peterdietz

On gamedays and events, maybe find a way to sync Red Line trains entering Tower City, and transfers to the waterfront. I don't know what you've got in terms of space to do such a thing, but if an Airport - TowerCity red line train, could have the doors open directly into a blue/green train destined for the water front, as opposed to walking through a crowd, swiping out, finding the blue loading zone, swiping in, waiting, boarding... Or, to build your extension from Airport to Berea and beyond. Could you have the airport station have a waiting BRT/bus waiting for the train, so that you could either get off at the airport to catch a flight, or board the RedBus, that will serve Berea and beyond. And sync the timelines of such things, and maybe brand it as a RedBus? Also, I wonder if more Cleveland Clinic staff would take the Red Line, if there was a bus synced at the (Cedar/University) station, that you could exit the train, and then be on the bus that drops you off at 3 CC entrances. I don't see how you could build a station that directly served CC. Unless you built a subway that curved under the campus. I think its important to consider the connectivity of routes and pedestrian time. Its great that there is a walkway gateway connecting TC to the Q, its kind of a lengthy walk, would airport style moving walkways help there? Also, for serving other downtown destinations, someone I've talked to said transit is okay, but it doesn't serve where people are actually going. To walk from TC to the Browns stadium or Rock & Roll, or the air show is crazy. Do the waterfront stations serve those locations appropriately? What if, instead of waterfront being green/blue, as the graphic showed, its a loop. So, to put the waterfront on a continuous (automated vehicle?) that just made an infinite loop purple line / white line. And optimize transfering on/off that loop to/from Red/Green/Blue. Set a goal of 60 seconds from getting off Red, to getting on Purple loop. I've mentioned it before. But I'd like to have Rocky River and Lakewood have rail stations. (Don't ask me for cost/benefit analysis, but Lakewood has the density for this). Maybe have a West-direct bus that connected from a red-line station, and then express hit west towns. (I haven't used CSU 55 yet). Also, digital signs at rail stations that had minutes till next train would be pleasant to see.

Sorry if I couldn't find any other better discussion portal, but is there any update on GCRTA Smart Card / Smart Fare? cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/cleveland_rta_wants_smart_card.html The last few RTA trips I've made involved four of us taking the rapid downtown for Cavs games. The clumsy part of the trip was the fare machines. Four people, each needing a one-way ticket, involved dozens of button presses on the box, then insert credit card. Repeat this whole process 4 times, as I ended up having to buy a single ticket four times, thus four credit card swipes. Then the return trip, was the same ordeal, but had to change machines since the first and seconds machines I tried didn't work. We even missed the first train we could have caught, because buying fares took so long. I bought the tickets for the others in my group, since I figured I was an efficient button clicker. So, enter the smart card. I'm thinking WMATA DC Metro here. It has oodles of zones, it _could_ be complicated to figure out how much you are going to have to pay. But, you buy a plastic SmarTrip card that has a sensor / beacon / radio chip on it, you keep it in your wallet, you take a gate, it opens to allow just you to enter and quickly closes. When you get to your destination, you tap the exit gate with your wallet, and voila, the whole system is go-go-go. No fussing with passes, you just set up auto-refill with your bank, and you can always use the metro for all of your trips without having to have issues. So, less waste, and greater user happiness. Cash, and exact fare is such a pain. (For me at least). I linked to the above Cleveland news article saying this Smart Card is in the works. So, anyone with a scoop on when, and how this is expected to work? If you've got integration issues, why not have a week of free-RTA rides, while every single station and vehicle gets overhauled over the week, to be equipped with a modern standard system that tosses out the legacy baggage, and puts more Smart in Cleveland? Couldn't you even drum up support under the guise of one-week-in-2016, and mail each convention visitor a smart card? BTW, here's what RTA's website currently says: "Smartcards in your future RTA plans to phase in a “Smartcard” system that will allow passengers to simply wave their farecard in front of the “Smartcard” reader on the farebox, and the fare will be deducted from the card. No time frame has been set." ...Love it, would love to be able to cala brese through the station.

Yes, it was posted over month ago, and yes I'm not in the loop on the ups and downs in funding or # of lines an area had or has. To plan a trip I would either use Google Map transit directions, or maybe an RTA map. By the way, I have just made the move from Columbus to RR. (Probably the coldest time to move ever, ugh). I used to have free time a few months ago, and I have amateur experience with a transit simulation game, Cities in Motion 2, which is fun, and makes you idealistic about how sweet and integrated you could make everything. i.e. your transit lines become profit generators, which funds further expansion of your transit lines, and eventually you have NYC subways throughout the entire region. Yeah... Cost effectiveness is probably the name of the game for all transit lines. Another goal would be to have interconnectedness. i.e. That CLE+ idea, if you could imagine linking Akron and Cleveland, so someone in either downtown could quickly/easily get to the other downtown. And do the same for the whole NOACA zone, maybe. And further, you could expand coverage. Ensure that 90%+ of population is covered by atleast something within walking distance, or 90% of urban areas are covered. And then, expanding to have more desirable options, such as West Shore Commuter Rail, or just fortifying (expanding, increasing frequency) of successful routes. For my myopic view of things, if some type of commuter rail were added, such as a Cedar Point train, that hit Lorain, West Shore suburbs, Lakewood, and branched off of existing Red Line, that would work. I could take that in, transfer to red to go to airport, or head downtown, or to the East side museums. 70+ minutes to get to the airport is too much, I'd drive/have someone drive/taxi. Sorry for pushing this potentially off topic, and for bringing things up that are out probably out of funding reach. But, from what I've noticed on these forums, there have been some exciting improvements, TOD focus for things like Little Italy, perhaps also fortifying the Ohio City area. It's probably best to focus on having great destinations, covered with great transit, and then encouraging people, hey, instead of dealing with parking at Ohio City, or having to drive after having drinks at Ohio City, why not <X>.

I'll be moving from Columbus to Rocky River in the next few months, and ideally, I'd like to see an effective transit option to get the airport, downtown and beyond: sporting events, museums. I've found a study that says that before extending rail service to western Lakewood, Rocky River, Bay Village, Avon, ..., that RTA has established the CSU BRT line, running from the western shore suburbs to Tower City, to CSU, which is a phase, to gauge the ridership. So, assuming the CSU BRT is effective, and it get's ridership, what would a potential rendering of a West Shore / Red Line variant look like? i.e. Which right-of-way, and where would you establish rapid stations? Looking at old maps, I suppose one could revive the old Rocky River station from Nickel Plate Road, in the Old River district on Depot St.