RTA GETTING OUT OF TRANSIT BUSINESS - REALLY

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is planning to drop “Transit” from its name. You can tell that because it keeps eliminating transportation for people. In fact, it can change its name to the Greater Cleveland Downtown Pleasing Authority.

 

At least that’s the way it seems to me as Joe Calabrese, general manager, becomes a leading excuse maker and weaker executive than we now need.

 

How hard is it to NOT provide transportation if you’re a transit operation? Apparently, not hard at all.

 

RTA will cut all circulators in a few weeks and will cut back on services on 16 bus routes.

 

AND will raise the price of a ride by 25 cents.

 

That’s a solution to dropping ridership? That’s a recipe for fewer and fewer riders.

 

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. RTA management didn’t say NO to the downtown gang when it needed some $200 million to beautify Euclid Avenue from Public Square to University Circle. I’d like to know how much money RTA is now losing on that operation.

 

RTA management didn’t say NO when it paid some $69 million for the useless Waterfront Line. Totally from local RTA funds. The downtown cabal forced it to forgo federal funds for the line because it wanted the line pronto for the city’s Bicentennial and the opening of the Rock Hall.

 

When it comes to the ordinary riders Calabrese and his RTA board finds it easy to say, “No, we can’t do it.” When it comes to the downtown crowd, “ain’t nothing we can’t do.”

 

When I asked for figures on ridership on the Waterfront Line, RTA couldn’t come up with figures. Don’t keep those figures, I was told. But you noticed the Pee Dee used detailed figures on the circulators and the supposed decline. (Does the decline come as a result of RTA’s performance and desire to curtail this service? And don’t tell me that the figures are true actual counts either because I don’t believe you.)

 

The Waterfront Line should be stopped and put out of business before the circulators are, if cost is a problem.

 

RTA management didn’t say NO to the $13 million or so walkway to Gateway from Sam Miller’s Tower City. If Gateway felt it needed that help, it should have paid for it and it should pay for the use of that property and its maintenance costs now.

 

I don’t want to hear that sales tax revenue is down. Should have thought of that a long time ago.

 

Unload some of the heavy executive staff. Cut that downtown free downtown trolley service. That should go first.

 

It’s time that RTA took its job seriously and started fighting for more money, too.

 

If we can think about spending $350 million on a so-called Opportunity Corridor, pushed by the downtown Greater Cleveland Partnership, along with PD publisher Terry Egger, its co-chairman, we can think about getting some more money for transit dependent people. Those who don’t have cars to get to their jobs, to their medical appointments, even to get downtown.