JeTDoG

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.

that was pretty cool, although the did mis-identify RTA's Media Relations Manager, Chad Self, as "Alesia", who I believe was the rapid station booth attendant featured earlier in the piece

Just an FYI for anyone riding the Rapid during the day next week -- with the nicer weather finally arriving, we have a LOT of track maintenance work scheduled, which means extensive single tracking between the hours of 9:30am and 2:30pm. Please plan accordingly and allow extra time to reach your destination. Full details of the times, dates, and areas affected can be found here: http://www.riderta.com/nu_ridersalerts_list.asp?listingid=1036

One good look at the forums of cleveland.bomb tells the real story behind this post. http://www.cleveland.com/forums/economy/ I looked at the thread in question, and I could feel the brain cells being sucked out of my head as I did so :wtf:... I have no problem engaging in spirited, informed debate, which is one of the reasons I've stuck around here -- it keeps me mentally sharp...

For those who may not have seen this announcement (and I hope I'm not stealing Jerry's thunder by discussing this :-) ), RTA CEO and General Manager Joe Calabrese has been named to Ohio's 21st Century Transportation Priorities Task Force. The full text of RTA's release discussing the Task Force can be found here, and the Task Force home page is at http://transportationfortomorrow.ohio.gov/. The reason I bring this up is simple -- one key component of this task force's work is public input. As such, there will be public meetings held at a number of urban centers throughout the state. Cleveland's meeting will be June 17 at CSU's Cole Center, from 4:00pm - 8:00pm. I know I'll be there... In closing, I leave you with a challenge best summed up in one sentence (yes, it's a quote from "The West Wing", one of my favorite TV shows): "Decisons are made by those who show up."

Keep in mind, left turns are only prohibited in areas where configuring the busway to allow them would have been cost- or logistic-prohibitive or impossible. In many areas, there are dedicated left turn lanes and signals for automobile traffic. The same goes for truck U-turns being prohibited in certain areas -- this was done where necessary because the physical clearance involved simply didn't allow for it (and it was posted now, rather than reactively waiting for some knucklehead to jacknife an 18-wheeler across the entirety of Euclid Avenue). That was a matter of geometry, not economics or politics. EagleFan, to chime in a little bit on your request for a summary of why middle-of-the-road bus stops spur development, I wouldn't necessarily say that they do. However, in our (still) car-centric society, REMOVING the buses from the curb lane IS actually of benefit to the overall traffic flow and automotive accessibility to off-street parking (since you don't have to risk making a right turn into a parking lot in front of an oncoming bus, which, by the way, IS ILLEGAL as well as downright stupid). It also allows for greater aggregate street capacity (in terms of available automobile space, pedestrian space, and transit space) than bus lanes at either curbside, due to, among other things, consolidation of station facilities and easier implementation of signal prioritization. If it rains this weekend, take the time to at least skim through this thread. There's much to be learned. If it doesn't rain (or even if it does), consider taking a ride up or down Euclid Avenue on the #6 line. Notice the ease with which the traffic flows. You may even encounter a situation where the bus operator has to sit for a few minutes mid-run and make up schedule time due to the fact that our vehicles now often run ahead of their posted running time due to the efficiencies gained. Welcome aboard the thread, and I hope we can carry on some constructive conversations in the future.

Today's ceremony is a ribbon-cutting for completion of the East Cleveland construction, which largely consists of the curbside station placements and associated utilities for the signal prioritization. The RTVs will be running on or about the October 25 "substantial completion" date.

I should have taken the train...which leads me to the question-are buses anywhere really on schedule?I think of a schedule as a guideline, ie use it to figure out a bus runs every say 15 minutes a certain time of day. I don't even think the rapid schedules do much more than that. Do people experience anything different? Do they actually arrive on schedule outside of conincidence? Yes, many buses and rapids do operate on schedule, and all of them should. RTA's on-time performance (defined as runs operating 0 to 5 minutes past the scheduled arrival time, taken from a statistical sample of all runs) for calendar year 2007 was 78%. Our General Manager regards on-time performance very highly, as it is one of the most controllable aspects of the operation. Minimal lateness (up to five minutes) is understood and tolerated, due to conditions outside of our control, but early arrivals and departures are absolutely forbidden, due to the fact that it leads to uneven distribution of passenger loads and inefficient use of our resources. If you ever observe persistent lateness on a given run (i.e., the "5:15pm #26 eastbound at Detroit & W 25 is always 15 minutes late"), please let us know, as it could be cause for adjusting the running time, or otherwise examining the performance of the specific run more closely.

I've passed this along to the appropriate party, and hope that you took the time to communicate through our usual feedback channel: http://www.riderta.com/feedback/ As I had suspected, based on the report that all machines were down, this was due to an electrical problem at Tower City. The problem was corrected as of 9:00am today. Thanks for making us aware of the issue.

I've passed this along to the appropriate party, and hope that you took the time to communicate through our usual feedback channel: http://www.riderta.com/feedback/

Boreal- One other item of note (and I do hope you give the Red Line a try): board at the front or back of any car, and there is sufficient rack space for you to place your bag out of the way of other passengers without obstructing a seat. I will advise, since it's the bus I routinely take, that some segments of the #39F (i.e., the 5:00pm out of downtown) can be a bit crowded. We're a friendly bunch, though. :-D

Not being a Cleveland native myself, and knowing where East Blvd as I'm aware of it does (or doesn't) intersect the Red Line, I asked one of our engineers about this. As I understand it, East Blvd was the former name of MLK, and the bridge in question is where the Red Line tracks pass over MLK, immediately (~400 ft, give or take a few) southwest of the Cedar/University station. We still refer to it internally by its legacy name (old habits die hard).

Now that is a display of journalism talent... methinks said Business student should get a little cheese with his whine... or else has to realize that sometimes, the real world doesn't revolve around you and your (real or imagined) "needs", and you might have to make temporary adjustments... here's a novel idea, instead of "getting used to driving another way", try getting on a bus or train, or (egads!) walking if your destination is close...

Obi Wan? Does that make me Darth JeTDoG? :-) / come to the Dark Side -- we have cookies...

I've been riding the rapids for 35 years and have yet to see a homeless person on the train. I've seen plenty of people who look/smell homeless. Though I've never taken the time to ask if they really were. Back on Topic, why are we wasting JMasek's time with this prattling? actually, I can put a little insight into this that will probably put the topic to rest -- if you're homeless, but can scrape together $1.75, public transit is a way to keep warm and give yourself a semi-captive audience from whom to pursue the next $1.75 (or more)

and that is a more than reasonable expectation... I do also appreciate that you acknowledge that delays do sometimes occur the buses you indicated (20A, 22, 25, 26, 35, 79), at that time of day, run every 30, 15, 60, 15, 30, and 30 minutes, repectively, so seeing only one bus in 25 minutes is somewhat abnormal; the specific times those routes pass in the neighborhood of Public Square around 12:30 are: 20A 12:26, 12:56 22 12:25, 12:40, 12:55 25 12:12, 1:12 26 12:20, 12:35, 12:50 35 12:11, 12:41 79 12:10, 12:40 if you arrived at 12:27 (which would be just about "worst case"), you would have missed 3 buses (12:20, 12:25, and 12:26), but should have had 4 buses arrive within 14 minutes (12:35, 12:40x2, 12:41) -- in a nutshell, something ain't right I'll pass this by the folks I know and see what they can tell me...

Things change substantially in a couple of years... we'd love to know some more specifics about when and where this took place. While our Service Quality Department constantly monitors the state of our service, there is not nearly enough staffing available to cover everywhere, so we rely on customer feedback to determine where to concentrate our efforts. Reporting problems like this in a close timeframe to when they occur allows us to do the best research on what happened, and if the cause was a preventable error, to take steps to reduce the chances of it happening again. KJP is correct, posting this in the "official" RTA thread will get a better response (I just happened to stop by and see this). Feedback can also be given to us directly online at http://www.riderta.com/feedback/, and following that approach will net you a trackable reference number for your submission. Our goal is to have a response to any feedback received within ten business days.

My assumption (which I will confirm with our planners) is that the transition point where this occurs is one of the areas where our center-lane signal prioritization will be most effective. The stopping of traffic at the curb lane, while permitting the center lane to proceed, will allow for an orderly transition for the RTV from the center-lane platforms to curbside. The reverse will also be true, as car traffic is moved out of the center lane and RTV-only traffic is moved in.

your accolades have been passed along to our planning staff -- thank YOU for taking the time to express yourself!

AJ93, welcome aboard the discussion. You'll be much more of an expert before long, there's lots of very smart people here. In my mind, what's currently there is transit-proximate development, but not transit-oriented development. Orientation refers to far more than just physical placement. It's a design concept that places personal transit alternatives of all kinds (bus, rail, bike, and ye gads, WALKING) on par with the automobile as transportation options, through such ideas as sidewalk placement, streetscaping, bike lanes, traffic calming measures, and storefront location -- i.e. no football-field sized parking fields between the sidewalk and the storefront. Ideally, build as close to the curb as possible, subject to usage (there's nothing wrong with sidewalk cafes).

I respectfully disagree. The suggestion of an underpass conjures images of a limited-access intersection, which is so far away from the ideals of TOD. Also, the additional space taken up by the necessary interconnects between Warrensville and a reconfigured Northfield-Van Aken would actually reduce possibilities for future development. You'd also most likely kill (or greatly reduce) foot traffic through the area. I don't believe anywhere in the plan is a suggestion to lessen traffic -- it's a busy area, and that's a good thing. Proper management of the traffic flow encourages use of the area as a destination, and not just a means of getting from point A to point B. Per Mike Hoffman's words, "The new plan is really designed to re-create foot traffic." I would replace the word re-create with re-permit (if there is such a word). I was out that way last night, and found myself briefly caught in the midst of the "river of asphalt" that is Warrensville Center Rd just north of Chagrin. I'm a pretty nimble guy, but it was still an uncomfortable feeling. If the worst thing that comes from this plan is the need to bulldoze a Starbuck's, sign me up to drive the 'dozer :evil: .

based on this floorplan: http://www.theavenuedistrict.com/newlayout/image_detail.asp?image=B1-Unit2Lg.gif, that cubby would appear to be for mechanicals access, not storage /wishing I could afford one, that open corner floorplan looks pretty sweet, and the wall o' windows has got to offer one hell of a view...

"Superfund sites" is an incredibly misused term, and there are actually relatively few of them nationwide... now, if you want to talk sites on which hazardous waste contamination exists (which are NOT necessarily Superfund sites), yes, I'm sure there are quite a lot, and this site http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/em/index.html can help you map them by ZIP Code... it's also a pretty decent general environmental GIS

I agree with your position on tax abatements. I think their rampant misuse in pursuit of development at any cost is what has led to some of the mess we're in today, both locally and at the state and national levels. Don't get me wrong, tax incentives absolutely have their place, but doling them out like candy at Halloween cheapens their effective value and makes people come to expect them and factor them into the cost of doing business, rather than treating them as a true incentive.

can we all take a deep breath before posting again? the air in here (along with some people's heads) is gettin' a little THICK...