New change keeps 75 bus downtown in a rush
By Jeff Gallatin
Westshore
Published Nov. 5, 2008

RTA's 75 bus line will continue to make four daily runs each way between downtown Cleveland and the Westshore suburbs of North Olmsted and Fairview Park.

A new detour on proposed route changes which will keep rush hourdowntown routes for the 75 bus route has pleased city officials in North Olmsted and Fairview Park.

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority officials said last week they will keep four rush hour routes on the route changes, which take effect this Sunday. Previously, as part of a series of changes designed to help the transit agency deal with tight budget issues, RTA officials said they would turn the route into a feeder line, where all the runs would end at the West Park rapid station.

However, RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese said Monday. A study of the routes showed that turning the 75 into a complete feeder route could affect it and other routes adversely.

“When we looked at ridership figures, we found that ridership was up on the 55 route on Clifton Boulevard,” said Calabrese. “That means if we took the Clifton Boulevard stops off the 75 routes which went from Clifton to downtown, it was likely to have an impact on the Clifton routes and cause capacity problems. In addition, we have found that ridership is strong on the 75 routes during the rush hour times, so we decided to keep the rush hour routes.”

North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O’Grady, who sent a letter to RTA on behalf of his city and Fairview Park protesting the change, said the change will make a major difference to the West Shore.

“It’s going to save the 75 route,” O’Grady said. “I don’t believe it would have survived as strictly a feeder route to a rapid station. It would have caused the route to eventually wither and die.”

O’Grady said he’s pleased for practical and historical reasons.

“This preserves the historic 75 route, which North Olmsted started more than 70 years ago,” he said. “Many people have used it through the years and still do.”

Nicole Dailey Jones, the chairwoman of North Olmsted City Council’s Streets and Transportation Committee who attended community meetings about the RTA route changes along with O’Grady and Ward 2 Councilman Paul Barker, said the change is welcome.

“It affects thousands of people,” she said. “All those people are going to be very pleased because the other change would have affected their travel times a great deal. It’s good RTA took the time to keep examining the routes.”

Fairview Park Mayor Eileen Patton, who had also lobbied RTA on behalf of her residents, hailed the transit agency’s announcement as a victory for many downtown workers.

“This is a great relief for all the RTA riders who depend on the 75X,” Patton told West Life. “Many of them, along with myself, Mayor O’Grady and North Olmsted riders, called, sent letters or petitions asking that the 75X continue to have direct service to and from downtown.”

Calabrese said that if more funding for public transit is not included in the state budget that begins July 1, more service cuts will be made in the fall.

RTA’s revamped plan has the first eastbound 75 route leaving the county line at 5:55 a.m., arriving at Public Square at 6:54 a.m. and getting to Cleveland State University at 7:03 a.m. The times for the remaining three morning rush hour runs are county line, 6:24 a.m., Public Square, 7:23 a.m. and CSU, 7:32 a.m; county line 6:48 a.m., Public Square, 7:48 a.m., CSU 7:57 a.m.; county line, 7:21 a.m., Public Square, 8:21 a.m., CSU, 8:30 a.m.

In the afternoon rush hour, the westbound departure times start by leaving CSU at 4:24 p.m., arrive at Public Square at 4:34 p.m. The remaining times are: CSU 4:59 p.m., Public Square 5:09 p.m.; CSU 5:33 p.m., Public Square 5:43 p.m.; CSU 5:59 p.m., Public Square 6:09 p.m.

All other peak and non-rush hour 75 trips will stop at the West Park Rapid Station.

On the Web:

• Regional Transit Authority
• RTA's press release on 75 bus changes

Past West Life articles on proposed RTA cuts:

• 75X route changes criticized (Oct. 1, 2008)
• City formally opposes RTA’s proposed cuts (Aug. 13, 2008)
• RTA riders ask for alternatives to cuts in bus service (Aug. 6, 2008)
• Clough: RTA owes service to Westshore suburbs (July 30, 2008)
• Proposed RTA cuts to impact Westshore (July 23, 2008)