counsel, briefly described the clarifications and changes. These include:

• Meeting minutes will now be posted on the CAC webpage, in addition to the agenda, because the records for regular and special meetings need to be public.
• The committee and subcommittees will ensure someone is assigned as a secretary to take minutes at meetings, even if the official secretary is absent.
• The committee chair will periodically report to the Board of Trustees Liaison, who will then present those findings to the Board of Trustees.

Sopko presented a motion to approve these changes, which passed unanimously.

Howerton, chair of the ADA Subcommittee, and Cole Ware, chair of the Advocacy and Education Subcommittee, both had little to no business to address about their committees.

RTA CAC closing remarks

Minor then suggested that the three subcommittees take 20 minutes to split up and do a priority-setting exercise. Sopko agreed but said that they would wrap up and adjourn the meeting first. 

One of the committee members, who I believe was Jonathan Sieck, reminded the committee about an upcoming community meeting that will include updates about the MetroHealth Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. 

This project includes an initiative to remove some parking on the West 25th Street corridor to make a bus-only lane. That meeting will take place on Aug. 13 at Urban Community School at 4909 Lorain Ave.

Sopko then adjourned the meeting at 10:08 a.m.

These notes are by Documenter Stephanie Manning. Documenter Lori Ingram recorded audio.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org  with “Correction Request” in the subject line.