CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority on Tuesday unveiled its largely finalized plans for a redesigned bus system that boosts frequent service along major corridors by doing away with some duplicative routes.
Though the changes are not subject to approval by the authority’s board of trustees, members generally approved of the plan when it was presented to them on Tuesday by RTA officials.
The redesign seeks to increase the number of routes with 15-minute service, prioritize trips to work, education and health-care destinations, reduce the need for transfers, and better link Cleveland with the suburbs.
The routes that will offer weekday service every 15 minutes are West 25th Street, Lorain Avenue, Detroit Avenue, St. Clair Avenue, Superior Avenue, Euclid Avenue, Kinsman Road, East 105th Street, and the Union-Harvard route. (Currently, 15-minute service is only available on West 25th, Euclid, and Union-Harvard.)
The changes will double the number of residents, or about 167,000 more, living within one half-mile of 15-minute service. And the number of jobs within one half-mile of 15-minute service is expected to increase by 50,000, Director of Service Management Joel Freilich told trustees.
Meanwhile, the new system largely does away with service every 20 minutes, 40 minutes or 45 minutes, in favor of every 15, 30 or 60 minutes, a change intended to make it easier for riders to know when buses will arrive, Freilich said.
To allow for boosted frequency and still operate within the budget, RTA, among other things, intends to replace specialty Park-N-Ride buses and most downtown trolleys with regular buses that serve the same areas, Freilich told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
Park-N-Ride riders will still be able to park at their normal lots in North Olmsted, Westlake and Strongsville to catch a bus downtown, but no longer a stand-alone commuter service. Rather, Park-N-Ride routes will be integrated into regular bus routes along Clifton Boulevard, and Pearl and Tiedeman roads, Freilich said.
RTA had originally planned to eliminate all downtown trolleys in favor of regular, frequent buses that will generally serve the same downtown locations.
But riders raised concerns during a feedback campaign this fall, so RTA now plans to continue offering one trolley route: a modified B-Line, which includes service to the Warehouse District, Freilich told trustees.
RTA expects to re-purpose defunct trolleys and Park-N-Ride buses, Freilich said, though he did not elaborate on how they would be reused.
In response to other concerns raised by the public, RTA plans to make the following changes:
*Retain current daytime service levels, which RTA had previously considered for reductions, to the route between East 79th Street, Slavic Village and Steelyard Commons, the route that serves East 55th Street north of the rapid station, the Buckeye Road route, and the Prospect-Cedar avenues route.
*Keep a bus stop at Lakeview Terrace, the Cleveland public housing complex north of the Shoreway. The previous plan had eliminated the stop, which would have required residents to walk south to West 25th Street to catch a bus.
*A redesigned route, similar to today’s #81 route, would have traveled between Tremont and downtown via the freeway, eliminating service to West 25th Street. The new plan reverts back to the current route, and will now travel down West 25th Street instead of the highway.
*Retain the link between the East 55th Street rapid station and the Slavic Village/Newburgh Heights area. The previous plan did not include this link.
Though small tweaks could still be made to the system before it is rolled out next year, Freilich said this plan is generally expected to be the final design. RTA intends to use the next six months to educate riders about the changes and new bus route numbers, and re-do bus stops and signage to reflect the new system.
“I think the team did a really good job of not just listening to the concerns of residents, but capturing them” board member Valarie McCall said of the plan, noting that changes could be made if necessary after the new design is rolled out in June 2021.
All other changes can be found here.
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Here’s what RTA riders can expect from redesigned bus system - cleveland.com
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