OH: Cleveland RTA’s ridership rebound: What’s behind the numbers?

Ridership on RTA’s buses and trains increased for the second straight year in 2024, but it still lags far behind pre-pandemic levels.

RTA carried 24.9 million passengers in 2024, generating $32.9 million in fares, up from 22.1 million rides and $29.9 million in fares in 2023, RTA said.

Yet, last year’s total was still 7.2 million rides short of where things stood in 2019, just ahead of the pandemic.

“I don’t expect to get all the way back because the world has changed,” said Joel Freilich, RTA’s director of service management, noting not only that so many people continue to work from home, but also in trends toward virtual education and telemedicine.

“We don’t cry if someone saves all their travel time by achieving their objectives electronically. ... They have a 100% savings in travel time.”

Yet, he attributed recent year-over-year increases in ridership to two changes made during the pandemic, based on rider surveys in 2019 and 2020.

One change was reducing the all-day fare from $5.50 to $5, making it equal to the cost of two standard rides. Freilich said people who buy the all-day fare early in the day are more likely to ride a third time if something unexpected comes up.

He also said some routes were adjusted and frequency improved in targeted areas outside of downtown to reflect shifting rider needs. Those changes continue. For example, in December the frequency of weekday buses increased on the 41-41F Warrensville and 78 West 117th-Puritas lines, as well as on four other bus lines on the weekends.

The agency was formed in 1975 with approval of a countywide 1% sales tax dedicated to RTA, which involved the merger of Cleveland and several city transit systems.

Passenger use peaked in 1980 with 129.7 million rides, before beginning a decades long trend downward, as the highway system was built up, population spread out, and a smaller share of workers commuted to downtown for their jobs.

By 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, ridership had slipped to a low of 32.1 million. Then, as schools closed and businesses either shuttered temporarily or sent employees home to work, ridership fell to 17.7 million.

Despite the decreases, some people remain heavily dependent on public transit. No vehicles are available in 1-in-5 Cleveland households, according to Census Bureau estimates. And last year, RTA provided 670,000 rides through its paratransit service for disabled people unable to use regular bus and train service.

Freilich said no route cuts or fare increases are planned, despite fare collections in 2024 being $11.9 million below the 2019 total of $44.8 million.

He said federal help during the pandemic allowed the agency to set aside some money, and he pointed out the countywide sales tax for RTA — not the farebox — is its primary source of operating revenue.

RTA received $264.7 million from the sales tax in 2024, up from $212.2 million in 2019.

From the low of 17.7 million riders in 2020, ridership totaled 19 million in 2021, 18.4 million in 2022 and 22.1 million in 2023.

The 24.9 million rides last year broke down this way:

• Standard bus service: 18.2 million rides, up from 16 million in 2023.
• Heavy rail (Red line): 3.2 million, down from 3.5 million.
• Light rail (Blue, Green and Waterfront lines): 808,000, up from 662,000:
• Bus rapid transit (Health and Cleveland State lines): 2.1 million, up from 1.7 million
• Paratransit: 670,000, up from 303,000.