CLEVELAND — Public transit is a crucial part in the lives of many Clevelanders, and the new mayoral administration is working to give those who use it most a voice in it's operation.

Alex Rubin is a long time public transit rider.

"Grew up in Shaker right off the rapid, so I grew up taking the RTA," said Rubin, a volunteer for Clevelanders for Public Transit.

So he feels he knows a bit about what Cleveland riders need.

"As a transit rider in Cleveland, it's often very difficult. Service has been cut by 30% in the last 15 years where, you know, the blue and green line on the rapid used to come every five minutes during rush hour," he said. "Now they come every 15 minutes."

For years, Clevelanders for Public Transit called for more board members who are actual transit riders. It's something that will now happen under Mayor Justin Bibb's administration.

"Having served on the board of RTA and someone who rides transit, I'm riding less frequently than I want to now that I'm mayor," said Bibb. "I hope to be on the bus relatively soon. Once again, it's important that we have folks on that board who know what it's like to take public transit and know what it's like to come from a disadvantaged community that doesn't have access to good, affordable transit."

Bibb outlined 85 priorities to accomplish in his first 100 days in office. One of those is to appoint a civilian advocate for equity to the RTA board.

"One of my philosophies of governing is that policy making must be rooted in the lived experiences of the people," he said. "And I want that reflected in my cabinet and I want that reflected in the leaders in the community that I appoint to boards and commissions."

On Wednesday, Bibb announced Lauren Welch and Jeff Sleasman will replace two of the current members on the board

"Both Lauren and Jeff are residents and riders," Bibb said in a statement. "They bring over 15 years’ experience in advocacy and the technology sector respectively and will play an important role in continuing to advocate for equitable public transit policies, funding and innovation.” ​

​Bibb said he's committed to continuing improving service for transit riders.​

"I'm really excited to see that Ohio, or Cleveland rather, we got one of the larger shares of investment to support public transit in the state of Ohio through the advocacy efforts of my administration and the leadership at RTA,," Bibb said. "And I'm going to continue to fight for more investments in Columbus and in D.C. to ensure that public transit is a right and also high quality transit is an asset that every resident can have access to across our city and our region."

For transit riders, like Rubin, this is the change they'd like to see.

"You wouldn't expect the leaders of any major organization to not use the service that they're in charge of," said Rubin.

The two appointees for the RTA board were people Clevelanders for Public Transit recommended for the position.

"Clevelanders for Public Transit is delighted that Mayor Bibb appointed Lauren Welch and Jeffrey Sleasman, two public transit riders, to the GCRTA board of trustees," the organization said in a statement. "We would like to thank the mayor and all of the advocates for years of hard work setting the stage for this moment.​"