Does a bus project really change a whole city?.
Cleveland has lost significant population over the past 40 years. population heyday was between 1930 and 1960 when the population was between 876,050 to 914,808 people. Cleveland's population has steadily dropped since 2960. By the year 2000 Cleveland's population was 478,403. Bus rapid transit in Cleveland began operation in October 2008. Cleveland's population continued to drop -- in 2010 the population was 396,815. In 2015 Cleveland's population was down to 388,072.
Throwing money at a changing city does not help.
Cleveland has not turned around the trend of people leaving the area. “The worst-case scenario is a shrinking central city and a shrinking region with overall population decline, coupled with continued central city abandonment and outward expansion. In a region like this, there is not only more costly ‘stuff’ (redundant public services and physical infrastructure) than there needs to be, but there is more ‘stuff’ with ever fewer taxpayers to pay for it.”Read more about Cleveland's situation.
Trying to recruit millenials does not help a declining city.
Cleveland claims to have seen an increase in educated millenials but this has not made Cleveland a millenial destination. Cleveland remains one of the cities with the lowest concentration of millennials – 23.7 percent compared to 28 to 29 percent in top cities such as Austin, San Diego, Virginia Beach and Los Angeles. The largest factor in attracting millenials to Cleveland has been its relatively lower cost of living. More About This
