Grumpy

^too true. I think it's because the renderings were night shots and the arches look nice in daylight. I'm really looking forward to the chandalier now.

I'm so mad that I actually like these things. I was one of them calling the arches tacky when the first renderings came out. :-o It helps that they're actually better looking than the renderings when you see them in person.

So Iraq is going to have better trains than Ohio now. http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/iraq-trains/ After Decades of War, Iraq Adds Fleet of New Trains to Its Aging Railway Brand new trains were delivered to Iraq for use on a popular railway route, another sign that the country is rebuilding the public transportation network that had fallen into disrepair over decades of neglect and war. The 10 new trains will roll on the Baghdad-Basra line, between Iraq’s capital and one of its key cities. It’s a line that’s been of strategic importance since it was built as part of the Baghdad Railway in the years surrounding World War I, and now it’s getting trains capable of 100 mph.

A friend from HS was one of the firefighters that responded to the fire and posted this yesterday.

Re Metric System, the UK still uses imperial for a few things (miles and stones are the first to come to mind) but has otherwise converted to Metric and a lot of other countries still use a few antiquated measures, but I don't know of any that use imperial close to as much as the US.

IDK, maybe 152nd to St Clair to Hayden to Euclid? There's a whole pile of options.

^Agreed on extending the HL. The line is crowded enough as is, pushing it all the way to Euclid would make it worse. An extension of the HL or even a separate BRT route that terminates at Windermere but stops every 1/4 mile isn't going to offer many advantages over the current bus routes as far as development, speed, or even attracting new riders IMO. I'm still in favor of a park & ride bus with a couple stops in Euclid (Lakeshore & Babbitt, Park and Ride lot), then take the freeway at least to Waterloo then just stop at a few key intersections (Waterloo & 156th, 5-points) on the way down to UC and then stop a few places there (UH, CC).

^I'll second that. It looks too similar to the dull 60s-ish dorms south of it. I like the dorms on the other side of 115th much better.

^^As far as moving the blue line into UC, I'm waiting to see what happens when RTA runs express busses from Randall Park & Highland hills. It should give us a better idea what to expect ridership wise than modeling can do. ^On Green Line extension, anything is possible, but short term I'll agree. There'd have to be significant demand from the community and RTA to get an extension and I don't think either exists right now. Someday I think it's probably inevitable that it'll come up again, but it might not be for decades.

Why would you want a street grid that close to the water. Bringing cars all the way down there wastes valuable real estate on parking, whether it's surface or structures. I just really hate cul de sacs. Maybe it's irrational, but I just HATE seeing them in urban areas. Nothing irrational about hating cul de sacs. This is URBAN Ohio. IMO they're ok in this case though.

^^^I thought we'd moved beyond those 3 plans from a few years ago and onto the plans listed at the top of this page that DM4 posted. Edit: What ^ said.

I have to say even despite what RTA tweeted on Wednesday afternoon in regard to busses being behind, I took 3 busses (2 transfers) to get home and was only about 5 minutes late.

Both my busses were on time on the way home. I was a little colder than usual, but wasn't later than usual.

That will keep Burke open for a while longer (12 years?) or else the city will have to reimburse the federal government. Do FEMA funds come with the same restrictions as FAA funds?

^ :clap:

With the old windows that view never existed because whoever got the window seat would always leave the blinds down to keep the heat gain at their desk to a minimum. You had to be close to a window to see out, and that hasn't changed. I don't like the look from the outside but I imagine it'll look about the same on the inside.

If only they stopped at the same side of the street you could wait in one spot and just take whichever came first.

I found it amusing that in the HL extension study to Euclid one of the official reports used the HL as an example of successful BRT, but then the next page described ideal station spacing as 1/2 a mile. I think I literally laughed out loud. The HL might work a lot better if the stops were 1/2 a mile apart.

^Best place for figuring out the top speed of your car or motorcycle on a weekday night when you're a student at UA back in the 90s. Not that I ever participated in such hooliganism. :-) Seriously I think they've been talking about ripping this thing out since back then, and it's long overdue.

Someone started a petition at WhiteHouse.gov to end Daylight Savings Time. http://wh.gov/lyM7M I swear it's a conspiracy by the coffee growers and energy drink makers to make us all need a jolt for a few days each spring so we stayed hooked on caffiene.

Yes, I know, I used up my last one yesterday morning, but IMO one trip cards should also exist and should be sold at the station vending machines and on busses. "The connection is not an added convenience for which the customer should pay extra. It's an inconvenience required by the geometry of any efficient, legible, and frequent transit system." - Jarrett Walker

^transfers do exist to RTA, but only if you're transferrring between counties. For some reason transfers between Metro or Laketran exist, but RTA won't let you transfer within Cuyahoga county. IMO, RTA should offer a single "trip" ticket for an extra .25 that's good for a couple hours. If you aren't providing busses everywhere in the county from everywhere else (which would be stupid), you shouldn't charge extra for transfers.

Well they kindof have to keep them blocked since they don't allow transfers or POP on the Blue/Green lines. There's no good way logistically to allow you to cross between them without changing the payment method somehow.

The problem is that what you bought was a single "ride" ticket. What RTA should have sold you was a single "trip" ticket. For some reason though such a thing doesn't seem to exist to RTA. As transfers are an essential part of modern public transportation, when anyone pays fare, it should be assumed that they'll make transfers and the fare ought to cover the cost of riding for an hour or so. Turnstiles aren't coming back, POP is here to stay and ought to be implemented on the other rapids too. The half-ass situation of different ways to pay is beyond rediculous. As far as declining value cards or smart cards, you're preaching to the choir. We've been talking about the need for them on here for about 8 years. RTA doesn't seem to care that they're a decade behind.

^^Nice. Has anyone heard anything recently about the proposed pedestrian bridge connecting this building with the art museum? I haven't heard it mentioned in a couple years.