gildone

Nice job BuckeyeB. I bet next, they'll have an article by Ronald Utt or Joe Vranich denigrating the Ohio Hub.

Earlier this year, I had an RTA brochure that listed the different phases and the timelines. I misplaced it, though, and nothing has been updated on the Euclid Corridor section of the website. You would think RTA would want to keep people informed of the progress.

Here's another question, when will the BRT buses start running? When construction is completed to University Circle, or when the entire project is completed all the way out to Windermere?

I was on Euclid today. It seems to be progressing ok to me. At the end of the summer, there wasn't much going on, now, at least one side of Euclid is done all the way out to E. 55th. I can't quite figure out the empty trench in the center that varies in width as you drive east, though. I know it will be completed, I just can't figure out why it's there now. I saw some building renovations in progress, a new Aldi a few blocks west of the Clinic, and there has been an explosion in "for lease" signs as well, even east of 55th--mostly office spaces on 2nd/3rd floors and previously vacant buildings. I do feel for the businesses along the route, but if they are able to stick it out (and I hope they can), things should get much better in the long run-- better than they were previously. Are there any specific TOD projects planned along the corridor--Particularly in what is now the largely deserted area between CSU and the Cleveland Clinic?

It has been said in this thread, I think, that in Cleveland, one cannot hail a taxi on the street. Why is this and is there any talk of changing that rule? It seems VERY stupid to me.

The Other Paper is like Cleveland Scene at times: just a hack newspaper, IMHO.

Under public ownership, toll roads are revenue neutral. They cover their costs. The only way for a private consortium to make money is to RAISE TOLLS (and eliminate personnel, and/or reduce pay/benefits). Now, they are forcing people to install transponders in their cars and doing dumb things like blocking the emergency turnarounds. With privatization, there is absolutely no way around raising tolls. Why not just cut out the middle man, raise the tolls, and have the legislature earmark the excess money for transportation projects? In the end, it's the same difference from a financial perspective. I'm for turning every mile of freeway in the country into publicly owned toll roads, but not turning them over to a corporation for private profiteering.

What's going to end up being the best place left for a station in Youngstown? My understanding is that Y'town is very supportive of the Ohio Hub. Why are they letting their best station sites slip away?

Actually, not necessarily true and a common misconception of northeasterners. You can make that argument for many sleeping car passengers and some coach travelers, but not as many as you might think. I road the Empire Builder in 2002. The seat tags in coach (which have the passengers' city/town of destination written on them) were noticeably different every few hours. That means people got on and off everywhere along the route. They weren't leisure travelers, but were simply trying to get somewhere. Even in the sleeping cars, I met a variety of people. True, some were going to Glacier National Park and wanted a "land cruise" but there were plenty of people who had destinations beyond the train but didn't want to fly because of age or ailment or other reasons. Granted, for me it was my honeymoon, but our destination wasn't the train, it was to connect to a ferry in Seattle so we could get to Vancouver Island. We could have flown, but didn't want the hassle. After a hectic pace in the weeks prior to our wedding, we decided that the last thing we wanted to do the day after was to be herded around like cattle and shoe-horn ourselves into an airline seat for the 6+hour flight (including layover in Chicago). True, we wanted to slow down and catch our breath, but that's not the same as what you're implying for leisure travel (without the train, we probably would have left on a plane a day later). As I said, our destination was beyond the train. The "leisure" was just an incidental benefit as far as we were concerned. When the Pennsylvanian operated between Chicago and Philly, I used to ride it between Cleveland and Johntstown 2-3 times per year to visit my mother. She used it to come to Cleveland too. I wasn't after leisure (nor was she), I was after comfortable, convenient way to get from Point A to Point B. I've ridden the Capitol Limited to DC three times. Each time it was to attend a conference (two in DC, one in Baltimore). I wasn't after leisure travel, but an alternative to flying. One time, my mother and future mother-in-law were both having major surgery within several days of each other in Johnstown and Toledo, respectively. I rode the train from JST to TOL to be with my soon-to-be fiancee during her mother's surgery. With all the stress, there was no way I could have handled driving and flying would have been a real hassle and very expensive with multiple connections. The train saved my rear-end. In the west, LD trains are a lifeline to many towns and small cities. Especially on the Empire Builder route and even more so in the winter time. In the winter time up there, drifting snow often closes the interstates in North Dakota and eastern Montana. Flights are expensive and are few and far between. That train is very important to those states. LD trains have an important role to play in stitching rural communities together (many of which have no bus or air services), and providing access to large cities. If we were ever to build all the proposed corridors east of the Mississippi, their role will only become more important to stitch the corridors together and provide connecting passengers to them. The problem, as KJP pointed out is that there aren't enough of them. More routes are needed as well as more frequencies. One train a day doesn't provide much of an option for people, especially if the train arrives in the middle of the night. Ideally, the western LD routes should each have two round trips roughly 12 hours apart so that everyone has at least one daylight round-trip available to them. People are more willing to accept a night time trip one way provided that have a daylight trip on the other way, so ridership would most definitely go up considerably. I would also add that the infrastructure isn't adequate for decent speeds and on-time performance. That needs to be improved too.

Finally, we're seeing our public officials get smart about some things. This is very good to hear. Cleveland can only improve with this kind of thinking.

I hope the Lott-Lautenberg bill passes next year. We desperately need the constant stalemate regarding Amtrak to end, otherwise we'll never get an expanded, modernized passenger rail system. 35 years of this baloney is enough. We need real progress for once.

Musky: What's a "hack number"? I see how documenting can help. It's just that you have to be on guard about so many things any more that it just wears you out having to be on your toes all the time. You have to stay on top of credit card companies, utilities, the phone company, insurance companies, medical billing, ID theft, ad nauseum that you just get worn out...

Although I have a lot of respect for Jim Seney and what he's done-- launching the Ohio Hub Plan and doing the right things to start organizing the support effort behind the scenes-- I disagree with privatizing the Turnpike. Right now the t-pike is a revenue-neutral endeavor. It covers all of its costs. The only way for a company to start making money off of it, plus pay its taxes (if there are any levied on it...) is to raise the fares and go after the salaries and benefits of the t-pike workforce, who would all be privatized along with the turnpike. In Indiana, their turnpike fares went up by what, 30%? It will force truckers back onto the secondary roads again after the speed limit increase and fare restructuring brought many of them back to the turnpike. Plus, it will be a European consortium that gets the profits thus adding to our trade deficit. I'm all for turning every mile of interstate in America to publicly-owned toll roads and turning more bridges into publicly-owned toll bridges, but not for privatizing them to a foreign company (or even a domestic one, for that matter).

In the 1950's, the people in Ohio did the exactly the same thing that people did in 40-some odd other states: They voted in favor of a state constitutional ballot initiative to restrict the use of gasoline taxes to the construction and maintenance of public highways (Actually, Ohio's was pretty restrictive in that almost any excise tax on motor vehicles can only be spent on public highways). At the time, I'm sure it seemed reasonable. The only way to change it is to put it to the voters again with a constitutional ballot initiative. However, any effort would have to be well timed and VERY well funded. The Ohio road contractors alone can easily summon several million dollars to defeat any such initiative., not to mention the American Highway Users Alliance and possibly even AAA, although AAA pulled out of the AHUA a few years ago. Any group that tries to do this, better try to get at least $4-5 million in the bank ahead of time for the PR war that would ensue. It may be better to go after a portion of motor vehicle excise taxes (gas tax, or whatever), say some sort of minimum percentage, like 15 or 20%, for transportation alternatives. Still, it will take a lot of money to win the PR war.

...and we have a winner! If you don't need another connection or can do an easy connection, the Rapid is much easier to deal with. As much as I take the rapid, I should have a Platinum Elite Bus Pass. The best I can do is the 86 bus to the Red Line at Brook Park (4 block walk to bus). The problem is, the 86 south of Brook Park RTS only runs hourly on the weekends and on Sundays, only until 5 pm. So, on the way back, I could be stuck for up to an extra hour either sitting in the airport, or Brook Park RTS waiting for the bus (Brook Park RTS by the bus bays is not a very welcoming or aesthetic or clean waiting environment), or I have to use a cab. So far, I've gotten nice drivers at the airport. But from what I'm hearing from others here, my luck could run out any time. Fortunately, I rarely have to fly.

Thinking out loud here: Does the city have some sort of taxi inspector(s)? Someone to ride incognito and root out the bad drivers? Is this sort of thing even possible? I suppose it wouldn't be all that practical to do that sort of thing, but it may help. Anyway, how do we get rid of the bad drivers? Is there any way to do it? An additional thought on an older post:

Good approach. Too bad our public officials and transportation planners don't think that way. European governments appear to be much more able to think in this terms at least as far as transportation planning goes. I often wonder if we'd do things differently if our elected officials weren't so "coin operated". I think the public is ready for 110 mph trains. It's one of the areas where public opinion is ahead of our government these days. Several state and national polls on passenger rail have been done over the past 5-10 years. They all come out the same: 70-80% of Americans want a viable, useable intercity passenger rail system.

Very true. We haven't done much of that, have we?

Rob: Having dedicated rights-of-way would be great. But, it it unfortunately a political impossibility in Ohio right now. 25 years ago, Ohioans voted down the TGV-style 3-C proposal that was on the ballot in, I think, 1981. Ohio Politicians have been running briskly away from any such talk since. OARP, at the time, opposed the measure too (At the time there was good reason for that). Keep in mind, Europe's high speed train routes have been (and are continuing to be) built incrementally. Once we have 110 mph service via the Ohio Hub and Midwest Regional Rail Initiative-- which will be far more useable and competitive with highways and even some air routes, it will become a much easier sell to the public to start spending the big bucks required for dedicated ROW. I want dedicated ROW high speed trains as much as you do, but we can only get get there with the most viable political strategy-- which is an incremental approach.

Can the infrastructure work that is needed to operate an extended Maple Leaf on time and at good enough track speeds to make the service attractive be done in 7 months? P.S. Please include me in your offline discussion.

I realize that. What I was getting at is that late trains have become normal for Amtrak operations, even with heavily padded schedules. Yes, the Shinkensen is not on time 100%, but it is the norm for them to be on time. It is a rarity for it not to be. The main way to improve Amtrak's timekeeping is to invest in the infrastructure. So, let me re-phrase: Go ahead and extend the Maple Leaf to Columbus, but enough capital better be invested before hand so that on-time operations are the norm from day 1.

I'm willing to support extending existing Amtrak rains to Ohio and using that as a platform on which to build the Ohio Hub, provided the damn things run on time ALL the time-- and from the very first run. That means coughing up capital for more track capacity and good layover facilities for rolling stock. I haven't ridden Amtrak for 2 1/2 years now because the last few times I used it, it was always 90 minutes to two hours late. That makes a middle-of-the-night train experience even worse. I've had enough. Then they go and make the schedule in Ohio even worse. Amtrak can kiss my rear end until they offer something better for the $45 mil we're sending their way. As for the skeptics, I see far more support for the Ohio Hub at the grassroots level-- from business, government, labor, and more-- than there ever has been for rail service in this state. When you have the road contractors supporting the plan, you know damn well something really is different this time. It's that support that's making the difference and will make the Ohio Hub a reality. I would add there are rumblings that Strickland wants some portion of the Ohio Hub up and running by the end of his first term. If true, we need to start working with his team immediately.

I doubt the Supreme Court will hear the case. They have more important things to deal with. And, troglodytes is putting it nicely about the anti-rail NIMBY's in Silver Lake. As I said previously, I hope that some point after the CLE-DET, CLE-CHI, and CLE-BUF routes are built that these corridors will be extended to Akron and Canton via the Akron Secondary. It will be very difficult for the NIMBY's in Silver Lake to fight because it would fall under "interstate commerce" which can only be regulated by the federal government.

Is this due to height or width?

yes that helps. thanks!