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Some officials are exploring options for keeping buses off the renovated Public Square. Buses are scheduled to resume running through the square along Superior Avenue on Aug. 1. (Photo by Mark Naymik/cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - One month after the completion of the $50 million renovation of Public Square, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and others are already thinking about making changes.

They are investigating whether to permanently ban buses from passing through the square, something Jackson has long wanted. Informal discussions on the point began last week, when people and police mingled in the middle of the square during the Republican National Convention.

But the square was redesigned to accommodate buses along Superior Avenue, which runs east-west through the center of the 10-acre park, dividing it into two halves. Buses have been rerouted around the square since the renovation began in March 2015. Public Square is scheduled to open to buses on Aug. 1.

The redesign is a stunning improvement of the square, once dissected by Ontario Street and Superior into four quadrants. Ontario, which runs north-south, has been removed from the square. And car traffic has been permanently relegated to travel around the square's borders.

Valarie McCall, the city's chief of government and international affairs, told me Wednesday that the mayor has always wanted a "unified square" and that he is investigating the "feasibility" of keeping the area closed to buses.

City leaders studied traffic options before renovating the square, including cutting out all bus traffic. A 2012 study completed by Nelson Nygaard, a San Francisco consulting firm, determined that removing both streets - Superior and Ontario - would potentially tie up traffic elsewhere downtown. The consultants also said such a move would cost the Greater Regional Transit Authority money and would displace too many of its riders. The study, which cost $120,000, concluded that keeping Superior open to bus traffic was the likely best option.

Public Square has long been a transportation hub for RTA. The square is the front yard of Tower City, into which RTA's rapid lines empty. And the RTA Healthline, which runs along Euclid Avenue east to University Circle and beyond, is an easy walk from the bus shelters on the square.

Last month, when Public Square reopened, Anthony Coyne, chairman the Group Plan Commission -- the city and Cuyahoga County nonprofit which oversaw the square's redesign --praised RTA's input and said transit is very much a part of the square's future, according to a story by The Plain Dealer's Steven Litt, who has chronicled the evolution of the square and has praised its design.

I asked McCall - who is also member of the RTA's board of trustee - about what impact permanently rerouting buses could have on RTA and its riders.

"I'll let Joe Calabrese speak to that," she said, referring to the RTA's general manager.

In response to my questions, RTA issued a statement reiterating the findings of the 2012 traffic study, which I summarized above.

This is RTA's way of saying the agency - which is already cutting back service and raising fares to balance its budget - is not excited about the idea of permanently rerouting buses around Public Square.

I understand that one of the goals driving the square's renovation and the renewal of other public spaces is to make the city center more usable and attractive to downtown residents. But even such a noble goal has repercussions.

The 2012 study specifically said that closing Ontario and Superior through the square could displace nearly 18,000 bus passenger pick-ups and drop-offs daily. That would amount to a $2.6 million increase in yearly operating costs for RTA, which would have its buses idling in traffic jams or would be forced to add routes to keep schedules.

Cleveland's traffic department has recently "reached out to RTA" for information about its daily and peak-hour bus frequency on the square, according to the RTA statement to me.

I spent considerable time on Public Square last week during the RNC and understand the appeal of keeping buses out. The square seems much larger without buses because the two halves seamlessly blend together (with the exception of a small step that many people seemed to miss when crossing Superior.) The center of the square became a natural meeting place and provided space for food trucks -- and portable bathrooms.

Plenty of visitors have voiced their desire to see the square closed to buses. One person has even launched a petition drive - however meaningless - urging city leaders to keep the square closed to buses.

But the movement to cut out bus traffic should have been launched long before we spent millions of public and private dollars and 15 months of labor on a bus-friendly design. I can't help but wonder what designers might have done differently if they didn't have to plan for a roadway and how that could have influenced the project's costs.

I also can't forget the people who have been using Public Square for decades regardless of its attractiveness: the working poor who rely on buses to get to work downtown or to go to school. If the area is to live up to its name, it must remain a place that serves all of us.