Last year, Dayton-based Leaders for Equality in Action or LEAD, filed a federal complaint with the Highway Administration against the city of Beavercreek after it denied an RTA request to place three bus stops near the mall.
After the Highway Administration threatened to strip the city of nearly $11 million in funding if it didn't comply with RTA's request, Beavercreek's City Council voted late last year to approve the new bus stops. The new RTA bus stops on Pentagon Boulevard were up and running Sunday morning.
Paula Ewers with Leaders for Equality in Action, says before the new stops, RTA riders had to walk across the Colonel Glenn Bridge to work or shop near the Fairfield Mall. Ewers was on the ceremonial first ride and says another passenger - a young man - was relieved to know he wouldn't have to walk the bridge again.
"He was able then not to have to take that long dangerous walk over that bridge and he was able to get the bus and will now always be able to get the bus," Ewers says. " So, that was a wonderful example of what our work was all about."
The new stops along Pentagon Boulevard are now on the same route as Wright State University, with stops near the Fairfield Mall and the Soin Medical Center.