CLEVELAND — Editor's note: The video in the player above is from a previously published, related story.
After the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) of Cleveland shut down on Monday due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the winter weather, All Aboard Ohio has released a statement calling out the canceled routes.
"The lack of any apology or explanation from GCRTA’s executive leadership indicates a lack of transparency and basic customer communication. Furthermore, the winter storm was predicted. Riders should have been alerted as the weekend began," officials said in a press release.
RTA officials had canceled several bus routes as well as the RTA Heavy Rail and both RTA Light Rail lines due to the holiday and the heavy snow.
“It’s bad enough that GCRTA has let the Rapid fall into disrepair from decades of neglect and a failure to fund and procure replacement of equipment, some of which is way beyond its designed life span”, says All Aboard Ohio Executive Director, Stu Nicholson. “But a total shutdown of the Rapid along with all bus service makes us wonder if this approaches willful neglect on the part of GCRTA management.”
“We call on the Mayor of the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Executive, both of which are represented on the GCRTA Board, to appoint GCRTA board members that will address these issues with urgency. We also demand a full investigation of why those who depend on or choose to use public transit were literally left in the lurch by the decision to suspend rail service.”
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