GCRTA HealthLine riders are being impacted by RTA’s response to a court order requiring changes to fare enforcement policy on the HealthLine. Although the HealthLine was designed for a proof-of-payment system with fares purchased primarily at ticket vending machines rather than at fareboxes, the method of spot-checking fares has been ruled unconstitutional by a recent court decision [1].
RTA’s response has been to shift fare enforcement to bus operators, resulting in a much slower ride and effectively eliminating the benefit of increased speed due to all-door boarding.
Operating expenses account for over 85 percent of RTA’s operating costs, while fares account for only 18.5 percent of revenue. Requiring drivers to inspect HealthLine fares significantly delays riders and reduces the appeal of using transit in Cleveland.
Fares can be inspected without unnecessarily inconveniencing passengers and increasing operating costs by implementing equitable and convenient fare enforcement.
Clevelanders for Public Transit Equity are asking the GCRTA board to update their policy with the following changes:
Riders are encouraged to attend RTA’s next board meeting to provide public comments on Tuesday, November 21 at 9:00 AM at RTA Headquarters, 1240 W. Sixth St.
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From Eric J. Brewer:
Hey RTA board. Why don't you make all the folk who ride downtown for free ... pay? It is an act or moral insanity to prosecute poor people for fare jumping while $100,000 a year downtown workers ride for free.
Almost 30 percent of Cleveland adults don't have cars. How about focusing routes in "Cleveland" neighborhoods to connect Clevelanders to each other. Do you ever get out of RTA's offices downtown? Guess what? Superior and Detroit are literally the same street. Why not have one bus that covers all of Superior / Detroit from end to end? The same with Harvard and Denison or Lorain and Carnegie. You don't even have a fucking bus on Denison. Those folk, especially the handicapped and children, have to walk either to West 25th Street or Fulton Road to catch a bus. Wrong. Do you folk even understand that Cleveland has become a "predominantly black city on the east and west sides, and that those families live all over the city; not just one neighborhood? Quit seeing the city as divided racially along geographic lines. It's not that Cleveland anymore.
Notice I'm focusing on Cleveland and not the suburbs. We used to have our own "municipal" transit system run by the city called the Cleveland Transit System. That system catered to Cleveland residents who depended on public transportation for life. Now it supports the 82 percent of non-Cleveland commuter residents who control the city's jobs and no one under this "regional" system gives a shit about Cleveland residents.
RTA is all wrong for Cleveland. It's not working for those in the suburbs who need it. There has to be a mindset and leadership at the top. This bullshit ain't working. People already can't afford to ride RTA and there are more routes needed in Cleveland ... not fewer.
Here's the other thing. You folk are paying administrative employees way too much. Salaries, benefits and pensions for public employees have gotten out of control and there's no benefit to the extra pay for the taxpayers. Shit's still fucked up no matter how much employees are paid. Bigger bill. Less service. Poor folk about to get fucked again.
Links:
[1] https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2017/11/02/cleveland-judge-has-ruled-rtas-proof-of-payment-fare-enforcement-method-unconstitutional
[2] http://clefortransit.org/2017/11/02/clevelanders-for-public-transit-statement-on-healthline-fare-enforcement/
[3] http://www.ideastream.org/news/route-reductions-and-a-fare-increase-looming-for-clevelands-public-transit
[4] http://maps.google.com?q=41.509880+-81.675300+%281240+W.+Sixth+St.%2C+Cleveland+%2C+OH%2C+44114%2C+us%29