urbanlife

There seems to be a few options to fix this: - the same court community service people who clean up highways could be deployed to the rail corridor a few times a year - similar to the river and beach sweeps that take place, a volunteer effort could be coordinated once or twice a year ultimately RTA has to believe a problem with trash exists, which I don't think is the case. it seems that there is recognition that the rail corridors are dirty and trash covered in places, but what can really be done about it? there are certainly logistical and safety challenges with cleaning up along active rail lines, but with the other planned maintenance windows and weekend shutdowns, it wouldn't seem too difficult to coordinate this clean up to happen once or twice a year. there are significant shortcomings with both the physical machines and the software. all that is being addressed now is the software. basically, the height isn't the real issue. the real issue is the screen angle which was changed to make them ADA acceptable because of the width of the stations - it was off by something like 1 or 2 inches, so they decreased the screen tilt by 2 inches, which led to a bunch of other problems. basically, the new redesign by including the button number and the "....." aligning to the button will help fix this. there are also separate proposals for creating a 3 color front panel and introducing a "1. select" "2. pay" and "3. Take" approach to the actual fronts on the machines instead of all being the red color with no orientation. I understand that RTA hasn't committed to these changes b/c they would have to pay and not the vendor. HEIGHT isn't the issue? Speak for yourself! I have to literally get on my knees to conduct a transaction. I'm only 6'3. They are in danger of being crushed by a dwarf! Whoever the board or committee who approved these things should be fired and forced to personally pay for the replacement. Height is a big issue, but again the basic problem here is RTA's internal policy preference. Each stop has to have an ADA accessible machine; some stops only have 1 machine, and at most (except for tower city) 2 machines, unlike other larger systems where there may be 5 or 6 machines and 1 or 2 ADA machines per stop. So, RTA made the decision to be overly accommodating to ADA issues and made all of the machines the same height. So although they could put a base on the machines, if at the end of the day they think it is most important that all machines are ADA accessible, then this won't happen. What this doesn't excuse, however, is that good machine design and layout could have (and maybe still can) make these machines usable by everyone, while being ADA accessible. I think for the Blue/Green lines, if you are west bound, you have to pay when you get off the train or when you get to Tower City. If you are going east bound you pay at Tower City or pay when you get on the train. Also, I believe that the machines at Tower City accept cash, but you might need exact change. I don't know for sure because I always use my debit card. You DO have to have exact change for the Healthline, which is stupid, because the machines are capable of giving change. The HealthLine machines are not capable of giving change - only the larger kiosks at Tower City and the airport have the change capability built in. The TVMs on the HealthLine and Red Line are too small to contain the change equipment.

there are significant shortcomings with both the physical machines and the software. all that is being addressed now is the software. basically, the height isn't the real issue. the real issue is the screen angle which was changed to make them ADA acceptable because of the width of the stations - it was off by something like 1 or 2 inches, so they decreased the screen tilt by 2 inches, which led to a bunch of other problems. basically, the new redesign by including the button number and the "....." aligning to the button will help fix this. there are also separate proposals for creating a 3 color front panel and introducing a "1. select" "2. pay" and "3. Take" approach to the actual fronts on the machines instead of all being the red color with no orientation. I understand that RTA hasn't committed to these changes b/c they would have to pay and not the vendor.

The RTA fare structure and rider experience should be painless, and customer focused. Not sure why we aren't getting an official answer from RTA on the machine redesign, but it may have to do with contract payment negotiations - ie the vendor hasn't been paid that much and RTA hasn't accepted the machines as is... I saw a draft of some of the proposed redesigns for the machines, and it is looking significantly better. Basically, the new flow will be changed to reflect the following logic: 1. Choose ticket type (1-ride; roundtrip; all day) 2. Choose person type (Adult; senior/disabled; child) 3. Insert cash (or select credit/debit) so, if paying by cash, which is something like 85% of the machine transactions (and different than many other cities, where when offered credit/debit it is the clear majority transaction), it is a 3 step process, and can be completed quickly - in less than 12 seconds. There are also significant improvements to the layout: - larger text, no highlighted text, no blinking cursors - button numbers on the screen next to selection and "....." that aligns the text selection with the button (ie " 1-Ride - Press R3 ..........") - no longer the look of a touchscreen what is lost in the new flow on the basic TVMs is the ability to: - add aditional tickets to the order (each ticket is a new transaction - again something like 92% of all current transactions are 1 ticket) The larger kiosks will allow up to 4 ticket purchases per transaction - buy an unactivated pass (the larger kiosks will still allow this I think) There are still plans for spanish and smart cards and that is being considered in the redesign, but won't roll out with the initial updates. These were always phase 2 activities, and phase 1, the machines working properly and being easy to use isn't finished yet.

i don't think these will be "affordable" in that sense. although apparently the numbers aren't finalized, i heard $1.50-$2/sq ft/month. they are basing the pricing on the success on park lane units and the high demand.

Find your friends at CPP and the city and get them moving... RTA has a bunch of these LED signs (maybe 20?) in a warehouse. They have been basically putting them in all rail stations with power... these signs are available for bus stops anywhere in cuyahoga county...but they need power. CPP and FirstEnergy will not allow RTA to use the signs with a "streetlight rate," basically estimating the power consumption per hour and multiplying by hours in a month that it is in use - so each LED sign, or other amenity at a bus stop requires a separate electricity meter, which costs a few thousand to have installed. Also, CPP's streetlight power downtown uses some sort of hot ground wiring - only the traffic signals have had their power source upgraded to grounded power...and apparently these signs won't work on that. So, if CPP would agree to a streetlight rate for the signs and it was possible to hook them up to the traffic light power sources, then there may be some real time arrival info available... who wants to continue working with CPP and City Traffic Engineering to make this a reality?

looks like the free 30 minute parking went away with the opening of the cell phone lot. there is also some construction b/w short term deck and ticket counters..any ideas what is going on here?

Where is the support and press releases from the freight railroads to push forward this investement? Won't the improvements along this corridor also significantly enhance freight service and capacity - regardless if anyone uses the passenger component?

perhaps read through the Indiana Rail Plan - there seems to be some of this type of data: http://www.in.gov/indot/3065.htm

You might consider starting at whatever the local metropolitan planning authority (MPO) is in for Indianapolis. They often have traffic counts and studies for various modes of transportation or would be able to point you in the right direction.

There is a lawsuit that was filed in US Federal District Court in Cleveland in December by ClevelandBikes. ODOT and FHWA owed a response by Feb 15, but apparently filed for another extension last week.

In the environmental impact statement where they address the alternative routes and determine them to be adequate, ODOT estimated it would cost $20 million in 2012 construction dollars. Basically, they used $400 or $450 a square foot x width x length to arrive at this number. Others have suggested that the true cost might be closer to half of this cost as the multi-purpose lane wouldn't be engineered to hold a lane full of highway traffic, and it could be designed within the overall bridge structure and not a specific add on. $20 million is a lot of money, but on a $450 million project, only 4% of the project budget. FHWA allows up to 20% of project to be spent on bike and pedestrian accommodation and the local NOACA policy supports spending up to 10% of the project, so this falls well within both of those ranges.

Here is the graphic presented at the Board meeting on Tuesday. Basically, as theguv states, during rush hour periods on the HealthLine (currently 6am until 9:30am and 2:30pm until 6pm), every other HL bus heading east from downtown will circle to Ceder redline station and then return west towards downtown - keeping 5 minute headways between public square and stearns. to me, this is one reason to be skeptical of BRT - a service that is a little over a year old is being modified, albeit slightly. On the other hand, depending on how you use the HL, it may be a very positive modification and could be viewed as an advantage of BRT. The Clinic, and Heights residents seem to be winners here. Now many Clinic employees can conceivably take the redline to Cedar and the HL to Euclid and 93d. (the existing connection between the cedar redline station and the clinic is non existent) The losers seem to be EC residents and people traveling to or from UC proper, as rush hour frequency will now decrease to every 10 minutes at the stops Adelbert and east. It will be interesting how they plan to denote the different routes - ie the old 6 and 6A - or something different...which also means all maps and schedules along the route will need replaced.

Good news... AnyStop designed by BusBrothers is now offering a free Cleveland RTA phone app for android phones. It isn't realtime (for Cleveland), but it looks like it synchs with google transit feed to offer up to date schedule information, and you can customize your stops. You can download it from the app store or check out their website: http://anystopapp.com/applications/

not to be down on the announcement, but there is still a 154m gap if the state gets 400m. where will this come from and is there support to make that happen? NOACA's amendment from last year would move the project from tier iii to tier i, only if the entire amount was given. there could be some interesting negotiations in the coming months to get this implemented.

any pics of the interior apartment units?

any update on when the westbound lane by w45 will re-open? this has been closed for quite a while for what was supposed to be an 8 week project...

I hear you- I'm not really suggesting it would be practical for every stop to have a current schedule posted by RTA, but refusing to believe that NYC is able to make this happen was a pretty lame and lazy response by Joe. Laying bare ignorance about our country's biggest transit system wasn't exactly confidence inspiring either. But anyway, back to substance: I think 327 is right- making schedule info easier to access would certainly make transit a lot less mysterious to the uninitiated. I realize RTA probably can't itself post schedules on all 7000 stops, but has it thought about posting schedules at certain key stops, such as those around public square? Has it considered recruiting volunteers to attach an RTA-sanctioned/standardized laminated schedule on key stops outside of downtown? Or investigated the mechanics of how one could be attached? Would RTA object if an unsanctioned group attached schedules to RTA stops (provided it did so without damaging the post or sign)? To me, this sounds like an absolutely perfect project for a summer intern to figure out. this is a key part of the TWE project that was completed a couple of years ago. rta has dedicated 200k the past 2 years to transit waiting environment improvements, including schedule information. imo, the rollout has been way too slow, but there were 3 "pilots" tested with bus schedule and map information posted at a stop in buckeye, market square, and one by city hall. not sure where the program is now, as this was supposed to role out on a wider scale in Q4 of 2009. i'll see if i can find a pic of one of the signs, otherwise maybe someone else can post one. rta is also currently testing a sms based schedule information tool for mobile devices, and has made data available in google transit format, which makes it widely available to outside developers as well as google maps. if anyone knows a developer, it would be great to get someone to extend one of the existing transit apps for smart phones to the cleveland system. EDIT: attached photos from the fall @ w25 and lorain

The City Planning Commission passed a resolution asking ODOT to add bike and pedestrian accommodations as part of the bidding process. Basically, it wouldn't be required, but by asking that the option be added, it would allow the firms designing the bridge to consider it in their proposals. http://www.gcbl.org/blog/marc-lefkowitz/city-planning-throws-weight-behind-open-access-innerbelt-bridge

in the current plan, the extra pavement on the new bridge becomes 2, 17 foot wide breakdown lanes. basically odot seems willing to overengineer the bridge to make traffic during construction for cars and trucks easier (certainly very important), but refuses to consider bikes or pedestrians for any amount of space (citing safety and snow).

In fact, the city appears very opposed to this idea. the city made a deal for exclusive advertising on the triangular kiosks a few years ago, and attempts to expand the program to provide revenue for rta, recycling containers, uniform newspaper machines (the "nice" street elements you may see in other cities supported in part by ad revenue) were all rejected by the city. it is a good question, and one that more people should be asking the city why this isn't happening. to be fair, there are downsides (real and perceived) of cluttering the ROW with additional advertising, which the city stands behind.

Are there any pictures of what the layout will look like inside the station? the drawings from spring 2009 are available here: http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/bike/bikestation.html i don't think these are final though.

i agree this stretch is bleak, but i don't think it is from lack of lights. when the lights are working, this is a very bright section. i think the concern is more over lack of anything at street level (no eyes or activities), a rather narrow right of way boxed in by blank walls, and some of the pedestrians that are using this corridor

i think the big issue is existing track and right of way that could be used relatively quickly. i think both of these are missing in some places or would require substantial upgrades, which is why the other route was initially chosen b/c there is existing freight ROW and track that could be used with relatively modest safety and capacity enhancements. kjp posted on this a while back, it may be in this thread. i will see if i can find his response.

Going in a little bit different direction than some recent posts... Does anyone know why ODOT doesn't paint or apply reflective materials to the snow plow trucks? The ones that are on regular interstates are usually white (and dirty) in the winter, making them hard to see in the snow. There are usually some small reflective pieces of tape applied somewhere. On the turnpike, the snow plows are painted yellow. In many other states it is a very bright yellow, or the backs on the snow plow trucks have significant reflective decals applied. Any idea why ODOT sticks with a dirty white color on the snow plows?

bump... the garage is still closed at the corner. anybody have info on the plans for the site?