Aug. 13: Board of Trustees committees, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
Covered by Documenters Ashley Lubecky (notes) and Ayanna Rose Banks (live tweets)
RTA MicroTransit program experiences starts and stalls
RTA’s Director of Planning, Maribeth Feke, provided board members with an update on the RTA ConnectWorks-MicroTransit Program, a commuter service in partnership with SHARE Mobility that closes the gap between RTA stations and worksites in outlying areas of Cuyahoga County.
The program began in Solon in December 2022, operating between Southgate Transit Center and commerce parks where participating companies such as Wrap Tite and Amazon are based. Ridership has since stagnated.
The Solon program is set to end on Aug. 31. Current riders have been directed to the Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency (NOACA) Vanpool program.
Another MicroTransit Program on the West Side that services the Aerozone surrounding Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is working better, said Feke. Participating employers include Hopkins, NASA Glenn and Sysco. The Aerozone service began in October 2023 and ridership has gradually increased since then, according to Feke.
Feke said her team is looking at ways to improve the overall program.
RTA’s Power & Way team praised for storm recovery efforts
RTA Chief Operating Officer Floun’say Caver introduced and commended three leaders of RTA’s Power & Way team. He said they “did a yeoman’s job” in their efforts to restore power to rail lines on the city’s West Side after the storms on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Caver said Power & Way team employees cut down trees and found ways to reroute electricity to get the trains back up and running by that Saturday. The Board of Trustees and audience members applauded the three supervisors for their efforts.
Participation goals revised for disadvantaged businesses
The U.S. Department of Transportation requires RTA to revise goals every three years for the inclusion of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) in projects funded by federal dollars. The revisions are calculated based on several factors, including the availability of DBEs in the region, and the number, type and dollar value of available contracts.
RTA’s Office of Business Development director, Carl Kirkland, presented the latest revised percentages to a committee of RTA board members. The revised overall participation goal for DBEs between 2025-2027 is 20.21%.
Kirkland said this revised percentage is down from the previous 21.5% goal because there are fewer contracts available.
The committee approved sending the proposal to the full board for final consideration at a future meeting.
Read the notes from Documenter Ashley Lubecky
Read the live-tweet thread from Documenter Ayanna Rose Banks:
