JeTDoG

Actually, the routes are simpler than they might first look. The L-Line is a weekend-only route, and the C-Line is somewhat of a consolidation of the E & B Lines that only runs at times when those lines don't (evenings & weekends). The NineTwelve is its own creature, plying its trade along E 9th from Muny to Gateway during weekday morning and evening rush hours. In this scenario, there won't be more than 3 routes running at any given time, and each of those three (E, B, and NineTwelve) are distinctly different. That being said, I'm sure we'll keep an eye on how the services are used, and where and when they do the most good, and make adjustments accordingly, within our budgetary limits.

As some of you very astutely surmised, we are extending and expanding the span and reach of our wildly successful, and extremely popular, downtown trolley service, effective Monday, Sept. 10. Three new routes will be added, and coverage will now include destinations such as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Science Center, and the developing NineTwelve District. Downtown hotels, the casino, and the soon-to-be-open Medical Mart & Convention Center will also benefit from the connectivity offered by these new services. Release here: http://www.riderta.com/newsroom/releases/?listingid=1773 Trolley landing page here: http://www.riderta.com/trolleys/

Just speculating, but if they're heavy rail (Red Line) cars, it's likely some component of the overhaul project for those vehicles. It would not be unusual for some aspects of the overhaul to be conducted offsite.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) invites local residents and businesses to attend a community meeting on the current status of the University Circle - Little Italy rapid transit station project. The proposed rapid transit station will be located on GCRTA’s Red Line on Mayfield Road between E 117 and E 119 St. It will replace the current station at E 120 / Euclid Avenue. The community meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 31, 2012, at 6:00pm at The Alta House, 12510 Mayfield Road, Cleveland, OH 44106.

JetDog, I went to PAT's website and couldn't find the schedule-- their website is a little goofy (RTA's is much easier to navigate. I see they recently apparently dropped the route numbers for their LRT (the "T", ... such a rip-off of Boston's great old rail netowrk which has gone by The "T" for decades) and go only by the Red and Blue lines, nowadays. I'll continue to poke around and post it for you if I find it. Maybe someone else will beat me to the punch. Thanks for the effort; I do see the shading that was mentioned applied on their PDF schedules, delineating North Shore Alleghany Station, and I dare say that's easy(er) to do, since a PDF is a fixed document that's meant to be printed (and our graphic artist is twitching right now since I've made a design change suggestion I haven't told him about :-) ). Pittsburgh also does it across ALL schedules, bus and rail, even when the station is an end point (and thus, more easily discernible). And you're right, their website design, while data-heavy, leaves a bit to be desired from a presentation standpoint. I'm all for doing it on the HTML schedules, and I think I'd only favor doing it on the Red Line rail schedules, and possibly those of any bus routes that pass by Tower City and have a timepoint there, but do not terminate there.

Good suggestions on the Red Line schedule. I'll take a look at the underlying code and see how easy it will be to programmatically accomplish that, since I'd rather not have to apply the formatting to each individual cell. HTML tables, unfortunately, are much more conducive to row-based formatting than column-based. clvlndr, if you can point me to a specific example from Pittsburgh, I'll take a look. My cursory viewing only showed that they differently-shade am vs. pm times.

kennybabes, I'll make my comments from the porch, since you're already on the cross; here's a hint -- self-martyrdom will get you nowhere with me. To answer your questions, no, they did not specifically ask ME what verbiage was wanted on there, because it wasn't MY decision to make; in that respect, I am, as you, one person, albeit with slightly better connections. There seems to be this constant tone of "RTA" as a person; maybe all the political commentary about corporate personhood has clouded people's minds, but "RTA" doesn't make suggestions, or plans, or policies -- our general manager lobbies for funding and advocates for our mission, our service planners create and refine routes, our engineers design facilities, and our operators get people where they're going. I, in my duties, manage and maintain our online presence, in many ways, but I don't do it alone. Some of the other people responsible work for me, some work with me, and some work above me. Your suggestions are good, and I'll certainly pass them along, but let me suggest you look at things from another perspective -- who's CLE going to listen to, the guy with the vested interest in having things done to put himself and his message in the best light possible, or the objective concerned citizen who, in this digital day & age, might be able to muster a groundswell of support from "plain folks" like himself? Adopting a defeatist attitude of "you can't fight city hall" rings hollow in my book. I'd suggest that the BEST approach comes at them from both directions.

And I take it you've passed these comments along to THEIR webmaster/marketing folks? They control the content on their site, not RTA.

To be perfectly clear, Scav, San Fran's issue wasn't/isn't just one of branding. BART, CalTrain, and SFMTA (into which Muni was folded) are separate legal entities, and often compete with one another for development dollars.

Well, first off, RTA is a generalized abbreviation for Regional Transit Authority, and is used as an indicator for any or all of the services provided. Many stations act as boarding points for two or more modes of service. While Chicago may use the term L or subway in descriptive text, I can't ever recall seeing signage to that effect (please, by all means, show me examples if you've got them). Most stations generally had signs indicating the station name, with no additional supporting or descriptive text indicating the mode of service.The more recently developed Frankle-Monigle signs, as they're referred to, have a component that involves post-style kiosks topped with an L as station markers, but I'm unfamiliar with the extent of deployment of these signs beyond the pilot undertaken in 2001. In a similar vein, we routinely use the word "Rapid" in text descriptions to describe our rail services. The presence of tracks and overhead catenary are usually pretty good clues as to what the service mode is. This isn't to say signage such as you've described doesn't exist, and I will freely admit to being a more seasoned transit rider than the average bear, so the specific signage isn't of as much interest to me, but I think the suggestion that transit accessibility and knowledge is being "limited to locals who already know it" is a bit off-base.

Just checked with the shelter shop -- it was hit late Friday, and a crew should be out there this morning to replace it (according to the shop supervisor, right now, in fact).

Back off the attitude. I have no doubt those numbers are accurate, in some interpretation. It is when numbers are provided IN AN APPROPRIATE CONTEXT that direct comparisons can be made. I will further investigate the $260.5 million figure quoted on the Facts page. Also, the second link you provided DOESN'T, in fact say that. It says "The General Fund budget request includes expenditures of $266.2 million against estimated revenue of $255.4 million." "request"... "estimated..." these were forward-looking statements made during the planning and comment phase.

Based on ClevelandOhio's numbers, the Allegheny Port Authority is budgeted $4.65 per rider they moved, where RTA is budgeted $5.64 per rider they moved (16% more). Regardless of the state not providing enough money, our county sales tax (1%) that goes to RTA may be better than whatever local tax Allegheny has. So I wouldn't say they have an easier funding situation. It's not entirely clear where ClevelandOhio got some of his numbers from, so I'll be certain to cite my sources. To ensure an apples-to-apples comparison, we'll just look at overall 2012 operating budgets, since those are the most customer-facing numbers and are most affected by (or potentially have the greatest effect on) ridership: GCRTA: "The 2012 appropriation for operating expenditures totals $230,907,701. In comparison, the 2009 Budget totaled $246,514,436 and the 2010 Budget appropriated $225,941,877. The amount appropriated for 2011 was $225,874,579." So, basically, 2009 to 2010 was a reduction, 2010 to 2011 pretty much stood pat, and 2012 is a <2% increase. Source: http://www.riderta.com/pdf/budget/2012/2012Budget_Full.pdf, page TL-3 PAAC: FY 2009 actual $351,325,813; FY 2010 actual $355,122,506; FY 2011 actual $352,344,773; FY 2012 budget $370,151,875. So, we're looking at about a 1% increase in from 2009 to 2010, a comparable decrease in from 2010 to 2011, and a proposed 8% increase in 2012. Source: http://www.portauthority.org/paac/portals/Capital/2012Budget/2012BudgetBook.pdf, page vi Again, I'm not sure where the previously-supplied numbers came from, but if we apply operating budget/ridership numbers to the numbers I've obtained, we get: GCRTA: 230,907,701/46,200,000 = 5.00 per passenger (rounded) PAAC: 370,151,875/63,000,000 = 5.88 per passenger (rounded)

Thank you. Some additional facts (extracted from http://www.portauthority.org/paac/CompanyInfoProjects/BudgetFinances/ServiceReductions.aspx ): Port Authority is facing a $64 million deficit in its operating budget for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2012. The planned 35-percent service reduction would be devastating to our region. More than 40 routes would be eliminated from the 100 we currently operate, and schedules would be reduced on all remaining routes. Without a state funding solution and real progress on legacy costs, fare increases would go into effect July 1, with service cuts to follow on September 2. Port Authority's Board approved these actions at its April 27, 2012 meeting. Any of this sound familiar? Been there, done that. I hope Allegheny weathers the storm as well as we did.

Poor reception of which notable initiatives? Would that be the free downtown trolleys, which have been a boon to downtown connectivity and a hit with businesses and tourists alike? Or perhaps the HealthLine, which continues to show year-over-year ridership growth and usage well exceeding that of the former #6 bus, and has been cited as a model for future BRT projects nationwide? Or maybe the new stations at W 117, E 55, and Puritas, with more in the works? Please cite some examples. I'd love to continue this conversation. Citing the HealthLine as a Joe Calabrese project is only partially correct. The idea and groundwork for a better connection between downtown and University Circle was laid long before Joe Calabrese ever got there. And while I support the project and feel it has been mostly a success, except for the horribly designed shelters and the rather embarrassing ticket machines some look at the BRT decision as a poor substitution for what could have been they wanted it to be. The only certainty we can say about the HealthLine is yes Joe Calabrese was the CEO of RTA that accepted and then spent a large check from the federal goverment. Fixed one statement for ya :-). I would like clarification on the "some" who look at the BRT decision that way. I never stated that the HealthLine was entirely Joe's project. Along those same lines, though, if his supporters can't afford him 100% of the credit (not that I think they should), then his detractors shouldn't expect to place upon him 100% of any perceived "blame". No man, no project, no agency, is an island. I think you're minimizing some of the certainties that can be stated about the HealthLine. However, we've gone down that road before, so I'll not belabor the point here. I'll only say that RTA, under Joe Calabrese, not only accepted the check, but fought for it in a very competitive federal transit funding environment.

Poor reception of which notable initiatives? Would that be the free downtown trolleys, which have been a boon to downtown connectivity and a hit with businesses and tourists alike? Or perhaps the HealthLine, which continues to show year-over-year ridership growth and usage well exceeding that of the former #6 bus, and has been cited as a model for future BRT projects nationwide? Or maybe the new stations at W 117, E 55, and Puritas, with more in the works? Please cite some examples. I'd love to continue this conversation.

If you're referring to farecard purchases on shoprta.com, we did a system upgrade last month. Due to some modifications put in to increase security, you will need to remove and re-enter any stored payment method you might have had in there. Re-entry of your payment method will also require you to supply the 3-digit CVV code on the back of the card. Deletion and re-entry of the payment method has solved 90+% of the problems we've seen. If you continue to experience problems, please drop an e-mail with as much detail as possible, and your contact info, to [email protected], and we'll address it.

Great observations, djunior. Absolutely, when it's a familiar vehicle with a big red logo on it, the tendency is greater to actually make a statement, and I have no issue whatsoever with "calling out" the individual operator, as that's how problems get identified, isolated, and solved. That's also why our vehicles, and our employees, have ID numbers associated with them. Broad-brush statements like "RTA hates bike riders" express frustration, but do little to contribute to solving the perceived problem. RTA is an organization, and regardless of the statements of Mitt "corporations are people, my friend" Romney, cannot actually express an emotion like hate. Are there individuals within the organization who may have a particular opinion of cyclists, or motorists? Of course there are. I have my own opinions of the bike messengers I see downtown who show a flagrant disregard for any rules of the road, as well as of motorists who are willfully blind to the simple physics of cutting in front of a much larger, less maneuverable vehicle moving at a high rate of speed, and are then surprised when said vehicle can't stop on a dime or pivot like an NBA point guard. If we're doing something right? Let us know, we'll keep doing it, and try to do more. If we're doing something wrong? Give us as much detail as possible (who, what, when, where) and we'll work to fix it. We wouldn't be here otherwise.

ORLY? The mere act of a person trying to cross the street affords them the right of way? Um, no. That's why we have crosswalks and traffic signals. I suspect your statement was unintentionally broad. Have you ever noticed when you are preparing to cross a 4-way intersection, especially downtown, that the "don't walk" will remain lit even if you see red lights in both the directions you can see? This is usually because traffic approaching you head-on has a left-turn signal, so the "don't walk" remains lit until straight-ahead, crossing traffic gets a green light and effectively blocks the left-turn traffic. Crossing prior to that point would be dangerous, and you would be in the wrong. I'm not forgiving or excusing inappropriate behavior on anyone's part. Pedestrians, bicycles, and motorized vehicles all share the road, and each must abide by the appropriate regulations.

I'm assuming you're speaking of real-time location? If so, it is precisely that -- LOCATION. This has nothing to do with fares. Our fare system is based on magnetic stripe cards, and unless and until that changes, purchase will require dispensing from a physical fare machine or agent.

They're not saying anything that anyone with their eyes open in Cleveland hasn't already noticed, but it is nice to see channel 19 with a positive report for once.

A few points of clarification that may seem like mere semantics, but are relevant to the focus of the discussion: The West Side Transit Center plan is for far more than a "bus garage", so please don't minimize or dismiss it as such. It includes retail and residential components. The 12-year lifespan for a transit vehicle is not a "planned usage", it is a federal funding requirement. When the feds pay for new buses, they expect them to be on the road for a minimum of 12 years. In situations where they're not, the funded agency actually has to pay back the federal government. The east side/west side thing as far as where vehicles are berthed versus where they provide service can be overcome. Case in point, all #239 coaches, which serve the Euclid Park-N-Ride, now spend their off-hours at Triskett with all other Park-N-Ride coaches. This was done for maintenance load-balancing and efficiency purposes.

Because I'm genuinely curious, what giant suburban plaza are you referring to?

Sorry don't buy this, as passengers are "riding" through a less desirable part of town when on the train. Especially the Blue/Green lines. Or are you saying passengers perception is different when riding the train than riding on a bus? I do think that's what he's trying to say, and I can actually see the validity of it. A train, especially heavy rail, riding on a grade-separated right-of-way, at a somewhat higher speed, with fewer stops (and generally a darker right-of-way that precludes seeing what's going on outside), might be perceived as safer to some. However, I don't think a bus ride to get back to one's car, regardless of what neighborhood one passes through, is inherently a "non-option".

Yes, all rapid stations, and in fact all RTA properties, are completely smoke-free -- I'm sorry you had to experience that. Feel free, if you are so inclined, to point this out to anyone who does light up. Most, if not all, shelters display "No Smoking" signs, as do all stations. This ban includes outdoor spaces, like platforms and ramps, as well as all indoor spaces. I actually had a person on the Tower City platform once ask, after I requested he put out his cigarette, if I was a cop (my appearance and demeanor often lead people to ask this). When I responded that I wasn't, but that I was an employee, he complied, and then said aloud that he thought at first that I was, "justy some guy". My only reaction, which I didn't voice to him, was -- IT DOESN'T MATTER. ANYONE can be in a position to request compliance with the law.