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During the past three years, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) officials have taken a "back to basics" approach to running their transit system. The method is showing results: In 2003, the authority posted a 1.5 percent ridership increase compared with 2002 — RTA’s first increase since 1997.

RTA carried more than 53.5 million passengers in 2003. During the past six months, ridership increased more than 5 percent.

"We believe we have turned a corner, and expect even more riders in 2004," said Joe Calabrese, RTA’s chief executive officer and general manager, in a prepared statement.

Authority officials attribute the ridership increase to a greater customer service emphasis.