The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority plans to host an event Saturday commemorating 50 years of operation.
“Ride Through Time” is the culmination of a yearlong celebration and will honor the legacy of the transportation agency.
GCRTA was established in 1974 after former Cleveland Mayor Ralph Perk signed legislation creating the agency.
Before 1974, the Cleveland Transit System provided public transportation to the city.
Back then, the system relied on revenue from fares, which caused ridership to drop when they raised prices, especially as cars became more affordable.
Cleveland was the last major city in the country to have a transit system to rely on what's called farebox revenue, not public funds, according to GCRTA.
CTS's declining ridership and increasing deficits created a need for a regional system where riders won’t have to depend on strictly Cleveland buses, according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
In 1975, voters approved a 1% countywide sales tax increase, proposed by Perk, to fund operations, which led to improvements to its bus fleet.
“The whole system was made accessible. The bus fleet was made entirely from inaccessible to entirely accessible, entirely from un-air-conditioned to air-conditioned,” said Joel Freilich, GCRTA's director of service management. “The service was improved, and all that's because the people voted. And I had the pleasure of voting yes in that election. It was the first time I voted in Ohio, and that was 1975.”
GCRTA has relied on its customers for over 50 years to help chart its path, Freilich said.
“The community sets the priorities, tells us the priorities,” he said. “The staff's job is to collaborate, turn those priorities into the best possible, most efficient, most effective service possible and staff has the skills to do that.”
“Ride Through Time” will be a partnership celebration with Cleveland History Days and Cuyahoga County with it being a part of the Cleveland History Day lineup.
The event will feature food trucks and activities like touch-a-truck with 13 vehicles, including a model from the original 1965 fleet, and a history display showcasing five decades of operation provided by the Cleveland Public Library.
Attendees will also have the chance to sketch out their ideas on what the mass transit of the future could look like, according to Sharon Jenkins, GCRTA's director of marketing.
“It's a celebration of GCRTA, but it's really an appreciation of our riders and of even non-riders who support the system,” Jenkins. “It's a celebration, and we're encouraging the community as a whole to participate with us because it's about all of us.”
GCRTA estimates it currently serves as many as 200,000 riders on weekdays and provides 45 million rides a year.
Reservations are encouraged for the free event.
