Regional Transit Authority

A Red Line train at Airport station
Founded	December 30, 1974
Headquarters	1240 West 6th Street, Downtown, Cleveland, Ohio
Locale	Cleveland, Ohio
Service type	Bus and Rapid Transit
Routes	Bus: 37, Rail: 4, Trolley: 1, BRT: 3
Fleet	Bus: 391, Rail: 92, Trolley: 12, BRT: 40
Daily ridership	92,500 (weekdays, Q1 2024)[1]
Annual ridership	22,431,500 (2023)[2]
Chief executive	India Birdsong Terry[3]
Website	riderta.com

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (officially the GCRTA, but historically and locally referred to as the RTA) is the public transit agency for Cleveland, Ohio, United States and the surrounding suburbs of Cuyahoga County. RTA is the largest transit agency in Ohio, with a ridership of 22,431,500, or about 92,500 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2024.

RTA owns and operates the RTA Rapid Transit rail system (called "The Rapid" by area residents), which consists of one heavy rail line (the Red Line) and three light rail lines (Blue, Green, Waterfront). The bulk of RTA's service consists of buses, including regular routes, express or flyer buses, loop and paratransit buses. In December 2004, RTA adopted a revised master plan, Transit 2025, in which several rail extensions, bus line improvements and transit oriented developments are discussed.^[4]

RTA's major predecessor, the Cleveland Transit System, was the first transit system in the western hemisphere to provide direct rapid transit service from a city's downtown to its major airport.^[5]

In 2007, RTA was named the best public transit system in North America by the American Public Transportation Association, for "demonstrating achievement in efficiency and effectiveness."^[6]

History

The GCRTA was established on December 30, 1974,^[7] and on September 5, 1975 assumed control of the Cleveland Transit System, which operated the heavy rail line from Windermere to Cleveland Hopkins Airport and the local bus systems, and Shaker Heights Rapid Transit (the descendant of a separate streetcar system formed by the Van Sweringen brothers to serve their Shaker Heights development), which operated the two interurban light rail lines from downtown to Shaker Heights. CTS had been formed when the city of Cleveland took over the old Cleveland Railway Company. However, with Cleveland's dwindling population over the previous two decades, its revenue dwindled significantly. The problem really manifested itself with a 17-day strike in July 1970. City and county leaders concluded that a regional approach was the only way to save it.^[5]

A month after its formation, RTA assumed control over the suburban bus systems operated by Maple Heights, North Olmsted, Brecksville, Garfield Heights and Euclid.^[5]

The RTA had to undertake a number of renovations to the rail system, as the Shaker Heights lines (renamed the Blue and Green lines) had not been significantly renovated since their creation in 1920. They were largely rebuilt by 1981 and the downtown station at Cleveland Union Terminal, later renamed Tower City Center, was heavily rebuilt by 1987. In 1994, a walkway and skyway was added from the Tower City station to the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex and the Blue and Green lines were extended to the North Coast Harbor area by 1996.

Seventy-five Cleveland Transit System PCC streetcars were sold in 1952 to Toronto to be used by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The last of the Cleveland PCC models operated for 30 years in Toronto, until 1982. Cleveland Transit also sold eight Marmon-Herrington TC44 trolleybuses in 1963 to the TTC.

In 2005, RTA began building a bus rapid transit line along Euclid Avenue from Public Square to University Circle and then to East Cleveland. This was originally to be a subway line running under Euclid Avenue, but the high cost of such a project caused it to be reduced in scope, resulting in the current bus rapid transit project. Vehicles operate in an exclusive center median busway from Public Square to Stokes Blvd. and transition to curbside running through University Circle to the Windermere Rapid Transit Station in East Cleveland. The vehicles are low-floor, articulated 63 feet (19 m) buses.

Naming rights for the line were purchased by the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals for twenty-five years. The BRT route, originally named the "Silver Line", which serves the two major health industry employers in Cleveland, is named the HealthLine.^[8]

As sections were completed, they were opened to traffic; the entire stretch within the project area was open by October 24, 2008^[9] as part of its grand opening October 24–26, 2008.^[10]

In January 2023, the GCRTA announced the acquisition of sixty Siemens S200 light rail vehicles to replace the system's entire existing rail fleet. Twenty-four such cars will replace the Tokyu heavy rail trains used on the Red Line, with an option to acquire 36 additional units to replace the Breda light rail vehicles used on the Blue, Green, and Waterfront lines.^[11] GCRTA's S200s will include steps at the front right door for boarding at street-level stations on the Blue, Green, and Waterfront. Once the acquisition is approved by the GCRTA's board, S200s are expected to begin service in Cleveland in 2026.^[12][13]

Active Bus Fleet

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List of bus routes

In 2023, the GCRTA bus system had a ridership of 17,707,700, or about 59,000 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2024.