By ALLISON WOOD

Staff Writer

MEDINA — The CEO of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority told Medina County commissioners Monday the agency must cut a bus route that stops in Brunswick.

With rising fuel costs and reduced state funding, RTA is in the process of cutting routes and buses even as more riders are using the system, CEO Joe Calabrese said during commissioners’ weekly meeting.

Currently, Route No. 451 runs three buses on weekday mornings and evenings. They depart from Laurel Square shopping center on Pearl Road and the fee is $3 each way. The route goes through Strongsville to downtown Cleveland.

On average, 72 riders a day get on the bus at Brunswick, Calabrese said, with the route costing RTA $66,000 a year to operate.

“Service out of the county is always questionable,” Calabrese said, since no other counties contribute to RTA’s operation.

The Brunswick route likely will stay until Oct. 1, he said. Those wishing to still use the route afterward can drive to a park-and-ride terminal on Pearl Road in Strongsville. The fee is $2 each way.

“We’d love to keep serving them once they are in the county,” he said. “It’s a Cuyahoga County entity.”

Another RTA route that stops in Avon Lake in Lorain County also will be cut.

RTA receives most of its operating revenue from a 1 percent sales tax in Cuyahoga County, which is expected to remain flat this year, Calabrese said. Since the state does not significantly fund public transportation systems like RTA, almost all the money must come from local sources, usually at the county level, he said. Unlike cities like New York or San Francisco, which have regional transportation agencies, there is little cooperation between the counties in the Cleveland metropolitan area, he said.

The transit agencies in Summit, Lake and Portage counties do operate special buses to downtown Cleveland, Calabrese said, but no such program exists in Medina County.

Commissioner Stephen D. Hambley said the county’s transit system does not have the funding or the buses for any transportation routes to Cleveland.

“We’re not designed to be a commuter system,” he said after the meeting.

County transit director Scott Uhas said the system’s largest bus only holds 16 passengers, which would not be enough to handle current demand from Brunswick to Cleveland even if funding was available.

“We’re maxing ourselves out now,” he said.

Wood may be reached at 330-721-4050 or allisonwood@ohio.net.