Kucinich wants new study done on RTA, NOMBL
By Jeff Gallatin
North Olmsted
Published Jan. 26, 2005

Westshore Congressman Dennis Kucinich is asking Regional Transit Authority officials to put the brakes on absorbing the North Olmsted Municipal Bus Line (NOMBL) and instead renew the contract, and allow a new comparative study of RTA and suburban bus lines to be done.

"In 1987, the last time such a study was done, the federal Urban Mass Transit Administration (UMTA) found that both North Olmsted and Maple Heights performed more efficiently than the RTA," Kucinich said in a Jan. 18 letter to RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese. "Since 1987, no new study had been executed nor commissioned."

Calabrese said Monday the results of a meeting he has scheduled for today with a group of transportation and business officials to review RTA data on the bus lines will be a factor in whether a new study is done.

"We'll be discussing whether our data is correct about the bus lines and we'll ask them to consider whether the proposal for our handling the North Olmsted and Maple Heights services is indeed cost-effective," Calabrese said.

Officials from North Olmsted, Maple Heights and Kucinich's office have been invited to the meeting as well, Calabrese said.

North Olmsted Mayor Norman T. Musial said he plans to attend the meeting and will continue to represent North Olmsted's interests.

Calabrese said he expects feedback from the officials shortly after the meeting and he will consider it as well as provide it to the RTA board.

He said any final decision on whether or not to not absorb the suburban lines and wait for a new study would be up to the RTA board. He said there are time considerations involved, saying RTA officials need to know by March to set its operations budget.

He disagreed with Kucinich's contention that the 1987 study indicated the municipal lines were more efficient. Instead, Calabrese said the study stated the data was inconclusive and that there was no clear data to show which transit organization was more efficient.

Calabrese also said that a 1992-93 study by a Miami firm, Busitil and Associates, showed that it would be more cost efficient for RTA to take over the services done by North Olmsted and Maple Heights.

In his letter, Kucinich asks RTA to renew the current five-year contract and allow an independent study to be done instead of absorbing the two lines. Kucinich has been working with North Olmsted city officials as well as their Maple Heights counterparts to try and prevent RTA from absorbing both of those cities' bus lines, the last two independent municipal bus lines in Cuyahoga County. The last five-year agreement between RTA and North Olmsted expired Dec. 31, but both the city and RTA agreed to a three-month extension as the two sides tried to find a solution.

RTA officials are saying they can save several million dollars annually by absorbing the two suburban lines and still maintain the same services and employees. However, North Olmsted officials have questioned the savings figures, while also saying losing of the line would cause major financial problems for the city budget in payroll taxes and insurance-related finances.

In his letter, Kucinich said the entire Westshore area and not just North Olmsted benefit from having NOMBL, which was formed in 1931 and is the oldest surviving municipal bus line.

"Suburban riders in Bay Village, Fairview Park, Lakewood, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Township, Rocky River and Westlake benefit from local control," Kucinich said in the letter. They appreciate being notified in meaningful ways about schedule changes so that they can make their needs known to the RTA and local elected officials. The suburban riders also benefit from the friendly competition of a system that does things slightly different, perhaps even a little bit better in some ways. It is my hope that suburban riders continue to get their money's worth.

"I strongly believe that the decision to acquire the North Olmsted and Maple Heights bus lines was made in haste. Although much effort was put into this endeavor in the RTA's early years, those attempts failed because the suburban bus lines proved to provide better and more efficient service to suburban riders. The RTA's present attempt to acquire the suburban lines, while perhaps quietly contemplated among staff, only publicly resurfaced after the people of the West Shore forcefully asserted their opposition to the RTA's proposed reduction in bus service to the western suburbs."

Kucinich also notes that North Olmsted puts $15 to $20 million annually into RTA's coffers via the sales tax contributions.

"This is approximately four times the cost of running the North Olmsted Municipal Bus Line and exceeds by 10 the amount of any supposed inefficiency in retaining North Olmsted to run its area transit operation," Kucinich said.

North Olmsted city officials continue to support Kucinich's efforts to try and save NOMBL.

"I'm still cautiously optimistic," said Musial. "We're all working pretty hard at trying to get this done."

Musial said he has forwarded Kucinich's letter to the same group of federal, state and local government and business officials that he previously had sent requests for help and other information about the situation too.

George Nashar, chairman of city council's streets and transportation committee, said council also is interested in the study.

"We appreciate all the support we're getting and will do whatever we can to help. If the study would allow us the opportunity to study the situation while continuing NOMBL then I'm for it," Nashar said.