JeTDoG

I think this literally is a great idea. Maybe even flyers can be made up? We've conducted a bit of an e-mail "carpet bomb" to our e-news subscribers on this very topic, and will likely send out another blast on Monday. Printed flyers will start appearing in buses and trains shortly. Our General Manager is speaking with the Plain Dealer today on this, and I strongly encourage anyone and everyone reading this with a blog or other means of online communication to provide a link to http://www.riderta.com/nu_ridersalerts_list.asp?listingid=1054, which provides full details about Tuesday's meeting. I'll be there, and I hope to find a packed house...

I'd like to say that it's common sense, but then I realize that's it's unfortunately not that common, and the average person is far less sensible than I remember growing up...

you'll forgive me if I don't shed a tear over this revelation... sorry, but from the first day I realized that my taxes were supporting any public transit system (which occurred long before I started working here), while I might have gotten mildly annoyed at the fact of being forced to stand for the duration of my ride, I'd get more annoyed seeing empty buses travel the streets during "prime time", knowing that it takes the same amount of money to operate the bus, empty or full...

That column lost me at the rather convoluted third paragraph, where after previously advocating for streetcars and light rail at the expense of BRT, it then states that "Bus Rapid Transit is more like light rail. Much of it has its own private right away." (BTW, it's right-OF-way) It further draws the unfounded conclusion, "Streetcars are not designed for speed yet the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) justifies funding bus rapid transit because it is faster. That alone shows FTA prejudice." But the prior sentence said that BRT is more like rail, so where does the streetcar comparison come in? Maybe I just haven't had enough coffee this morning, or maybe he was just the victim of an overzealous editor, but ??? ?

for your viewing pleasure, 66 pages of (mostly) photographic goodness available here: http://www.riderta.com/pdf/presentations/2008-06-03-ECTP.pdf there's a particularly striking aerial shot of the new Cleveland Clinic "entrance boulevard" on page 30

As I had thought would be the case, individual property owners are responsible for the treelawns in front of their properties (this is true throughout the city of Cleveland, for both commercial and residential properties). This means that RTA is responsible for the treelawns at CRT (Paratransit), 6611 Euclid, and the lot at the southeast corner of East 55th. We also maintain responsibility for the planter beds at the tail ends of the station platforms. The trees in the center medians in Midtown, however, are the responsibility of the City of Cleveland. Having taken a trip out that way during lunch today, the biggest problems appeared to be along the south side of Euclid, west of East 55th. I'll see about getting a friendly reminder issued to some of those property owners that they need to make sure that the grass is keep at a decent height. For some of them, this may be a new experience, as they may not have had a treelawn prior to the project (the patch of grass at the Shell station at the southwest corner of Euclid & E 55th is, I believe, completely new). Edited to add: After discussing this with the folks more privy to the agreements that were made, when the original inter-agency agreement was signed, the City of Cleveland assumed responsibility for the treelawns. Mayor Jackson's administration issued an ordinance that made such maintenance the responsibility of the property owners. Unfortunately, this was not effectively communicated to the property owners. Midtown Cleveland is working to get the word out to the property owners as to what their responsibility is for treelawn upkeep. You are correct, a little basic upkeep will go a long way toward keeping the area looking attractive. A well-manicured empty lot is more appealing to a potential buyer than an overgrown empty lot.

I know a lot has probably changed in the last couple of weeks, but take a look here: http://www.riderta.com/pdf/presentations/2008-05-13-ECTP.pdf. Fifty-seven pages of photos and progress reports for your viewing pleasure.

I'll put the ask in... are there any specific locations that come to mind? I'm asking because in my travels around the lower portion out to a ways past CSU, I didn't recollect any such issues.

PLEASE NOTE: the start time for this meeting has been changed back to 4:00pm (which was the original start time)

Any answer to this question available? I think this question might have gotten overlooked in Jerry's vacation catch-up (and he was a bit distracted yesterday, for reasons already mentioned :-) ). I'll make sure this gets looked into and an answer posted.

I'm a little confused by this statement. I was on one of the rehabbed Blue Line trains last night, and the stop request strips appeared to be functioning fine. While the single bell they put out might sometimes be lost in the other noise of the vehicle (track noise, passenger conversations, the door closing tone, the horn, etc...), and there is no visual cue in the passenger compartment when it has been pressed, I believe there is an indicator on the operator's control panel that indicates when the strip has been pushed. What I'm trying to say is that this doesn't seem to be a systemic problem. Of course, if you know of a particular car that is exhibiting a flaw, please note the vehicle number and let us know. All operators are supposed to report such items on defect cards, but I'd rather we receive two reports about the same problem than no reports.

Eparabola, here's a link to a some "light" reading on potential future plans for E 120: http://www.riderta.com/majorprojects/e120.asp Pay particular attention to the area Master Plan (a 15MB document); as you can see from even the preliminary work presented, tie-in to Mayfield/Little Italy and establishment of the station as a destination, rather than just a facility, is of a very high priority.

Nothing wrong with that... I'll let Jerry dive into the other points you've raised, but I'll take this softball :-). Being a frequent user of them myself, I can say that the students at CSU and the downtown workers in local government LOVE them (ever try to ride one between 7:30am and 9:00am? be prepared to stand). Our ridership numbers for April tallied about 78,000 passengers between the two loops. Much of the funding for the trolleys comes from periodic sponsorships (the latest of which came from Dollar Bank, who have been enjoying tremendous growth downtown). This says nothing about the positive impression given to out-of-towners who visit. Having a regular, free downtown loop service is a definite amenity, and one that we are able to provide at minimal incremental cost, since these modern trolleys are based on a standard bus chassis. The goodwill that can be gained from that can't necessarily be measured in dollars.

It may be tough to refute as a citizen, but you've done a commendable job (which is one of the reasons I enjoy conversing on this site). You also interpreted the original letter correctly -- service increases can be interpreted as frequency increase, or capacity increase. We've chosen to go the capacity-increase route, as it's more economically feasible. Capacity increase = bigger vehicles, minimal increase in maintenance/overhead (which can be mitigated through careful planning of sourcing so as to use a common parts/training base wherever possible); frequency increase = more vehicles, more maintenance, more drivers, more overhead, etc... We'd all like the bus to be there when we're at the stop, or within five minutes, WHENEVER that five minutes may be and WHEREVER that stop may be, that is not an economically realistic view of ANY public transportation system. Never mind the price of gasoline, has anyone seen what has happened to the price of diesel fuel lately? While we don't pay retail price, it's enough to say that the price we do pay is substantially higher than what was originally budgeted.

right -- ten days out from completion (July 5), I would expect things will be in somewhat of a "wind-down" mode... keep your fingers crossed for good weather, and you might even be pleasantly surprised....

Go to www.RTAHealthLine.com, a new and revised site. Eventually, the old site will probably be taken down. JetDog knows about this than I do...I will ask him to stop in this afternoon. There is a wide range of content planned for the rtahealthline.com site, which will replace the existing euclidtransit.org site at some point in the future. Most of this will be very forward-looking and community-oriented, to appeal to both the casual out-of-town tourist and the long-time resident who may not be familiar with the range of what Euclid Avenue has to offer. Relevant information from euclidtransit.org will be carried forward into the new site. As you can imagine, some of what is presently out there (such as construction updates) loses relevance as time goes by. What is on the new site now is just a sampling of what is to come, and suggestions for content are always welcome. Many of the project updates can actually be found in the periodic presentations given to our Board of Trustees, which can be found in the Board meeting recaps on our Newsroom page at http://www.riderta.com/nu_newsroom.asp. There are a large number of regularly updated photos contained in those presentations. MayDay, I've noted your points about the errors in the site content. This site is a compiled Flash application that was prepared for us by an outside agency. At this point in time, they'll need to make any corrections, and I have requested that they do so. That too will be changing in the near future, and content updates should be able to be made more easily.

understood -- feel free to interrupt him :-) formal request has been communicated to our service planners, and as long as there's not a compelling reason (on-street parking requirements, safety/visibility) not to, I would think that some action might come of this... sometimes the best arguments are the most simply stated...

MayDay (thanks for including the nice map with your request!): As long as it's safe to do so, i.e., the vehicle doesn't have someone tailgating it, and you ask in advance, most operators will stop to discharge passengers just after making the turn from W 9 onto W Lakeside. I'm sure we can inquire about putting an "official" stop there.

that is a CPP situation, and I believe the stretch in question hasn't yet been energized by CPP, so it's not that the lights are OUT, it's that they haven't yet been turned ON... patience, young Jedi... Sorry... I get antsy. :) 's'okay, I won't be unleashing the flying monkeys on you any time soon :-P

the updated content was a bit late arriving from our contractor, but it has been placed out there now... go explore...

that is a CPP situation, and I believe the stretch in question hasn't yet been energized by CPP, so it's not that the lights are OUT, it's that they haven't yet been turned ON... patience, young Jedi...

This bodes well... at a management meeting I attended this morning, the janitorial supervisor who will be responsible for HealthLine station upkeep (who I will not presently name here out of respect for her privacy) was recognized as one of RTA's Support Employees of the Month. This was due in part to her willingness to take on new assignments and develop appropriate action plans to oversee them. To put it another way - this responsibility has a credible name and face attached to it.

Ladies & gentlemen, for today's physics lesson, we'll be presenting a graphic demonstration of... INERTIA Having seen what a gasoline fire can do to the supports and roadbed for a highway bridge, and how long it can take to rebuild, I have nothing but sympathy for the commuters in that area. Are there good public transit alternatives?

EagleFan- I actually bumped into Transit Police Chief Joyce as I was coming back from lunch about twenty minutes ago, and shared your concerns with him. Transit Police has actively been meeting with merchants and delivery services that frequent the area, and explaining to them the consequences of using the bike lane or other restricted areas as loading/parking zones. Of course, the Transit Police can't be everywhere all the time, so undoubtedly the occasional infraction will happen. This is an unfortunate reality. I will say that in the past, traffic light cameras have been used for other purposes besides catching people running red lights, though this usually happens after an incident occurs. There are also a few things you can do to help: 1. In many cases, delivery trucks or similar vehicles will have an identifying number, and a tag that says something along the lines of "How's my driving? Call...". Much the same way as we can't simultaneously police all areas of Euclid Avenue, many of these companies can't always monitor the behavior of all their operators. Feedback numbers like this are an ideal opportunity to influence the company to take corrective action against the specific perpetrator -- much like us, they can't correct what they don't know about. 2. If you do observe instances of persistent, regular violation (especially in cases where the steps in item 1 have already been taken), such as a certain beer truck being outside a particular restaurant at 2:30 every Tuesday afternoon, by all means report the details of time, place, and person/company to Transit Police by calling 216-575-3937. We'll work with all parties involved to get the issue addressed so that it doesn't become a chronic behavior.

I will certainly check on that, but might I also suggest use of the escalator at the south side of the rotunda (just beyond the Customer Service kiosk) or the elevator? Both of those, to the best of my knowledge, are in service. Thanks. I didn't know there was anything beyond the customer service kiosk and assumed there was a wall there. I will check it out. Thank you. As per response from one of our rail facilities managers, the service provider is expecting parts for the handrail to be delivered this week, so that escalator should be back in service shortly.