JeTDoG

As stated, westbound trains pulling off from active service will make E 79 as their last serviced stop, and then proceed to the E 55 yard. Similarly, eastbound pulloff trains will end service at E 34 (though most will discharge all passengers at Tower City). Reverse this somewhat for early-morning pull-on -- westbound trains leaving from the yard will make E 34 their first stop, while eastbound trains will initiate service at E 79.

For those who don't want to look at the Flash version (or even those who do, since it's linked on the first tab), the most current Annual Report, updated to include 2014 as of this morning, can always be found at http://www.riderta.com/annual.

Thanks JetDog; very interesting... Isn't Track 7 a non-revenue through track? It sounds like the plan is to put an auxiliary platform along this track, no? ... I'm just glad to see those ancient Tower City cracking/peeling retaining walls of those tunnels and tracks finally get fixed. There is already an auxiliary platform out that way, and an elevator that leads up to the main floor of Tower City. We've used it in the past for brief periods when other work was being done on Track 8, and I suspect we'll use it when Track 8 gets overhauled, based on the schedule that was included in the document I referenced (Track 7 finished before RNC, Track 8 started about a month or two later, after RNC).

You're quite welcome. I have to say, I was quite surprised at the difference in the Airport tunnel myself. Before, the area was more suited to mud wrestling than transit operation. After, the track bed is practically clean enough to eat off of. This was the result of VASTLY improving the drainage system at that location. I know our engineering folks love those preformed concrete tie beds. That is the same technology that was used when we rebuilt the west side S-curve. It makes for a much smoother, more reliable ride, and we should achieve similar results in Tower City.

You might also be interested in one of the items discussed in yesterday's Board Committee meetings, procurement of design services for reconstruction of two tracks in Tower City: http://www.riderta.com/sites/default/files/pdf/presentations/2015-03-03TCtracks.pdf This should be the first of several such procurements to perform much-needed work on that infrastructure.

Perhaps, but the last departure from Tower City is about 12:30am. Yeah, I know E Rocc... I won't even go there... It hit me from the other direction. Even the earliest bus from Bedford would not get me to work on time in Brooklyn. If you want to be a world class public transportation system, you need to run your major routes 24-7. E Rocc, are you aware of what RTA routes DO run 24/7? That would be the #1, #3, HealthLine, #10, #14, #19, #22, #26, #28, #30, #41, #48, and #81. Quite the breadth and depth of service. If your characterization of "major routes" is meant to only include rail, well, rail runs on a restricted right-of-way, and that right-of-way requires maintenance. The short downtime window currently afforded our rail lines is the best time for much of that maintenance to occur.

We appreciate the patronage. Just think, at the end of this month, you'll have a Heinen's right downtown for you, just a HealthLine ride away ;-).

Clvlndr, that's simply not true. Any 24-hour rail service RTA might have had ended long before Joe Calabrese arrived. Criticize where criticism is due, but please be factual in your criticisms. BTW, we offered 24-hour rail service on New Year's Eve last year, and will be offering it again this year. Those are facts.

Without meaning to sound flippant, "as long as it takes to get the work being done completed". The amount of time this has been in effect has reduced with each passing week, and if that continues to be the case, I would expect it to diminish to zero soon. This has been the most efficient, least disruptive way to accomplish some needed track work.

This was fixed last night (an errant period in the URL). As these forums are not monitored regularly by RTA staff, an email to [email protected] would have yielded quicker results.

I had asked the project manager that very question just after the station opened. He assured me that what you are seeing is NOT the final fencing. It was put in place to allow the station to receive an occupancy permit and begin public operation. The permanent pieces are being fabricated, and, at the time I asked, had about a six week lead time on delivery. I'll touch base with him to see if that delivery date still holds true. PM's response -- "First fencing is due to arrive next week. Should all be installed by end of October."

Triskett district management has viewed this video and is investigating the situation. We appreciate any reports of improper behavior on the part of our operators, but remind folks not to put themselves in harm's way to capture such information.

I had asked the project manager that very question just after the station opened. He assured me that what you are seeing is NOT the final fencing. It was put in place to allow the station to receive an occupancy permit and begin public operation. The permanent pieces are being fabricated, and, at the time I asked, had about a six week lead time on delivery. I'll touch base with him to see if that delivery date still holds true.

Let's see, the dependent clause in that second sentence of that article makes the statment, "rapid trains make the trip 100 times a day". And, it's not just about point-to-point connectivity, it's about NEIGHBORHOOD connectivity. That stretch of W 25 north of the Market has a large and growing number of viable businesses and residential developments. Don't shut them out.

We received notification late in the day that Norfolk Southern needed to perform some work on one of their bridges near the W 98 Rapid Station. Notifications were sent out via all channels beginning at approximately 3:00pm.

Looks like you had the wrong schedule. The #55 departures before and after the time you were waiting has them leaving the STJ Transit Center at 9:44 a.m. and 10:34 a.m. The earlier departure gets to Public Square at 9:53 a.m. and the later one gets to Public Square at 10:45 a.m. Here is the #55's schedule in two formats: http://www.riderta.com/routes/55/schedules/current http://www.riderta.com/sites/default/files/schedule-pdfs/55.pdf KJP, look again. This was in reference to a westbound PM trip. That being said, no reroutes I'm immediately aware of. This was the last westbound trip of the night, something else may have happened.

Is that weather-related, considering all the rain we've had in the past week or so? In a word, yes. Mother Nature threw a pretty wet curveball, and as you can imagine, that kind of weather is not conducive to laying a solid trackbed. We appreciate everyone's patience and understanding. The long-term benefit will be worth the short-term inconvenience.

That would make sense. Fewer stops = faster trips. That's the point of a rapid, isn't it? It seems like there's about zero coordination between the train shutdowns and popular weekend events. Is it realized that there seems to be a good number of people who will take the train but disdain buses? There's 52 weekends in a year. The bulk of the weekends that are usable for construction are, unfortunately, the fair-weather season weekends that are also popular for outdoor festivities. The construction that is going on in Little Italy right now is, by its nature, something that has to be performed in one continuous operation. This was the best available window of opportunity as defined by those with more knowledge of the construction schedule and contract than me. The Red Line Shuttle buses were supposed to be stopping at the Adelbert stop for access to Parade the Circle. If that did not happen in one or more instances, we apologize. We will try our best to ensure all operators are clear on these exceptions in the future. Unfortunately, this sometimes falls under the heading of, "you can lead a horse to water...".

More bendy busses makes it possible to carry more passengers without increasing the level of service. Less time between buses would be much better, not to mention safer for bicyclists. Articulated buses allow for increased carrying capacity with only a minimal uptick in cost of service delivery, and at substantially less cost than increasing the number of both vehicles and operators. Increased frequency is ideal, but not always possible within the budget constraints we face.

I just found out that these are the new Clifton buses. Shame for me as an east side rider these are nice! I wanted these for the healthline. According to New Flyer's website, the Xcelsior line was only introduced in 2008, the same year the HealthLine opened for business. Such is the nature of evolving technology.

Do these cards have any kind of a sequence number or batch number on them? If so, let us know the number so that we can investigate further. I also inquired directly with a member of our Revenue staff. In cases where the mag-encoded date differs from the printed date, we will (or should) honor the printed date on the card. To avoid further problems, cards with errant encode dates can be swapped out at Customer Service in Tower City.

Without boring you with the gory details of how I confirmed it, I can say yes, there is a stop there. I will try to investigate why the target sign was removed and will let you know.

It's a bit over the top, but like you say, consider their perspective. Consider that Greater Cleveland created a regional, county-wide transit agency nearly 40 years ago (and with a permanent 1-cent sales tax) -- something that Detroit hasn't been able to do yet despite many tries. If you think Greater Cleveland is balkanized, see Detroit. BTW, I put my comment here because it deals more with GCRTA overall than with just the HealthLine. The two sentences in the article that follow the third quote offer a lot more context, and perspective: "When looking to cities with great transit like New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, it's easy to say, 'Why can’t we have what they have?' But as a post-industrial city, Cleveland is Detroit's blood brother and much worthier of comparison.". Also, having lived in Buffalo for 18 years before moving to Cleveland, I think "robust" is a very fair assessment of our system.

Actually, the statement from the article was, "people are making economic choices to drive to a rail station, park for free and ride the rapid". This is a valid statement, but does not imply singularity of purpose. "Solely" was your characterization.

Thanks for the question. That small jog on the #16 (no longer on the #2, since the #2 now only serves E 79) was put in place to facilitate more effective connections between the #16 and the HealthLine. I'll check out the status of the stop on SE corner of Chester & E 55. It's entirely possible that the service was removed without the stop being removed (yes, routes and the stops they use are separate entities). In that case, Google might show a "last known good" value of what service used to use that stop (in this case, the #2). This would allow service to a stop to be suspended without having to actually be removed and reinstated. You'll notice that Google correctly doesn't show any schedule times for the #2 at that stop, and any trip plans made will not use that stop if no routes actually serve it. This change only took place less than 3 weeks ago, so it might also take some time for the change to filter down.