It’s great to see our senators showing the importance of transit funding by taking action. At the same time the majority of transit riders in Cleveland and Ohio use buses to get to work, school, and healthcare. We hope to see expanded Federal funding towards transit operations to help stabilize operations due to Covid.
Replacing RTA heavy and light rail fleets will cost $300 million. While 15 million is a great start, a recent presentation by RTA staff on August 11th states over $182 million still needs to be found.
CPT is concerned where the rest of the funds will come from. Cleveland riders have already lost 25% in service cuts and fares doubled the last 15 years. We would also look at RTA to evaluate the $14 million annually spent on transit police, money that could go towards rail replacement, restoring service and lowering fares.
Thanks to senators Brown and Portman for taking action. We encourage them to push for more federal funding for transit operations, and extending the Red Line, as RTA has studied to help increase ridership and make the new investment more meaningful. Support at all levels of government will be essential given the low level of transit funding in Ohio and talk of further state budget cuts.