CLEVELAND, Ohio – Should transit in Cuyahoga County maximize frequent service on its most highly traveled routes? Or spread service as widely as possible while sacrificing frequency?

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is looking for responses to those alternatives in an online survey and meetings over the next month.

The new survey and meetings are the latest steps in a yearlong “system design’’ process aimed at guiding RTA’s strategic planning for the next decade and beyond.

The public is invited to respond to a pair of starkly different maps showing how RTA’s bus and rapid transit routes would look if configured to suit each alternative.

The maps assume no increase in RTA’s current funding. The agency’s 2019 budget is $292 million.

“It’s a zero-sum thing,” said John Palagyi, acting director of service management. “You have to free up resources from one place to move them somewhere else.”

A map prepared by consultants from Walker Associates displays what the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's system would look like if it prioritized maximum geographic coverage rather than high frequency service on fewer routes concentrated near the urban core of Cuyahoga County. The map - not a proposal - is one of two options the public is being asked to consider this month in a survey that will help RTA plan future service.Walker Associates/RTA

RTA will hold another series of meetings in late summer to seek input on how the agency’s service should change if its funding were increased or diminished, said Joel Freilich, RTA’s acting deputy general manager for operations.

The planning process, scheduled for completion Oct. 1, will help inform trustees of the financially challenged authority whether to consider proposing an increase to its 1% county sales tax, unchanged since the agency’s creation in the mid-1970s. The tax provides roughly 70% of RTA’s revenues; roughly 16% comes from fares.

The first two meetings in the latest round of discussions will be Monday at the Cleveland Public Library’s main branch downtown, 525 Superior Ave., from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and from 5:30 to 8 p.m. A complete meeting schedule is listed on RTA’s website.

The system design survey can be found online here through May 31.

A separate, concurrent survey will seek public feedback about RTA fares and social equity, an issue the transit agency sees as closely linked to ridership and service.

The system design study is being conducted by Jarrett Walker Associates, a transit consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon.

The new survey follows an earlier one in February that asked general questions about the relative importance of frequent RTA service versus maximum geographic coverage – factors considered opposite ends of a continuum of possibilities for transit service.

The firm’s research showed that RTA currently tilts 60% in favor of frequent service, and 40% toward coverage.

A map prepared by consultants from Walker Associates displays existing routes served by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's system. The system tilts roughly 60 percent toward frequency and 40 percent toward coverage, the consultants found. RTA is asking the public in surveys this month to consider transit priorities that will determine how the system should be redesigned in the future.Walker Associates/RTA

The February survey, with more than 1,000 responses, showed that 15% wanted the system to remain the same, while 42% voted to increase frequency of service, and 42% voted to increase coverage.

The two maps in the new survey are dramatically different. The “high frequency” alternative shows a grid system focused strongly on downtown, serving a relatively smaller area of the county. Much of the network would provide rides every 15 minutes or less.

The “coverage” alternative, in contrast, would serve a much wider area, but with most rides occurring every 60 minutes or so.

The alternatives have important implications for social equity, urban redevelopment, and environmental quality and sustainability, said Jarrett Walker, president of the consulting firm.

Maximizing frequency would increase the potential for ridership and greater fare revenues. The concentrated routes would also help reduce travel by automobile, which would reduce emissions.

Frequent service on fewer routes could, over time, boost urban redevelopment in the region’s core. It would also be more likely to result in affordable housing.

“If you want to grow more places like Ohio City with housing at different price points, you need a robust, high frequency network,” Walker said.

Providing maximum geographic coverage, however, would matter enormously to low-income residents who need transit to reach far-flung jobs, or to elderly residents who are unable to drive.

“What we want,” Walker said, “is for people to understand the tradeoff.”