urbanlife

there is a pretty balanced analysis of burke's activity (no conclusion on whether it should stay or go), that is from a few years ago now: http://www.ecocitycleveland.org/ecologicaldesign/blue/burke_report_gruber.PDF it has an interesting discussion on how much the FAA would be owed for prior grants ($7 million in 2001, not sure what has happened since), soil conditions (22 acres are an actual old trash dump), survey data (77% of pilots using airport would want to use hopkins if burke was closed), and some interviews. There would also have to be extensive environmental analysis of the actual dredging areas, which hadn't happened as of 2002. with no planned large scale improvments at the airport, it seems that there is plenty of development activity that can occur on surface lots, the flats, parts of port land, etc. in the next few years, and then make a go at burke if it makes sense. but from everything i've seen, and the above report supports this, the land isn't very suitable for housing or other larger buildings and even the recent lakefront plan had it shown as a potential golf course - even a public golf course isn't going to be used by all that many people or year round. more interesting for both the port land and burke, imo, would be to figure out how to extend a public walkway at the water around the edge.

also some of the condo buildings have restrictions on how units can be rented - ie 6 month or 12 month minumum for 1 person(not company), so that buildings don't feel like a hotel with changing tenants all the time even though the owner of the unit stays the same.

There was a book created for cleveland a few years ago: Some of the information is dated, but it is a good overview and available online here: http://www.ecocitycleveland.org/transportation/carfree/carfree.html

From published RTA ridership reports, overall, the ridership on the 6 did decline slightly during the construction, but was still the #1 or #2 route in the system. Total ridership on 6 by year 2004 - 2,941,560 2006 - 2,896,597 (-1.5% under 2004) 2007 - 2,597,767 (-11.5% yoy) # 6 Ridership Numbers from 2007 Nov. 2007 - 217,222 (Nov. 2008 46% inc. = 99,922 additional riders, 317,144 total) Dec. 2007 - 194,626 (Dec. 2008 28% inc. = 54,495 additional riders, 249,121 total) Jan. 2008 - XXX,XXX (Jan. 2008 43% inc. = ?)

RTA is looking at reconfiguring the screens now. There will be some small changes, like the default you pointed out on a 1 ride or 2 ride pass, as well as other potential additions - like the button numbers, "R3" for instance, on the screen arrow so that taller people can see which button to press (they don't line up well when viewed from above), possibly defaulting each transaction to "1" quantity, to eliminate a press of the "increment" button, changing language from "increment" and "decrement" to increase and decrease, as well as the elimination of some of the screens and the addition of spanish screens. Right now it takes 7 or 8 steps to purchase a pass - this seems like too many.

on a lot that was only granted temporary parking status...for 1 year...who is enforcing that?

The info previously posted about a start date for the fare vending machines is inaccurate. A release will be sent as soon as a date is set, and my good friends at Urban Ohio will be told immediately. Let's not go chasing rumors. Thanks. can you provide an update on how the weekend testing went and what issues remain? it seemed that with the call for employee volunteers to man stations during morning and even rush hours, that the thursday launch was set - barring some other issues.

t-minus 3 days. they are supposed to go live on Thursday Feb 12 before morning service, as long as RTA's weekend internal audit was successful. expect red line machines to be operational within 6 weeks of healthline activation.

I've been on this car too, as the 2d car of a 2 car train. The door track is either blocked or there is a problem with the door sensor showing the door is closed and the train can't go.

there is now a window in the one opening that was restored. something doesn't seem quite right about it to me, so hopefully they will make some changes and this isn't the final window chosen for the building.

Cuyahoga County Planning Commission did a study on this in 2008, looking at the accessibility of large grocery stores (over 25,000 sq feet) vs fast food restaurants. Orange squares are grocery stores, red dots fast food. Dark blue areas on map are better served by fast food than grocery stores. It is a bit misleading as there are a number of Dave's that apparently aren't 25k sq feet but are certainly full service groceries, and they aren't on the map. http://www.gcbl.org/image-galleries/food/food-desserts-in-cuyahoga-county There is also some discussion about restarting urban agriculture and farming in Cleveland here: http://www.gcbl.org/food/regional-agenda/cleveland-cuyahoga-county-food-policy-coalition/coalition-meeting-10-15-08-closing-the-food-gap

I ride from tower city to UC and UC to tower city during rush hours, and the trains aren't all that full. They are packed when they arrive at TC heading eastbound, but almost empty out completely. I'd also generally rather see more 2 car trains and shorter headways on the red line during rush hours - going to 5 minute headways in peak periods - rather than see 3 car trains, although decreased headways would probably require more labor. 3 car trains make sense for a couple of runs where there are lots of riders and should run for all special events. There seems to be a lot of slack in the current timing and cab signal system that keeps trains too far apart and too slow, imo. Perhaps this can be retimed, otherwise I'm not sure tower city could handle anymore trains during peak hours.

If this is true, how is this going to work? Are these 3-car trains going to shuttle back and forth between Brook Park and Tower City and not continue eastbound through the rest of the line? I don't get it. on the current schedule during rush hours these trains already exist - they stop on the stub track in the middle on the redline side. these will be replaced with the 3 car runs - to start with is my understanding, as this is where most of the demand exists and most of the stations can support the 3 car trains on the west side.

I think that the 3 car trains are only going to run from tower city to brookpark and brookpark-tower city. They have been testing some of the runs, but my guess is we won't see it for at least another month as there are a number of training and operational issues, not necessarily mechanical issues. Apparently brookpark station needs to be slightly modified as well.

Although I'm not sure how far this would go in Cleveland - we can't get a green roof on a new station because of the concern about possible 3 times a year maintenance. But, the concept of improving our rail corridors is an idea worth exploring in more depth, imo. We have a system that has some legacy costs, one of which is the shared rail corridors with freight traffic, and often out of the way, right-of-ways and cut throughs. I think there is a lot of room to significanly improve the rail corridors (airport to brookpark, downtown to e55, for instance), by cleaning up rails, tires, abandoned equipment. For many peole this is their entrance to the city, their first experience coming into downtown Cleveland or getting off the airplane and seeing Cleveland for the first time. In the case of the airport to brookpark red line section, this is also next to I71 and provides an opportunity to brand RTA in a positive manner. Probably tough to get any funding for trees or flowers or even the general clean up, but I wish there was more attention payed to the look and first impression that our system gives.

the rear wheels spin quite a bit, but the drivers seem to be more used to it and acclerate cautiously from stations and lights. i've talked with a few drivers during the past couple of snow events and the answer from them has been universal: the vehicles don't handle well in the snow. (could be that they just have to get used to the new vehicles and the nuances) from public square to UC took about 12 minutes longer than recent trips. The BRT passed a BRT in front of us at one of the platforms by going into the car lane, doing a quick stop and letting people out on the (usually) wrong side of the bus, and accelerating in front of the other BRT who was still boarding people. craziness.

the transit agencies in the NOACA region have submitted their plans for potential stimulus money. There is a line by line list of shovel ready projects here: http://www.noaca.org/amendstimulusres.pdf No rail expansion projects, but some rail rehab and station construction. RTA's portion seems a little thin in the details, just providing a total amount and a project title. Some of the other agencies provided more background justification for their transit projects.

I think there are a couple of factors influencing ridership, and current levels of ridership is one of them (5+ years of growth). Other factors that may be at play: - The system has been contracting over the past few years. 3% service cut here, 5% cut there. A more meaningful number might be riders per service mile. If RTA has cut 10% of service over the last 2 years and kept ridership constant or slightly decreasing (even after 2 fare increases and a fuel surcharge), it may be operating more efficiently but with slightly less riders. - Special events. Not just regular season games, but indians, browns and cavs playoff games. We didn't have many of these in the past year. Each of these events can add thousands of riders. - Cleveland school enrollment. Most CMSD students rely on RTA for transit. If enrollment is declining, this could be thousands of fewer rides per month. - Employment is moving to areas not served by transit. Good luck getting TO Solon from downtown in the morning or other locations just outside cuyahoga county. Whatever the reasons for the slight decline in ridership y-t-d, it would be good for RTA to have a stock paragraph explaining why the system isn't seeing increases as large as other systems.

Good trip in to UC this morning! Depart Public Square: 8:30am Arrive Adelbert and Euclid: 8:53 Total trip time: 23 minutes! - The RTV stopped at almost all of the stops, skipping 2. - The e6 light appeared to be adjusted - turned green for RTV before cars, and was a relatively quick cycle - e18 and e40 were still prioritized for cars, giving a green turn arrow for cars before the bus - automatic stop announcements (audio and visual) were working for entire trip(vehicle 2907) - not any bunching of vehicles until UC, when RTV behind had almost caught up. Overall, it was a very good experience and I'm pleased that travel time is significantly reduced.

Rode the HealthLine this morning around 9am and the experience is improving. Departed Public Square at 9:15 Arrived at Adelbert and Euclid at 9:37 Total Trip: 22 minutes There are still a few bugs to work out: - RTV departing public square. A vehicle pulled out from the station in front of terminal tower at 9:06, and then waited a few feet from the stop for at least 1 minute until the light at Ontario changed. Meanwhile, 10 additional people arrived and wanted to get on. Perhaps the vehicle operator can pay more attention to the actual traffic light before departing this station? It doesn't seem to make much sense to pull a few feet forward from the station and then stop at the light - when it could just drive right through a green light from the station-especially when the next vehicle didn't arrive for 8 or 9 minutes. - Overall traffic timing seemed improved. E6 still was a long wait, as well as 1 stop at CSU. - Gaps between vehicle and station. Granted it is early in the winter season and the drivers may be still learning, but the gaps were at least a foot at most stops, causing 1 disabled person some trouble exiting the bus with a seeing eye dog. - Stop announcement. Has been working on most of the vehicles lately. 2 issues I have seen on a couple of different rides: 1) rear LCD display does not work when front display is working (vehicle 2901 this morning); 2) audio stop announcements stop working properly when stop request bar is pressed. Also, is it possible that the LCD will display "stop requested" when the bar is pressed? I've seen a number of riders continue to press the bar and not be able to tell if it has already been activated for a stop request. Overall, many of the bugs appear to be working out.

this is probably a microwave receiver used by local media. when you see a boom up on a media truck for a live shot, they are usually transmitting the video via microwave to a high spot (top of tower). So, a live shot set up in strongsville actually points to that device and from there it is hard wired to the station. there are also a couple of these on top of key tower (but not visible from outside the building). it could be used for any sort of data streaming like this, where microwaves are being used and not satellite uplink.

11/4 Trip HealthLine Trip Report and Observations I have ridden the HealthLine 16 times since its opening, and have noticed a number of issues. In interest of fairness, I have given some time to see what can be worked out, as any big launch comes with various issues. Today was the quickest trip I have had, so that is progress in the right direction, but it was still 29 minutes from Public Square to UC. Trip Depart NW corner of Public Square at 8:51am (after waiting 12 minutes for BRT to arrive, during the approximate 5 minute headways time) Arrive Adelbert and Euclid in University Circle at 9:20am Total Trip Time: 29 minutes Observations - Skipped (no stops requested and no riders to board) 6 stations. - Traffic light wait times: Ontario: waited 1 minute after doors closed until bus signal. E6: waited 2.5 minutes for bus signal; car signal triggered before bus E36: waited 1.5 minutes for bus signal; light changed to stop as bus approached, and then car traffic given priority before bus E40: stopped at light for 45 seconds E55: stopped at light for 30 seconds E83: light triggered for cars first, then bus Stokes: turned red on bus approach, prioritized for cars after cycle. stopped for 1 min. Total delay at lights, over 7 minutes total. - There was light ridership on the bus and there weren't any noticeable delays from passengers paying fares on board, as off bus fare machines still not operational - Bus stops were not electronically announced or visible on the LED panel. Driver manually identified about 1/2 of the stops - which has to be fixed ASAP, especially when stations are being skipped. - Docking arms. Seemed to be used about 1/2 time on my trips so far, and only used at 1 or 2 stops on this trip - leaving a pretty significant gap between station and bus which would require wheel chair ramp to deploy. Certainly not a consistent train like gap-yet. - The skipping of stations appears not to significantly speed up the trip. I was passed by 2 buses in the last week while waiting at a station in the university circle area - in clear view. I also think that perhaps the traffic prioritization expects the bus might stop and not blow through a stop, thereby throwing the timing system off. not sure if that is the case though. Also, I think this adds to the bunching of buses at certain times. Depending on the timing and if buses are running every 5 minutes or so, a bus easily catches up to the previous bus in the same direction by skipping stops. - Vehicles in the car lane traveling in same direction got down Euclid quicker than the bus (even with skipped stops, light ridership mid morning). Traffic signals would consistently give a turn arrow and a car lane green before allowing bus to move - this seems backwards. - There were a few sections that the lights appeared to work (or maybe it was luck): E14, E17, E65, E71, E75 lights all were go for bus or changed as we approached (although some still required the bus to slow down before then accelerating). It would be nice to have a smooth ride-more train like-than a sudden stop at a light, wait 5 seconds, go through light, stop at station, etc. Hopefully these small issues can be worked out in the coming weeks. - There was some construction in the corridor that obstructed car lanes, but it didn't appear to impact this trip. I realize that the traffic system on Euclid is a prioritization system and not an outright preemption as it might be for an EMS or fire vehicle. I also realize that the City ultimately controls the traffic light timing, and there may be certain areas that have high cross traffic, etc. But, it seems there has to be some significant retiming of the lights or the priority that is given to buses so that a green turn arrow isn't given to a car ahead of a bus waiting 1 minute to cross an intersection and then which stops at a station. IMO, I shouldn't be able to travel in a car faster than the bus down Euclid.

isn't part of the money brownfield grants (a small piece)? is it possible that some of the brownfield remediation work can continue?

wait until dec 2008 and your wish should come true.

fare machines should take credit / debit from the start, although each transaction will have to be authenticated with RTA and the bank, so i'm not sure how quick it will be in practice. the machines you see on euclid were built for cleveland - they are a bit smaller than NJ and LA systems which use same company. they can only hold a couple of types of fare media, so you'll only be able to buy all day passes and single trips from these machines. the "pay fares here" sign is also being replaced by a map of euclid ave and either better/more consistent lighting or a light diffuser. in the coming weeks the machines will be have spanish instructions as well. the machines can also communicate via cellular link, so hopefully if this is successful on redline and healthline, the proof of payment system can be extended to the green and blue lines so that all of our rail system has a consistent payment method. one other interesting feature of the larger machines (16 total, in tower city and few other places) is that the machines use coins and bills used to purchase fare media as a source of change for additional purchases, supposedly cutting down on change/bill refills.