CLEVELAND, Ohio - The return of buses to Public Square has been delayed.

Scheduled to resume service to the newly-renovated square today, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has halted the return of buses while it remains in discussion with the city about whether or not to ban buses from the space.

Although the original plan was to resume bus service on Superior Ave through Public Square on August 1, the City of Cleveland & RTA cont'd — Greater Cleveland RTA (@GCRTA) August 1, 2016

are in discussions regarding when and if the buses will be allowed to use the designed, exclusive transit lanes. — Greater Cleveland RTA (@GCRTA) August 1, 2016

Buses have been rerouted around Public Square since March 2015 while the area was renovated. Now that the renovations are complete and Public Square has reopened to the public, city officials are reconsidering opening the area up to buses again.

Daniel Ball, assistant director of media relations for the city, said there is no timeline yet on when a decision will be made about allowing bus traffic in Public Square. He said discussions currently are in the preliminary stages.

"Now that [the] RNC is over, we need to get baseline data of how traffic flows around the renovated square," Ball said.

RTA spokesperson Linda Krecic said the city traffic department still is analyzing options, and that RTA is "on hold until further discussion."

"We thought we were opening up Aug. 1," Krecic said. "There is no secondary timeline.

The 10-acre Public Square, which used to be divided into four sections by Ontario Street and Superior Avenue, now only is split in half by Superior Avenue. The stretch of Superior through the square was designed to be a bus-only corridor.

Ed Rybka, the city of Cleveland's chief of regional development, told Cleveland.com on Friday that Public Square will remain a transportation hub, even if buses are detoured around the square.

Clevelanders for Public Transit, a riders' organization, wants the city to reconsider plans to remove public transit from Public Square. The group said the move would make the square less accessible to riders, up the amount of time riders spend on the bus and increase operating costs for RTA.

"It's disappointing because the Square has not even opened to RTA yet and the road was built to accommodate buses," Chris Stocking, a member of Clevelanders for Public Transit, said in a news release. "I have talked to other riders and the average time to get around the square seems about seven minutes each way. That's over an hour extra time on the bus each week for commuters."