To the Editor:

     (Plain Press February 2025) Transit riders and advocates have sent nearly 1000 letters to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) Chief Executive Officer/General Manager, Board of Trustees, and Cleveland City Councilor Kerry McCormack demanding that dedicated bus lanes be included on West 25th Street from Detroit Road to Lorain Avenue as part of GCRTA’s proposed 25Connects bus rapid transit (BRT) line. In addition, several members of Clevelanders for Public Transit (CPT) submitted public comments in support of dedicated bus lanes at the GCRTA Board of Trustees meeting this past Tuesday, January 21^st.

LETTER

     The 25Connects project is a proposed BRT route on West 25th Street from Detroit Avenue to Brooklyn Centre. Once completed, if it gets riders to where they want to go more quickly, then it will be a great thing. But the devil is in the details. The section from Detroit to Lorain is the busiest and most congested section of the entire route, but there is an open question about whether to include a dedicated bus lane here. Yet without one, GCRTA’s planned BRT project risks having little benefit for riders.

     Every hour throughout the day, 24 buses travel on West 25th Street between Detroit Road and Lorain Avenue. Thousands of bus riders travel along West 25th Street along this stretch every day. In fact, the bus lines that travel this stretch carry more riders than the HealthLine. They deserve to get where they need to go quickly and reliably, and one keyway to ensure that is to give their bus a dedicated lane.

     CPT is calling on GCRTA to make significant improvements for future BRT lines, not just on West 25th, but throughout Cuyahoga County.

     The West 25th line is the first in a series of plans to improve bus service for thousands of riders that rely on GCRTA daily to get to work, school, healthcare, and other important destinations throughout the community. 

Other corridors that have secured funds for planning include Broadway and Lorain Avenues. GCRTA designated  a total of 16 corridors as “priority” corridors in their 2020 strategic plan, and those routes could see improvements in the future.

“Too often, transit projects are watered down and do not result in major changes that actually improve service and grow ridership” says rider and transit advocate Jenna Thomas. 

Instead, CPT is calling on GCRTA to ‘go for the gold’ and implement major improvements that achieve a “gold” rating from the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP)  BRT scorecard, a rating system used worldwide. 

According to the ITDP BRT scorecard, all BRT lines (not just gold) should include off-board fare collection to speed up service and platform-level boarding.

Infrequent service, slow speeds, overcrowding, lack of enforcement of the right-of-way for bus priority, and long signal cycles are penalized under the BRT standard.

CPT calls on GCRTA to make fast, frequent service standards for all BRT projects, including West 25^th Street. 

More information about the BRT Standard and a link to the full 2024 BRT Scorecard are available from ITDP’s site: https://itdp.org/publication/the-brt-standard/

“Picture taking the Red Line train or a subway. Large vehicles are used, multiple doors open, everyone gets on, doors close and the vehicle moves quickly and arrives frequently. This is what BRT in Cleveland should be” said Thomas. 

In the past 20 years, fares have doubled while GCRTA service has been reduced by 30%. Riders are tired of waiting years for transit improvements. There is no better time than now to reduce the transit death spiral by ‘going for the gold’ with major BRT improvements throughout Cuyahoga County to improve service and grow ridership. 

Clevelanders for Public Transit

Clevelanders for Public Transit is a riders’ organization that builds power for affordable, accessible and equitable public transit in Northeast Ohio. CPT’s policy platform, Ending the Transit Death Spiral, was released in 2021. For more information, visit clefortransit.org.