RTA Says Pilot Shuttle Service Program in Solon Gained Little Ridership, Will End This Month

In December of 2022, RTA cut red tape at the Southgate Transit Center in Maple Heights with a six-figure bet: Workers heading to Solon offices, manufacturing businesses or Amazon warehouses would ride transit and pick a bus shuttle to take them the last mile there, if it was painted to be more convenient.

A year and a half later, RTA found what might be their answer: Probably not.

The MicroTransit program, a $102,000 experiment that revolved around driving workers bound for Solon directly to their jobs from the transit center, will close at the end of August, RTA's Organizational, Services and Performance Monitoring Committee announced at a meeting last week.

"Ridership has stagnated," the group announced, blaming the "decreasing number of participating companies" signing up for the service. Businesses that opted in split the cost of fares with RTA.
[content-2] “People without cars need to live in areas with pedestrian amenities and frequent transit service," a presentation slide argued. “Many jobs are located in outlying areas, where the first and last mile of a commute is not easily navigated, especially in the winter.”

That outlying area, the center of Solon, was chosen by RTA in 2022 due to its perceived location as a jobs hub on the southeast corner of the region. The agency slotted four bus lines with links to Downtown Cleveland—the 41, the 19, the 40 and the 90—that would pair with a paratransit vehicle that could, the idea went, cut down on arduous and unsafe alongside four-lane roads and gargantuan parking lots.

RTA was hopeful, two years ago, that the program would at least run until 2025.

"Transportation is not just buses and trains," RTA CEO India Birdsong-Terry said. at the December 2022 ribbon cutting ceremony. "We're economic development. We're an engine that is supposed to support the Cleveland area, the citizens that live within it, and also the businesses that support it."

By the close of the service, only five employers bought into the program: Primrose Schools; Wrap-Tite, a shipping supplies company; Pile Dynamics, an electronics manufacturer; Birdigo Chicken & Custard and an Amazon warehouse on Victory Parkway. Two others had signed on last January, but "had no rides taken" in the first six months, a report said. Birdigo ended its participation last June.

Mitch Bhandari, a general manager for Wrap Tite who promised perks for his employees who ditched the car for RTA, had easily been the city's main advocate on the company side of things. Bhandari's employees stayed devotees for the most part: three-fourths of the 2,511 total rides—about 50 to 70 rides a week—since last March were in their name. (Bhandari didn't respond to a call for comment.)

"It was just hard to get companies to sign up," Solon Mayor Edward Kraus told Scene. He put blame on finances. "I mean, they had to pay initially for employees." It's why, he said, "we just got such little interest."

"Hey, they at least gave it a shot," Kraus added.

Though Kraus said he's been in talks with RTA about potential "tweaks"—RTA's words—for a second take, he seemed more resolute about upcoming attempts to give Solonites more human-scale development. That includes a 200-unit apartment complex built on the site of a vacant Liberty Road and two walking trails built on deserted rail line.

One of the trails, a link to Chagrin Falls that will run parallel with Solon Road, would run about $6 million to build. It could open, Kraus said, by end of next year. Which touches the same wheelhouse as RTA's attempt to lower car congestion in one of Northeast Ohio's most populated east side suburbs.

"So if you choose to live [here], you have a pretty short commute to where the jobs are," Kraus said.

RTA did not offer Scene details on if or when the MicroTransit program could reach its second attempt, but it most likely wouldn't be revitalized until next year.

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed