North Olmsted Municipal Bus Line
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The North Olmsted Municipal Bus Line (NOMBL) was a transit agency in Northeast Ohio. The NOMBL was the first and oldest continuous operating municipal transit system in the United States and was in operation for over 74 years. It served the cities of North Olmsted; Fairview Park; Olmsted Falls; Westlake; Rocky River; Olmsted Township, and parts of the west side of and downtown Cleveland. NOMBL does not refer to a single bus line, but rather a collection of routes which up until 2005 was semi-autonomous but partially integrated into the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA).
[edit] Founding & Integration into GCRTA
NOMBL was founded as a division of the City of North Olmsted in response to the discontinution of the Cleveland-Southwestern interurban rail system; it began operations on March 1, 1931. The integration of NOMBL into GCRTA took place gradually and in several steps, between the years 1975 to 2005. This integration was part of the general trend of integration of city transit agencies into GCRTA; partly because NOMBL was the last transit agency to be taken over, the integration has been the subject of much controversy, attracting the involvement of Dennis Kucinich, who opposed the integration of NOMBL into GCRTA.
As of March 20, 2005, NOMBL was completely integrated into GCRTA. Approximately 50 employees from the NOMBL were transferred to the GCRTA. The remaining employees either retired or resigned from their positions prior to the acquisition.
[edit] Routes
NOMBL operated five primary routes, with approximately 42 transit coaches, prior to the integration into the GCRTA:
- 75X North Olmsted Express
- 263 North Olmsted Park-and-Ride
- 53 Great Northern-Center Ridge
- 87F Westwood-I-90 Flyer
- 96F Butternut-Hilliard I-90 Flyer
NOMBL also provided supplementary services for school students to North Olmsted High School, St. Ignatius High School, St. Edward High School, Magnificat High School, Lutheran West High School and St. Joseph Academy. Services to home Cleveland Browns Football games were also provided from the North Olmsted Park-and-Ride lot by the NOMBL. In year 2004 the final full year of services and prior to be acquired by the GCRTA in March, 2005, it is estimated that over 1.2 million passengers were carried on the routes and services operated by the NOMBL.
