On Sept. 10, 2009 -- the 60th birthday of the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones – officials of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) broke ground on a new $9.6 million transit center named in her honor. The facility, RTA’s first downtown bus hub, is expected to open in fall 2010. In early planning work, it was known as the East Side Transit Center.

The Congresswoman

The Congresswoman was a strong supporter of transit in general and this facility in particular. She was instrumental in securing funding for the building. Tubbs Jones represented Ohio’s 11th District from Jan. 3, 1999, until the time of her death on Aug. 20, 2008.

"Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones was committed to public service," says Joe Calabrese, RTA’s CEO and General Manager. "She believed in, as well as practiced, service to the community, to our young people and to the disadvantaged. She used public transportation. It was not unusual for us to get a call from her after her ride on the Rapid from the airport with suggestions about what RTA could do to improve service to our customers. She will be remembered as a leader, a friend and a pillar of the Greater Cleveland community."

The site

The transit center is on the south side of Prospect Avenue, east of the Wolstein Center and adjacent to the parking garage at Cleveland State University, between East 21st and East 22nd streets.

It is a coordinated development with CSU, which owns the land that was once a surface parking lot. It has a high concentration of CSU students, transit users and transit service. Part of the site may someday hold new CSU housing or a mixed-use building design that may include commercial retail space linked to the parking garage.

The transit center will:

• Improve downtown bus services. More than 100 buses operate in the area during rush hours.
• Eliminate the need for on-street bus layovers.
• Increase pedestrian access to the transit center.
• Provide an effective way for customers to travel and connect seamlessly, through local, loop, intercommunity, regional and downtown transit-oriented services.

• A 2,000 square foot indoor clean, safe waiting area for people catching a bus or transferring. This is similar in nature and design to an airport terminal.
• Restrooms, food kiosks, and a customer service area.
• State-of-the-art customer electronic information displays in a building connected to 3 integrated canopies and 16 bus station bays.
• The building has terrazzo floors and wooden beams.
• The transit center’s design is aiming at a LEED Gold certification. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a certification program of the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED has a rating system for new buildings constructed to have less impact on the environment and offer a comfortable workplace for employees.
• A landscaped plaza, planters and public art.