CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority faces numerous challenges that the agency must address or risk seeing its commuter rail system dwindle away, according to a study shared Tuesday with RTA trustees.

The study, commissioned by the Greater Cleveland Partnership, concluded that RTA and local leaders must identify a new ways to support transit such as tax increases, consolidation with other agencies and transit-oriented development.

Conducted by WSP Global, a Canadian professional services firm, the study cited the $240 million needed to maintain and replace rail cars, the agency’s reliance on federal grants and local sales taxes and declining ridership. WSP concludes that RTA and the region are “at a crossroads.”

The analysis comes weeks after GCP, the region’s chamber of commerce, reported on what it considers to be an unsustainable pattern of tax increases in the region. The GCP announced it would consider support for new tax increases only after weighing the benefits of the request against existing taxes and the ramifications for taxpayers.

Here are highlights from the WSP study and comments from the GCP:

•RTA’s current funding is not enough to meet the agency’s needs, particularly the need to replace rail cars and maintain rail lines. Potential sources of new funding could include a sales tax increase, a new property tax, or a commercial-only property tax.

•Replacing the rail cars likely would not result in a significant increase in ridership. “Even with increased funding to cover the financial shortfall for this project, investment would only help sustain the system as is, producing relatively modest ridership and revenue gains,” a news release from GCP states.

•Transit-oriented-development can be a successful strategy. The study cites the RTA’s Healthline and its contribution to attracting over $9 billion in development along the Euclid Avenue corridor.

•Businesses, the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and organizations such as ODOT, Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, the Port of Cleveland and others should partner to encourage such transit-oriented development, GCP says. New incentives should be developed to attract jobs along major transit lines.

•RTA’s administrative costs appear to be higher than at agencies in similar cities, even though salaries are on-par with those cities. Eliminating positions, switching to some part-time workers, and combining job responsibilities, among other things, could save up to $13 million per year.

•RTA’s paratransit costs are much higher than in comparable cities. Just over half of paratransit rides come from private companies under contract with RTA. Private rides cost $30 per trip, while RTA-provided rides cost $60, well above costs in peer cities. RTA could save $7.9 million a year by switching to all-private paratransit. RTA CEO India Birdsong said Tuesday the agency wants to streamline costs, but also wants to do everything it can to keep services in-house.

•RTA’s current efforts to redesign its bus routes and bring ridership in line with peer cities could increase revenue by $6 million.

•Partnerships with companies such as Uber, Lyft, taxi services or car rental businesses could potentially boost the number of people using RTA.

•Comparable public transit agencies in Columbus and Cincinnati and St. Louis are funded almost entirely by local funding sources (aside from fare revenues). In places such as Detroit, the state funds nearly half the costs. In Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, the state funds 75 percent or more.