euclid avenue
on june 24, 1884, Cleveland opened the first public electric railway in America through the East Cleveland Railway Co. on Garden Street. By 1903 and several mergers later, there were more than 230 miles of track through the city and 901 streetcars in operation, including on Euclid Avenue. From 1910 to 1942, the city's public transit franchise known as the Cleveland Railway Co. had 1,702 streetcars and buses. By 1946, public transportation hit an all-time high with 493 million passengers. But as Cleveland's population declined and people began driving more cars, the need for streetcars decreased and gave rise to trackless trolleys and buses.
The greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority opened the HealthLine in 2008 as part of the city's Euclid Corridor Project. The refurbished street now includes trees, bricked pathways and new modern bus stops — some with public art. The Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, for which the bus route is named, are just two of 38 stops along the 9.2-mile route from Public Square to the Louis Stokes Station at Windermere in East Cleveland — which takes about 30 minutes one-way. As of last year, RTA carried 49.25 million riders throughout Northeast Ohio.
