Federal money is giving Greater Cleveland RTA historic opportunities, its chief tells U.S. Senate committee

By Sabrina Eaton, cleveland.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Describing public transportation as “the connective tissue between neighborhoods and citizens,” the chief executive of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority on Thursday told a U.S. Senate Committee that historic increases in federal transit funding have made “a huge impact in Greater Cleveland.”

GCRTA CEO India Birdsong Terry told the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs that a 30% boost in formula funds for the next five years from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 will help GCRTA plan and complete multiple projects, including the rehabilitation of the Waterfront Line Bridge that serves downtown, FirstEnergy Stadium, the Great Lakes Science Museum, the Flats at East Bank residential and entertainment district, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

It will also help GCRTA replace its aging fleet of railcars, which are currently between 38 to 41 years of age “and need immediate replacement.” She said the agency has raised $213 million towards its $393 million goal to replace the railcars, and has applied for funding to help close the gap.

The agency is also using the federal government’s All-Station Accessibility Program to bring 17 older rail stations into compliance with accessibility standards set by the Americans with Disability Act. She said GCRTA was recently awarded a grant to reconstruct its East 79th Street light rail station.

“Projects like these are integral to our ability to level the playing field, regardless of physical ability or location,” said Terry, who described GCRTA as Ohio’s largest public transit agency serving approximately 100,000 customers each day.

GCRTA has converted over half its bus fleet from diesel to compressed natural gas fuel and will launch a zero emission/ electric bus technology program if it is succeeds in applying for funds.

“Over the next year, we will retire all 40-ft diesel buses and will continue a policy of purchasing only clean air or zero emission buses,” said Terry.

She said 60% of GCRTA customers ride public transit to get to work, 23% use it to get to school, and 9% use it to get to health care appointments. Ridership fell during the coronavirus pandemic, and is currently around 65% or 70% what it was beforehand.

“People are going out into our suburbs for workforce opportunities instead of the urban core,” she reported. “People are also working from home so we have to be cognizant of that.”

To comply with its mission of “connecting the community,” she said her agency is assigning transit police officers to community policing and has added a Transit Ambassador program that includes 10 Ambassadors and six Crisis Intervention Specialists to help meet the social service needs of GCRTA’s most vulnerable customers.

The committee’s chairman, Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, said it worked on a bipartisan basis to include the biggest investment in transit, ever, in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

He said he invited transit officials from several communities to testify before the committee so it could see how the law is being implemented.

“Better transit means new zero-emission and low-emission buses,” Brown continued. “And it means faster, safer service so that more people can get to the doctor, to the grocery store, to work, to church. It means more opportunity for all the communities that have been ignored and exploited for so long – whether they’re Black and brown communities, or small towns, or rural areas, or all of the above.”

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