Report urges more funding for public transit in Ohio

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The results of study by consultants for the Ohio Department of Transportation suggest that the state should nearly double spending on public transit services over the next decade to address demand.

A consultant said that would mean spending about $1.1 billion a year on bus, rail and other services.

ODOT funding for public transit operations has plunged since 2000, from $44 million to $7.3 million in 2013, but the state also gets hundreds of millions of dollars from federal sources.

The department recently held the first of five meetings around Ohio in Cleveland to present data and recommended changes to politicians, community planners and transit customers.

Bethany Whitaker of consulting firm Nelson Nygaard told them that the recommendation for increasing spending is linked to population trends. Aging Baby Boomers and people from the teens through early 30s are doing less driving, and the state’s population is becoming older and poorer and living in smaller households, she said.