I have to say as a fellow Clevelander that while RTA has badly decayed over the past 8 years, it still does an outstanding job given the resources available to it, which are minimal compared to almost any other comparable urban area in the U.S. However, like most of the others, it is geared primarily toward two groups of people: downtown commuters, and the transit-dependent. People who have a choice don't use it much, mostly for reasons outside its control, for instance, the fact that some of the local gangs earn "street cred" by robbing, raping and killing people at train stations and posting videos on Youtube. If U.S. inner cities were not such violent and dangerous places, they would be rapidly repopulated, density would increase, and over time transit would lose its stigma, ridership would increase, as would willingness to fund it in a sustainable manner. Needless to say I'm rooting for these changes, and welcoming them where they occur, which is at least arguably the case in places like Ohio City, Tremont, and parts of the Central and Hough areas surrounding the Clinic, although, sadly, the reverse is happening in many other parts of town, and I'm guessing the same is true in other comparable Rust Belt cities.