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Local leaders envision what a multi-county public transit system would look like.
(File photo)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Public transit in Ohio is stalling.
From cuts to state funding to budget shortfalls to looming revenue stream problems, transit agencies like the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority have been forced to cut service and raise fares.
"What we have in Cleveland is not unusual. I think most people realize it could better," said Joe Calabrese, CEO of RTA.
That's why some in the industry see a multi-county public transit system as a possibility for the region.
Grace Gallucci, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), thinks a transit model similar to Chicago's could work in Cleveland.
"I think there are enough similarities between the geography, the economies and outward migration that a regional transportation system like that of Chicago may very well be feasible here," said Gallucci, who for five years was the deputy executive director and CFO of the Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois - the financial and oversight body for Chicago's three transit agencies.
In Chicago, there are three agencies - Chicago Transit Authority, providing mass transit in the city; Pace, a suburban bus service; and Metra, the commuter rail service - that operate under one umbrella and serve the six counties in the area.
Imagine, for instance, RTA adding a commuter rail line to serve outlying residential hubs, while still maintaining its bus and rail service in Cuyahoga County. Laketran could take over Paratransit services; and another system could handle suburban bus service.
"I think it not only could work, it should work in Ohio," said Calabrese about a multi-county transit system. "Things like that don't happen unless there's a need because it feels like a loss of control...In many ways, I think the benefits would be much greater than any loss of control would be."
The past, revisited
A move toward regionalism already occurred in Cuyahoga County once, in the 1970s when RTA was established. The Cleveland Transit System had been cutting service, raising fares and laying off workers before a regional, sales tax-backed RTA system was established that incorporated the suburban bus systems.
Times now are not so different.
This year, RTA cut service and hiked fares to plug a $7 million hole in its budget. And it faces even deeper cuts in 2018.
At that time, the state's sales and use tax on Medicaid managed care organizations is expected to end, which would reduce RTA's funding by $18 million. Such a loss would mean service cuts of 7-10 percent and layoffs of about 170 people, Calabrese estimated.
RTA already has a $500 million shortfall on capital improvement projects, which includes things like replacing the system's aging rail cars.
Just like 40 years ago when the county-wide transit system was developed, systems are failing, services are being cut and help doesn't appear to be on the way for public transit.
"There hasn't been a necessity to do it," Calabrese said. "I think there is a need now."
Getting the green light
But creating a multi-county public transit system certainly wouldn't be easy, those in the industry say.
If anything, funding would be the trickiest part of the puzzle, according to Hunter Morrison, former Cleveland planning director and former executive director of the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium.
Under Morrison's leadership, NEOSCC created the Vibrant NEO 2020 Vision - a plan for the future of Northeast Ohio that called for, in part, the creation of a regional transit system. The plan advocated a regional system that connects job and population centers across Northeast Ohio.
"I don't think the problem is that the transit agencies don't work together. They work very well together on a whole bunch of areas," Morrison said. "It's a matter of feasibility and support."
Between 2002 and 2015, the state contribution to public transit has been slashed from $43 million to $7.3 million. Ohio only spends 63 cents per capita, among the lowest in the nation, on public transit.
"The transit funding in the state of Ohio is phenomenally below what other industrialized, urbanized states have done, and that puts all of the burden, for practical purposes, back on local government and on local taxpayers. That makes it difficult," Morrison said.
The most likely funding solution would be a sales tax for public transit, but one that was different from county to county, according to Gallucci.
"The densities are not consistent across the region. There logically would not be the same level of service across the region," Gallucci said. "There needs to be some mechanism, where those who are getting more service are paying more."
For example, it wouldn't be fair to extend the 1 percent sales tax assessed for public transit in Cuyahoga County to the other counties that would be involved in a multi-county system because those counties wouldn't have the populations to justify the same level of service.
"We would have to develop something that works for everybody and is fair. The biggest part of a regional transit system is in ensuring fairness," Gallucci said. "I think it can be done very logically and reasonably."
The right of way
However, there first would have to be acceptance from the five counties in the federally-designated metropolitan area - Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina.
"The acceptance is necessary," Gallucci said. "It's an all or none: all five counties. There has to be that buy in."
Lake County Commissioner Daniel Troy said that it will be necessary to get people to recognize that providing public transit across a wide geographic area serves a common public purpose.
"It's good for all of us," Troy said.
In Lake County, there are areas - notably job centers and hospitals - that aren't served by the existing transit system.
"We've got people in there in medium-to low-wage employment who don't have the access transit-wise that other people do," Troy said.
And people who live in Cleveland have limited bus access to jobs outside of downtown in the more suburban areas where there are industrial hubs.
"Cross-county connections are difficult and can be one directional," Morrison said. "It's important to understand that transit is not just a social service. Transit is an economic development initiative, an economic development asset."
It will take initiative from county commissioners to make such a plan happen, according to Gallucci. The conversation could be fostered by NOACA - a transportation and environmental planning agency for Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties - but would have to involve government officials from all of the counties.
"It's not just a transit thing. It's about how you use a transit agency to structure the linkages between people and jobs and how you use it to recruit," Morrison said.
Easing down the regional road
There are ways to take a more regional approach to transit without - or before - creating a multi-county transit system, in Calabrese's opinion.
For example, RTA could handle bus maintenance work for other systems at its garage; could partner with other systems for procurement; or could coordinate planning and scheduling.
"Certainly, if we work more regionally, money could be saved, and we're all looking for more resources," Calabrese said.
He cited Lorain County's push for a 0.25 percent sales tax to partially fund public transit expansion as a potential opportunity to coordinate service, instead of duplicating it, between the two counties.
And transit agencies could work to improve connections, align routes and make transfers easier to create a more user-friendly transit system for the region.