Thu 6/23 @ 6PM
Public transportation in Ohio is a joke. The state funds it at one of the lowest levels of any state in the country. Yet boomers are aging and driving less, younger people prefer to drive less, and poor people — a group which has skyrocketed in Ohio — can’t afford jobs and have difficulty accessing jobs in far-flung suburbs with as much sprawl as Cleveland. It’s a set-up for disaster.
And recently RTA went through with plans to cut service and raise fares for users of public transportation Cuyahoga County, which take effect August 14. It granted a few concessions — reprieves for some routes that were on the chopping block, smaller increases for paratransit users. And given how low on the priority list public transportation is, it probably had no choice.
In light of this bad news, Clevelanders for Public Transit, which has been active in opposing the service cuts and fare increases, is hosting a town hall meeting at Antioch Baptist Church to talk about the transportation crisis and look toward the future for potential solutions. Everyone with a stake in the area’s transportation infrastructure is invited.
“While these victories will have real impacts for riders who catch the bus everyday to get to work, school, and get groceries, we know this is just the beginning of the work ahead,” says the group. “That’s why Clevelanders for Public Transit is holding a town hall meeting to bring together stakeholders from across the county to discuss our public transportation crisis. We want to work to develop solutions to our current funding problems for public transportation so we don’t see more route cuts and fare increases in a few years.”
Go here for more information.
ohorganizing.org/clevelanders-for-public-transit-town-hall
Cleveland, OH 44106