joethejalapeno

I took a long break from UrbanOhio, but I posted here some a few years back. I was intrigued by the post, I guess probably by the indefatigable KJP, just up above a bit in this thread, about the possibility of RTA cars that can operate on all of RTA's track. I took quite an interest a few years ago in the idea of one-seat rail trips from the Shaker Lines to University Circle. At the time I was worked at CWRU but I no longer am, and I never lived in Shaker. But lots of CWRU faculty live in Shaker and there were some who professed to be interested in riding transit but whom it was difficult to motivate to try their 2 main options: Getting off rail at Shaker Square and switching to a bus; and riding the Shaker Lines to E 55th -- which overshoots their destination -- and doubling back on the Red Line. One thing I thought was worth noting was that the doubling-back could be reduced if it were possible to use the segment of track that spurs south from the Red Line just east of E 79th, and intersects the Shaker tracks a little bit south of there. I don't know if I posted about it here, but I consulted some knowledgable people and what really ruled this out as far as a one-set trip was that the same cars could not operated on both lengths of track. Could this be possible if the interoperable cars become a reality? The trains would still be going out of their way to the west, but less so than if they had to go all the way to E 55th. I'd be interested in reading replies from anyone with an interest in this. Thanks

CWRU offers parking, RTA discounts to employees earning less than $50,000/year http://thedaily.case.edu/news/?p=40292 ....."Given that some ride the bus and/or rapid trains to work, the option of half-price passes from the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority also was added for those earning $50,000 or less per year. Because of funding considerations, employees may choose only one of the two options"

Hello anyone esp KJP: I "heard" (from the sibling of an RTA engineer) that newly manufactured rail cars kickback electricity from their brakes, and RTA's substations are not equipped to capture and store this power...comment?

This morning's (Fri 10/24) Weekly Regional Roundtable at 90.3 at 9:00 gave some decent verbage to transit around minutes 25-30 and ~40 of this 50-minute talk: http://ideastream.org/soi/entry/65372 This is the regular Friday talkfest of the 5-day-a-week 9:00-10:00 show. I listen fairly often (especially online later that night) and I think this reaches a significant # of people who are potentially sympathetic yet don't usually tune into UrbanOhio or GCBL blog, etc.

I encourage everyone NOT to fill out ODOT's "transit survey". It looks like an attempt to "educate" us that we "can't afford" transit, and/or to gather "data" showing that the public wants things we "can't afford". Where is the button saying I vote to increase transit funding?

Thanks for everyone's interest. JetDog -- down in the bottom right of the upper/printed side, it's stamped "593217" -- is that the batch number or anything else that helps?

Yes mistakes happen -- I meant "fare computer" but I hope it was also a "fair computer" :->

Quick heads-up esp. to RTA employees on UO: I bought several 5-ride cards from RideRta.com some months ago. At least 2 of them had (1-1-2016) printed on them as an expiration date, but were actually encoded in the mag-stripe to expire the 1st of this year -- I confirmed this when an RTA driver read the coding on fair computer on the bus. Mistakes happen of course, but I wanted to let you know.

Can anyone tell me if there is still a scheduled bus stop for the westbound #7 at the corner of Coventry and Hampshire Rd? The circular RTA stop sign disappeared some time back; but there is still a Cleveland Heights sign referring to a bus stop, and the drivers will usually stop for you there if they see you. Thanks.

A pane of glass of the solar RTA shelter at Mayfield and Coventry has been shattered. Can we get this replaced ASAP -- to send a message, as well as to have it fixed? Was thought given before installing these as to making them extra shatter-resistant, or could that be done now? If not, was it naive not to?

A sign at the shiny solar bus shelter at the NW corner of Mayfield and Coventry seems to indicate that both the 7 and the 9 routes stop there. In my experience, the 7 does *not* stop on Mayfield west of Coventry, because it turns on Coventry on its way to going down Euclid Heights Blvd toward the Cedar-University Rapid station. Is this sign wrong/misleading, or is a change in the 7's route in the works?

Sorry if this is a random thread for this. Can anyone, perhaps someone with the initials KJP, tell me who owns the tracks that run through the intersection of Miles and E 131st? I'm trying to help a professor who is trying to help kids in the Corlett neighborhood walk to school. Thanks much!

Has Shaker and Lee been looked at for TOD? Both corners north of Shaker have grassy real estate. I do see that the NE corner is some kind of nature/historical park, and that the NW quadrant has some electrical switches, or something, back behind that wall. But this intersection is not only on the Rapid, it's bus-accessible to both Cedar-Lee and Lee-Warrensville. Just wondering if that had ever been discussed by anyone with any tools to make it happen?

Is American Greetings' recent locational decision an opportunity to anchor transit services along Detroit Ave and/or I-90 with a new node of workweek demand? Even, perhaps BRT or similar enhancements to the RoWs?

Does Ohio need a purely membership-based, intraurban-transit-focused, statewide advocacy organization to lobby for transit funding in Columbus? (As I understand it, All Aboard is not exclusively INTRA-urban-focused; Ohio Public Transit Association is SYSTEM rather than member-based; other orgs like GCBL are not statewide and/or not entirely transportation focused - Greater Ohio is statewide but not transportation-only, etc.) If 10,000 members statewide could pay a $10/year membership fee, a full-time Columbus-based advocate could be hired? This would be more effective as a sustained operation as opposed to ad hoc flurries of postcards each time public meetings are called to protest RTA's latest threatened cuts.

An author interviewed on NPR's "Fresh Air" tonight (<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99375553">link</a>) said that since on average across the country buses are no more efficient than driving, a better solution may be personalized paratransit where jitneys pick you up at home a drop you off at your destination. He felt that information technology could help coordinate this to the point that it would be efficient enough to be worthwhile. I don't want to dismiss this out of hand, but I'm a little skeptical that it would work, given that I heard somewhere, either on this UO site or on WCPN, that RTA paratransit works out to $40 per ride. Thoughts?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/business/02steel.html?emc=eta1 ..... “If the president-elect really follows through, he’ll fund a lot of mass transit projects,” said Wilbur L. Ross Jr., the Wall Street deal maker who put together the steel conglomerate known as Arcelor Mittal USA. “All the big cities have these projects ready to go.” ...... Excuse me if these points are remedial to a lot of folks on UO. But since I've been in northeast Ohio I've heard three main broad reasons we're not expanding rail transit: 1) There isn't funding. 2) Outer-ring and exurban municipalities in particular don't want it coming through or stopping in their areas. 3) Urban and inner-ring officials feel it will be sprawl-inducing particularly if it serves outer-ring and exurban areas. With the potential of the new political situation to possibly significantly alter point (1), where do we stand with the other two points? Shouldn't we at least be studying what we would do if we get an rare opportunity to do something?

I caught the audio of Joe C. at the City Club. When asked about how few University Circle employees ride transit to work, even from nearby areas like the Heights, he said "raise the cost of parking." Could Cleveland put a tax on square footage of surface in designated zones -- downtown and the Circle, for starters -- that are paved for parking, and earmark the revenues for transit? Just putting it out there - discuss.

Sounds like help may very well be on the way - *for the immediately coming year*. How do we make sure this translates into long-term improvement in GCRTA's bottom line?

Wouldn't it also be important for it to have a southward link that would at least connect with an east-west transit line (i.e. Silver Line) to complete the "Loop" back to Tower City?

This is the page DoT gives for contact info: http://www.dot.gov/contact.html However, they seem to try to make it hard by only accepting hard-copy letters and saying that if you don't specify an agency within DoT, they won't be delivered. I guess one could just address it to the Secretary of Transportation, I don't know...? Also, one could call the phone number.

Tubbs Jones statement, via Cleveland Leader: http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/6315 Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones attended one of the recent meetings the RTA is holding regarding proposed cuts to service and today released this statement on the matter: "While I understand the budget concerns of RTA, my greatest concerns are for those whose only means of transportation is our public transit system such as the disabled and low-income residents of our community," said Rep. Tubbs Jones. "Additionally, with the issues of rising fuel costs, traffic congestion, and global warming and its affects on our environment, it is important that we do all we can to ensure that the rapid transit, bus, circulator and especially our Paratransit systems continue to provide services to the people of this community. "Local, state and federal elected officials along with RTA must come back to the table and work to figure out a solution to this critical issue that will be acceptable to all involved. RTA will be extremely important as we work to strengthen our infrastructure in Northeast Ohio. I plan to do all in my power to see that we keep out transit system solvent and operating at full capacity."

Some replies from elected officials: FROM STATE SEN SHIRLEY SMITH'S OFFICE: I am writing in response to an email our office recently received regarding your concerns with public transit. As you may know, The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) projects a $20 million deficit in 2009, if no changes are made. However, no decisions have been made yet. I encourage you to attend one of the public meetings RTA has planned to further discuss the situation. Public meetings are scheduled for: • Aug. 4, 6 p.m., Don Umerley Civic Center Memorial Hall, 21016 Hilliard Road, Rocky River. • Aug. 5, noon, Cleveland Public Library auditorium, 325 Superior Ave., Cleveland, and 6 p.m. at Cleveland City Hall, Room 220, 601 Lakeside Ave., Cleveland. • Aug. 6, 6 p.m., Cleveland Heights Community Center, 1 Monticello Blvd. • Aug. 7, 6 p.m., Brooklyn Senior Community Center, 7727 Memphis Ave. Those who can't attend a meeting can e-mail comments by Aug. 18, or mail them to RTA Marketing and Communications Dept., 1240 West Sixth St., Cleveland, OH 44113. Please know that this office is looking into this situation and researching any possible alternatives. Thank you again for your email, and if there would be any other issues or concerns you might have, please feel free to contact our office again. Sincerely, [senator Smith's office] FROM US SEN SHERROD BROWN'S OFFICE: Thank you for sharing your support for public transportation. The continued development of mass transit is an important issue for Ohio. Investment in public transit has many benefits and can pay immediate dividends. These transportation systems can reduce traffic congestion, are an affordable alternative in a time of high gas prices, and provide a mode of travel to those who are unable to drive. Public transportation is also an important factor in energy conservation. Transportation accounts for 66% of United States oil use and by increasing our reliance on public means of travel, we can conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I will continue to support meaningful, responsible investment in public transportation across our state. Thank you again for writing. Sincerely, Sherrod Brown

Op-Ed in 8/3/08 PD by University Circle Inc. President Chris Ronayne: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1217665933316100.xml&coll=2 The Opportunity Corridor is not a pork-barrel "bridge to nowhere." It's a bridge to somewhere. And that somewhere - University Circle - is an internationally distinctive eds, meds and arts district and the new engine of our state's economy. ... Let's start this road to somewhere from University Circle. It may be the best way to keep it from going nowhere. Ronayne is president of UCI, the development, service and advocacy corporation serving University Circle.

This exact point the PD is making was a key point in the email I sent to the RTA public-comment line, with a copy to two Board members who live in my municipality. If you want to talk market mechanisms, make these people bear more than they are now of the full costs of their choice to live so far out. Obviously it takes more fuel to transport a passenger from Solon to Public Square than from East 55th to East 105th, so why is the fare so similar? We don't want to jack it so high that it drives away those riders, but - just as the PD says - it can be higher than it is without rivaling the costs of driving, all things considered.