*Cleveland's Public Square Redesign is Great—But What About Bus Riders?

(Update 07/20/2014: This article has been removed from the Rust Wire website.)

Schmitt begins the article by acknowledging the universal praise elicited by the planned redesign of the Public Square: "Everyone in Cleveland is cheering — literally, I have not heard a single complaint  — about the announcement yesterday that the Cleveland Foundation is donating $8 million toward a plan to redesign Public Square in the center of downtown."

Here's the rub: "Now, I’m not going to sit here and say Pubic Square couldn’t use some love, or couldn’t be more pedestrian friendly. But one aspect of this plan really concerns me: that it will effectively kick the city’s bus riders off Public Square (this may have been the underlying point of the project). This spot is the central terminus for all the region’s bus routes."

"This whole issue — the forced redesign of our entire transit system that serves 200,000 a day — has been a complete afterthought throughout this project, barely mentioned in the press. The fact that removing thousands of people from this location has barely even rose to the level of discussion just goes to show in my mind in what low esteem we hold people that rely on buses — and even the shadow class of people that might be convinced to ride transit under the right conditions."

For more on the proposed redesign, see coverage by Steven Litt for The Plain Dealer.