JeTDoG

ironically none of their employees could use it because it goes no where near their campuses. Or, one could say that they chose to locate their "campus" (I really HATE the fact that that word has been co-opted out of the academic world) environments in non-transit friendly locations. They are one of the worst offenders when it comes to suburban sprawl, with acre upon acre of parking lots and garages surrounding their buildings. Of course, since they live and die by the number of policies they sell, and fewer drivers means less business for them, it's no surprise.

That would make too much sense. Seems like an great thing idea! Have you called RTA, the PD transportation reporter, KJP, ONN, etc. and suggested this? <snarkybastard>suggesting effort on the part of a UO user? how dare you!</snarkybastard> seriously, I agree, make the suggestion, although the logistics of the situation might not make it possible to happen... I have heard rumors that the vehicle will be on display during the Ingenuity Festival, for anyone who wants to know...

exsqueeze me? how can you make the determination they'd "merely have to stop"? some projects, especially switch and/or signal maintenance, can't just be halted in the middle -- once started, they must be completed; this isn't like mowing your lawn... RTA is a not-for-profit agency, but that doesn't make them a charity, nor does it allow them to be fiscally irresponsible. They are REQUIRED to operate within a balanced budget. As far as not "buying" higher union fees for night work, shift differentials are a way of life. Okay, I won't tell you, since you obviously have your mind made up, which is unfortunate, because your rant is doing nothing to work toward IMPROVEMENT of the situation.

um, pope, this IS the less busy weekend... the Cavs are out of town until the 12th, the Indians are on the road this weekend, and I'm unclear as to what bearing the repaving of lower Prospect would have on the need to transfer trains when passing through Tower City... The Cavs are having a free watch party at the Q Sunday -- 20,000+ will be there (including me & the boys). The town is in a frenzy over the Cavs so the bars and restaurants downtown will be packed. It's a bad weekend for track repair... But that's not the point. Why is it that Cleveland closes its rail system even during minor repairs unlike any other system I know? Ever heard of single tracking? Answer: Joe Calabrese is a jerk who, once again, shows his contempt for rapid rail and its patrons. He does this again and again and the affect is it drives down confidence in and patronage of the Rapid. Stupid. Stupid. calm down there, junior... first off, the rail system isn't "closed", the maintenance being done necessitates single-tracking, as you've stated... in other words, RTA is doing EXACTLY what any other transit agency would do in this regard; the single-tracking means no through trains, Tower City acts as a head-end/transfer point for the weekend (and if all folks are doing is coming downtown, the transfer becomes a non-issue)... second of all, if you think for one minute that Joe Calabrese consciously made, or was even involved in, this kind of a day-to-day operational decision, then you have a distorted view of the running of an agency like this.... bash where bash is appropriate, but this SO ain't the time or place... third of all, you want maintenance from 12:30-4:00, be prepared to skyrocket your labor costs (first shift vs. third shift, at union scale), and potentially screw up no small number of morning commutes if (when) something goes wrong; also, how does a 9:30-2:30 daytime period pack into a 12:30-4:00 overnight? you have access to a time-turner we don't know about? fourth of all, MTS hit it on the head as far as NYC... they will do complete service suspensions to perform maintenance, so count some small blessings that RTA is able to keep the system running, albeit at a reduced/delayed level

um, pope, this IS the less busy weekend... the Cavs are out of town until the 12th, the Indians are on the road this weekend, and I'm unclear as to what bearing the repaving of lower Prospect would have on the need to transfer trains when passing through Tower City...

fyi to anyone riding the Rapid this weekend, track maintenance may cause delays: http://www.riderta.com/nu_ridersalerts_list.asp?listingid=833 Attention All Rail Riders - Track Maintenance Weekend of 6/9/07 - 6/11/07 Due to required track maintenance in the area around Tower City, beginning Saturday, June 9, 2007, at 3:00am, until Monday, June 11, 2007, at 3:30am, there will be no through service at Tower City. All riders will be required to transfer at Tower City in order to continue through trips. This includes: * Riders on the Red Line from Windermere heading westbound to points west of Tower City * Riders on the Red Line from Hopkins Airport heading eastbound to points east of Tower City * Riders on the Blue or Green Lines heading westbound to points on the Waterfront * Riders on the Waterfront Line heading eastbound to points east of Tower City Supervisors will be on duty to assist riders with making connections for through trips. Riders should allow extra time for any trips through Tower city during this maintenance period. RTA apologizes for any inconvenience to its customers during this time.

what do you mean by "they aren't working"? RTA thinks the design isn't functional? Didn't they agree upon this earlier? Any link to the specific page that you are referring to? The presentation given to the Board is here: http://www.riderta.com/pdf/presentations/2007-06-05-ECTP.pdf and the statement made on page 55 says "Proposed traffic circles at East 89th and East 100th Streets are not meeting the project, operational and safety requirements". While I was not at the meeting, what that implies to me is that the engineering of the design is insufficient for the projected traffic flow and/or vehicle design. It may be too tight of a radius, there could be other clearance or visibility issues, or it could be something else completely. As far as agreement, the delays in this segment have been the Clinic's doing, and RTA has allowed them to play for now. As is mentioned on page 57, "GCRTA has recommended that the Clinic replace the proposed traffic circles with the previously designed intersections and complete the design. The Clinic is continuing with more attempts to make the circles work". I'm fairly certain any delays will be minimized - George Dixon can be very persuasive if he feels he's being jerked around. Oh, and LovesIt, there is no ONE real reason -- there are a MULTITUDE of real reasons why this project is progressing so slowly. Suffice to say, Murphy has fired up the popcorn popper and settled back in his easy chair for this one. He's enjoying the show...

Yes, RTA is rebuilding the existing loop and lot, but as you stated, "TOD is bigger than RTA". Another problem is, to this day, the difficulty in trying to find five non-academic professionals in the planning field who can agree on an easily-promotable definition of TOD. Add in the municipality-straddling location of this station, and I'd say we're damn lucky a project of any kind got done in our lifetimes. What would you suggest as a reuse for the old factory adjacent to the station, and have you conducted an EIS and site survey to determine if such a reuse is feasible or even possible? Just 'cuz it looks pretty don't mean it's structurally sound... As far as the station itself, one man's Fauxlonial is another man's retro-historical. :-) Also, before you jump to conclusions about why there is no escalator in this station (not that reduction of long-term maintenance costs is necessarily a bad thing, those moving staircases can be a bear to keep up -- see Stokes/Windermere), consider the cattycorner location of "ugly, low density fastfoods". Mayhaps RTA is doing their part to reduce "waist" in the area? :-)

Oh, and on the topic originally at hand, I say we'll peak at 4.299 without a major Gulf hurricane, 5.359 if there is one... the sheeple still haven't learned, they'll continue mindlessly queuing up to the pumps for their mainline dose of petroleum distillates, and the oil companies will charge whatever the market will bear... "free" market, my ass...

When I was traveling down to Columbus this weekend (on Greyhound, <$41 round trip, 2-3/4 hour travel time), I saw 3.099 at the truck stop just off the highway near Lodi. Anyone know why there'd be such a delta in that small town?

HUH? Please tell me thats sarcasm! no, that's Edsiou...

Personally, I think the architect/developer/builder really boned it when they designed that Aldi -- while I appreciate and applaud the sidewalk-edge setback, orienting the entrance away from the street was just asinine. I'd be curious to see about an exclusionary zoning challenge, though. I think as long as standards are universally applied, one can't necessarily cry "exclusionary". Now, if it said that grocery stores must have their entrances oriented to the sidewalk, but churches can have them at the rear of the building, I'd see a challenge there in a moment. Restrictive ! always = exclusionary. I think the city could stand to push the envelope just a touch... As far as the sewer cover, tree bases, etc... (nice photo, btw) -- I was less than enthusiastic when I saw the rusted patina they were going with, but as it weathers to a less glaring orange, it's kind of growing on me... I think it was just the drama of the bright white concrete and the bright rust orange metal that was a bit overpowering.

Amen to that, brother... I think we are all on the same side (well, most of us, anyway)... like clvlndr said, it was my reaction to what was perceived as heading down the path of further BRT bashing and dual hub mourning, not to mention the marginally personal attacks that have been made against Joe Calabrese. Love or hate his policies (and most of them are not necessarily, in fact, HIS policies, as he serves at the pleasure of a board of political appointees, and serving multiple masters is never easy), he has kept that organization moving forward at a time when the region as a whole has suffered, and we should all (yes, even you, Edsiou) afford him the simple respect that one affords another human being. One can make a reasoned argument without resorting to statements like "We want subways not a (a bad word) named calabrese".

Absolutely none of which is the direct fault of RTA. I'm not saying some things couldn't have been done better, but let's make sure criticism is being leveled where it should be (no, w28th, this isn't directed at you, it's a general statement that your statement happened to provide a good catalyst for, which is why I quoted it). City zoning & planning, or the lack thereof, is as much if not more to blame for the ills of this area as any presence or lack of a particular transportation system. Edsiou, if you want to pull a flashmob stunt somewhere, start with city/county hall...

It's more like from the Square to E 4th, and that's actually the sub-base for the granite pavers that will be reinstalled when the sidewalk is replaced. Originally, this was set to happen in July, but with the city's sewer work rearranging RTA's schedule, it may not happen until closer to the end of the year. It wouldn't make sense to put in anything more permanent, as it would just need to be ripped out when the roadbed work is done. Granted, it probably would have been better had they not put the sand in at all, but hindsight is 20/20...

I am so glad the conversation steered in this direction. No matter how much we might like to believe that all operators want to do the right thing, and no matter how much we'd like to believe that RTA is on top of any and all operator issues, the fact of the matter is that they won't know about most of them if they are not reported. Any and all buses and trains should have the operator's ID plate, with first name and employee number, clearly displayed. In fact, if you don't see such an item displayed, report that. Use as much detail as possible when reporting issues -- for buses, get the route number (on the overhead display), vehicle number (in multiple places on most buses), and block number (in the lower left corner as you're looking at the front of the vehicle from outside). This combination of information will indisputably identify the operator. It's only through reporting the issues that we can hope for them to be resolved. Also, to echo what pope said, this information can help with submission of compliments as well as complaints.

Actually, the vehicle was in town for a short period of time recently, and RTA had hoped to have it participate in the St. Patrick's Day parade, but the timing of things just didn't work out. At this point, the vehicle is expected back later in the year, and I think you will start seeing public appearances shortly. Oh, and I agree with what's already been stated as far as that PD article -- WHY OH WHY it was necessary for a person with an ultimately positive view of the project to start off with such a negative slant was beyond me. Also, his "one friend" quote smacked of high-school journalism, not serious reporting. Why not just throw in the occasional "sources say" or "unnamed officials" for good measure? Twit...

the stations were originally slated to be stainless steel, covering the entire platform. there has been a lot of "value engineering" on this portion of the project, but i think that they are using painted steel now. i haven't seen a rendering of the new stations, and the ECP site is VERY out of date. there appears to be 9 holes in the ramp area which will support steel posts i assume (could just be for handrails), but i don't see any evidence of substantial supports or bolts for the actual station platforms. i just hope they cover the ENTIRE platform. on another note: the traffic light masts (all steel, painted silver) have been delivered to e69 and euclid - behind the red and white fence. also, does anyone know why they haven't posted some of the big signs advertising ECP downtown - not the federal transit signs, but pictures of what the corridor will look like when finished? i've seen these in other areas on the corridor, and i think this would make a big impact downtown as everyone walks past the construction - they could hang one on the rotunda building and have some mobile type signs as well. there's actually some very good information on the varying station designs available here: http://www.euclidtransit.org/ECTP_documents/Community%20Update%20022807%20MJS.pdf (specifically, pages 25-33) there are a total of three different station designs that will be used along the length of the project, varying in scale to fit into the neighborhood, but all sharing a common theme while there has been a fair amount of "value engineering"/cost cutting on this project, it's being gone about in a manner that seems to make sense, and is working toward a goal of completing the project on budget, something that seems to be largely ignored these days -- dollars, especially public transit dollars, aren't just like potato chips, we can't simply make more one other point to bring up, and this was stressed in the community update meeting -- the final project will look a lot like the initial renderings, moreso than most other projects of this scope; love it or hate it, you can't say it won't be what was initially envisioned

from the appearance of things, somebody goofed on the brake modulation, and the right-side brakes got a little grabby, or else the plane touched down ever so slightly tilted to starboard... either of these situations could cause the yawing seen in the video, which is further amplified by the sheer size of this damn aircraft... what's the over/under on when the first one goes kaboom? every "turrist" with access to a shoulder-launched SAM has got to be salivating...

'ello, guvnuh... (sorry, I've just been WAITING for an excuse to use that opener...) I think you've got some great ideas, but are you aware that some of this information, albeit not necessarily in the most user-friendly format, already exists on the RTA web site? Take a look at the Popular Destinations section of the site, which categorizes a wide variety of popular destinations (naturally), and lists the routes that serve them. Maybe this could serve as a jumping-off point for a section redesign. I've met RTA's web guy, and he seems open to suggestions to improve site usability. Also, to everyone, just as an FYI, the system and area-specific maps on RTA's site have now been updated (no more circa 2005 maps!). Go here: http://www.riderta.com/maps-schedules.asp.

I know. Sometimes developer websites are so mesmerizing that they make you want to buy buy buy. I was just about to put a deposit down on three units until I snapped out of it. out of curiosity, did you try clicking on the heartlanddevelopers.com link? even more craptacular than the nearly-nonexistent jaylofts.com...

Go here/send your HR person here for more info: http://www.riderta.com/pro_commuter.asp Pope, props for the ED-209 pic, I almost fell off my chair when I saw that! "you have 15 seconds to comply..." :shoot: :shoot: :shoot:

From what I understand, smart cards cost about $4.50 each from the vendor. WMATA charges $5 for a new card, which can hold up to $300 in fare value. There is a proposal on the table to discourage cash fare payment, as well as the paper magnetic farecards on the subway, by raising non-Smartrip fares. For example, cash fare on the bus would be $2, but would remain at $1.25 if you paid with Smartrip. London has had great success with this methodology, in that non-Oyster card fares account for only 5% of all fares, making it a heck of a lot more efficient to collect revenue, and improve service. While there has been a lot of debate on the effectiveness of POP systems (especially on the Baltimore Light Rail), it's good to see RTA is moving in the right general direction. Dan, just to clarify, the cost and proposal you've outlined apply to the DC area, not to RTA? While I understand the need to pass new costs along to passengers where possible, a $5 smart card surcharge in this area would likely be counter-productive. I understand that the card is reusable/reloadable, and that this likely would be a one-time expense which, amortized over the card's lifetime, would be negligible, but I'm just thinking of the response from the masses. Also, pope, please reread the PD article, especially the last two paragraphs -- smart cards will be phased in...

we can only hope so... I've been a lifelong transit rider, and as I believe I've mentioned before, I've seen the good (NYC) and the bad (Buffalo), and RTA is far from being "the ugly"... I don't know if we can count on the sheeple to make a reasonable decision about gas prices, as too many of them are too easily distracted/led by the nose, but I for one hope that gas prices don't decline too much further, lest all that progress made in the last eightenn months go for naught...

To add to this conversation, I spoke to one of the gentlemen at Susy's Soup (a great soup place, by the way!) a couple of weeks ago, and he mentioned that the temporary breakthrough they did to join together with Susy's II was just a holdover to accommodate their growing business until a complete renovation could be done this spring...