The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority will hold hearings this week on its plan to cut service to save $2.5 million.
Under the plan, four bus lines would run less frequently: the 78 and 86 on weekdays and the 3 and 10 on weekends. RTA would discontinue the downtown B-Line trolley.
The beleaguered Waterfront Line, the Rapid Transit train that runs from Tower City to the Cleveland Municipal Lot along the lakefront, wouldn’t return to regular weekend service when construction at Tower City ends. Instead, it would continue running only during special events. See the full list of proposed reductions here.
RTA will hold three hearings on the cuts at its West Sixth Street headquarters. They will take place on Monday, April 13 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 15 from noon to 1:30 p.m. and Thursday, April 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Those who can’t attend the hearings can still weigh in on the cuts by phone, mail or online form. Details here.
The advocacy group Clevelanders for Public Transit plans to protest the cuts with a Monday rally at Public Square followed by a march to RTA HQ.
“The main message is RTA is in dire need,” Clevelanders for Public Transit co-chair Jenna Thomas told Weekly Chatter. “If we don’t act now, it could mean catastrophic issues with public transit for years to come.”
Thomas, who has worked as a Cleveland Documenter, said that the RTA board’s “best option” for shoring up its budget was asking the voters to increase Cuyahoga County’s sales tax.
Clevelanders for Public Transit launched in 2015 to lobby against the cuts and fare hikes that accompanied RTA’s ridership declines. Those same issues are still burning today. Ridership bounced back somewhat in recent years, but it hasn’t returned to pre-COVID-19 levels.
The Waterfront Line’s ridership numbers are especially dismal. On average, less than one person rides the train each way on days without big events, according to RTA.
The line opened in 1996 during a time of optimism for Cleveland’s lakefront. Thirty years later, the train will largely stay in hibernation until lakefront development actually starts to take hold.
“The waterfront line will be there to serve it when it happens,” RTA official Joel Freilich said at a board meeting in March. “But there’s no need for us to spend money every day right now while that area is still largely not occupied and ridership is very low.”
This story was updated to correct the days and times of the RTA hearings.
What East Cleveland’s receivership could cost Ohio
The State of Ohio could spend several million dollars to pull East Cleveland out of fiscal emergency.
Long in financial trouble, the East Side suburb became the first Ohio city to enter receivership under a state law passed last year. The Ohio Court of Claims appointed receiver George E. Shoup III, who specializes in bankruptcies and corporate restructuring, to analyze East Cleveland’s money troubles and find a way out of them.
The work is free for East Cleveland but not for the Ohio Office of Budget and Management, which will pick up the tab.
The first six months of receivership will cost the state almost $1.5 million in fees and another $187,000 in expenses, according to estimates that Shoup filed in court April 1. Those are the charges for Shoup, his team at the company DSI Civic and attorneys from law firm FBT Gibbons.
East Cleveland could spend a year or two in receivership, according to the receiver’s court filing. The first job has been figuring out how much cash is coming into and going out of the city’s coffers.
“Due to the inconsistently and, at times, improperly managed financial records of the City, the Receiver is currently unable to reasonably identify the current significant assets of the Receivership,” the filing reads, “including but not limited to inventory, cash on hand, accounts receivable, and claims against insurers or other third parties.”
