CLEVELAND, Ohio - RTA ridership last year slipped to a record low of 35 million, less than a third of annual totals during the late 1970s and early 1980s after local transit systems merged to form the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.

The decline in 2018 was the fourth straight drop in boardings, with record lows set for each of the last three years, according to data reported by the agency.

RTA carried at least 115 million passengers for each of its first six years, from 1976 through 1981. This included the record of 129.7 million set in 1980. But the number fell below 100 million for the first time in 1983 and below 50 million for the first time in 2009.

Facing funding issues, both from fare and tax sources, the agency has made numerous route cuts over the years, including service cuts to a number of urban routes in March 2018.

Also, outside factors have been at play. For example, downtown at the core of the transit system is less dominant as a job center, more people are working from home, and traffic in Greater Cleveland isn’t nearly as bad for car drivers as in most other large urban centers. Plus, gas prices were generally low last year.

RTA ridership in 2018 totaled 35,006,764, down 4.5 percent from 36,672,559 a year earlier, with the biggest drop being on the HealthLine service that links Public Square to University Circle and beyond, RTA reported. Here’s how RTA broke out ridership by mode:

Bus - down 4.4 percent from 22.9 million to 21.9 million.

Red Line rapid - down 0.6 percent at about 6.3 million each year.

Blue and Green line rapid - down 0.6 percent at about 1.6 million each year.

HealthLine bus rapid transit - down 14.7 percent from 4.3 million to 3.6 million.

Trolley - up 1.6 percent from 939,262 to 954,284.

Paratransit - down 1.1 percent from 593,722 to 587,423.

RTA ridership - 1976 to 2018

Note: (x) Adjustment in estimating method made size of change from previous year not comparable.

Year Ridership 1-year change 2018 35,006,784 -4.5% 2017 (x) 36,672,559 (x) 2016 43,759,100 -6.9% 2015 46,993,200 -4.6% 2014 49,271,617 0.1% 2013 49,236,100 2.0% 2012 48,264,404 4.3% 2011 46,278,896 3.6% 2010 44,680,000 -10.4% 2009 49,870,000 -14.0% 2008 57,977,574 1.1% 2007 57,322,600 0.1% 2006 57,246,000 0.3% 2005 57,097,400 2.9% 2004 55,498,840 3.7% 2003 53,515,066 1.5% 2002 52,706,142 -8.7% 2001 57,752,620 -2.4% 2000 59,191,175 -0.2% 1999 59,303,747 -2.1% 1998 60,557,584 -0.6% 1997 60,901,337 3.8% 1996 58,657,764 0.7% 1995 58,266,246 -3.4% 1994 60,289,244 0.3% 1993 60,085,236 -6.6% 1992 64,320,599 -5.3% 1991 67,906,688 -6.8% 1990 72,869,669 6.4% 1989 68,516,771 -8.9% 1988 (x) 75,206,868 (x) 1987 78,035,640 -3.3% 1986 80,688,287 -6.3% 1985 86,156,907 -3.6% 1984 89,341,174 0.3% 1983 89,083,949 -19.5% 1982 110,622,417 -8.5% 1981 120,865,879 -6.8% 1980 129,691,743 3.0% 1979 125,890,860 2.5% 1978 122,864,475 1.0% 1977 121,621,862 5.5% 1976 115,292,977

Sources: Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, and cleveland.com archives.

Note: (x) RTA from time to time makes changes in the way ridership is estimated. A change was made for 2018. This data accounts for adjustments for 2017, using the new method. The adjusted 2017 figure is 2.9 million lower than what had been reported a year ago. A 1988 change in the passenger counting method resulted in a 5.2 million adjustment downward, according to RTA.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. Find data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.