JMasek

Although it is a Saturday, RTA will add as much rail service as possible to meet the increased demand for the downtown parade. Extra staff will also be on hand to direct patrons and help with crowd control. LIGHT RAIL: All trains will have 3 cars. Same frequency, more capacity. Plus, the Waterfront Line stations will be served. HEAVY RAIL: On the East Side, frequency on the Red Line will be the same as the regular Saturday schedule, with 2-car trains. The 3-car trains will be added to the regular Saturday service on the West Side, so the busier West Side stations will actually have service about every 10 minutes. The damage from the July 22 lightning strike means they can't all be three-car trains. BUS SERVICE: Articulated buses will be used on the #22 and #26 -- both heavily-traveled routes. Pocket coaches will be on standby at various sites around the city, ready to be placed in action as needed.

St. Patrick's Day is on a Saturday this year. RTA will operate regular Saturday service, so there will be trips to the Waterfront Line. It will be interesting to see what effect that has on ridership and crowd control.

RTA staff and Dominion East Ohio Gas spent several hours this morning at the Transit Center. East Ohio's sensors said it was not gas. The smell appeared to be fumes coming from outside the building. RTA staff adjusted some ventilation equipment, and the problem seems to have been resolved. Thanks for reporting it. Other customers already had, and when I called, crews were already enroute to the site.

The March Rider's Digest has been posted to the RTA Web site, with information on March 18 service changes, the new #54 route on Brookpark Road, an update on federal funding issues, and taking RTA to the many events in March -- St. Patrick's Day, MAC basketball, the Film Festival, and much more. http://www.riderta.com/webadmin/tables/ridersdigest/RidersdigestFileName/Mar-12-RD_1.pdf

^I assume you mean the Transit Center building, and I reported to our Facilities Maintenance staff, and to our Safety Director. I asked for a call back after it is investigated. Thanks.

^ Let me understand you...the Park-N-Ride is a lot. Are you referring to the transit center building?

HealthLine vehicle was at Auto Show in 2008-9-10. MCI bus was there last year.

^ Like many programs, I think it will start with basics and grow from there. Having a casino here is new to all of us. We are trying to predict tourism patterns and habits, but they may just surprise us all.

The target is to get the passes in the hands of the tourists, so selling them at places tourists go (airport, hotels and attractions) makes the most sense.

PD story from Tuesday's Board meeting: "RTA wants to help the city be a little friendlier to tourists by offering easy-to-use passes and discounted fares for large convention groups." http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/02/rta_wants_to_offer_easy-to-use.html

Through March 2, take a on-line survey about the options for the Blue Line Extension. http://surveymonkey.com/s/bluelineextension

^ RTA does surveys several times a year, for many different reasons. For instance, we do on-board surveys annually to determine if we are meeting the needs of our customers. Surveying non-customers is less reliable, as many people may say YES to an idea that sounds good at the moment, but in truth would never use it. We will be watching the casino carefully, looking at the ridership needs of both the patrons and the employees.

Here are the replies I received from the two suggestions made earlier: #1 Thanks for the suggestion. The Adelbert-Euclid stop on the #48 is a short walk from Uptown (or a very short HealthLine ride). The #48 needs to continue running as it does today, serving major attractions such as CWRU, University Hospitals, and Cleveland Clinic. #2 We thought late-night Rapid transit service would be successful, for the reasons you mentioned, but we were proven wrong. Ridership was much too low to justify continuing the late-night service. However, we did increase the number of all-night bus routes just a few years ago. --------- Of course, times are a-changing. We've never had a downtown casino before, and no one can predict exactly what will happen. The large civic organizations are hoping to use the casino to bring people in, and urge them to stay and visit other attractions downtown, and in University Circle. We are adding trolleys to service hotels and downtown attractions (exact start date to be determined), and encouraging use of the HealthLine and Rapid to see the University Circle area. We sincerely appreciate your continued support and on-going suggestons.

^clvlndr, I will pass along both your questions to our Service Planners. There may not be an immediate answer, but at least the seeds of the ideas will be planted. A few comments: * From what I know, late-night service was cut back because it was not being used. * RTA's primary role is to connect people with jobs -- it is estimated that more than 60 percent of our trips are work-related. Two other things, which you may already know. * When the damage from the July 22 lighning strike is fixed later this year, the Red Line frequency will increase (not sure of actual minutes yet). * When the Flats East Bank development becomes reality, the Waterfront Line operation will increase from 2 days to 7 days.

Justine, the Web section and application form are fairly explanatory, they even include operating guidelines. If you have specific questions or want to talk more, please call me at 216-566-5173 or send e-mail to [email protected]. I hope you apply.

The February Rider's Digest has been posted at: http://www.riderta.com/pdf/RidersDigest/Feb-12-RD.pdf For Paratransit customers, the winter issue of Moving People has been posted at: http://www.riderta.com/PDF/MovingPeople/MP-Winter11.pdf

RTA sets public meetings on Jan. 31 and Feb. 2 to discuss the Blue Line Extension Study. It's your chance to hear things first-hand. http://www.riderta.com/nu_notices-community.asp

NOACA and ODOT are doing a year-long survey of how and where people travel in NEOhio. You can help. http://www.riderta.com/newsroom/releases/?listingid=1696

RTA's Citizen Advisory Board is seeking service-oriented transit volunteer advocates to fill several openings. http://www.riderta.com/CAB/

^ I read too fast. When you said "twisted", I thought you meant it was not straight. Now, after reading the thread, I see you are stating an opinion. Sorry, I cannot fix your opinion, so please ignore the previous post.

That should be fixed shortly, thanks.

This is just the iceberg, KJP...here's the fujll story....all numbers are percentage increases, for December and year-end * Systemwide: 12.5 in December, 3.6 year-to-date (or 1.6 million more rides) * Bus: 14.1 and 1.7 * HealthLine: 14.3 and 7.8 * Total Bus: 14.1 and 2.4 * Heavy rail: 8.0 and 12.3 * Light rail: 4.2 and 2.0 * Total Rapid: 6.7 and 8.7 * Trolley: December up 19 percent, average daily ridership up 25 percent * Red Line: 500,000+, best Dec. since 1988 * HealthLine: up 356,700 rides in December

Some of you may find this link useful; it is updated every Monday. http://www.riderta.com/bc_contractopps.asp This week's page includes information on improvements to the airport tunnel and the Lee-Van Aken station construction.

Re: the sale of 6611 Euclid Ave. The press release posted at http://www.riderta.com/newsroom/releases/?listingid=1688 outlines the agenda for the Dec. 20 Board meeting. It lists all the resolutions the Board will consider, including: 2011-115 – Authorizing the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to enter into a purchase and sale agreement in the amount of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000.00) with Cumberland Development, LLC or its nominee to sell Cuyahoga County Auditor’s permanent parcel numbers 118-06-025, 118-06-026, 118-06-027, and 118-06-050 which is located at 6611 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio (“Property”) and to declare it excess real property The follow-up press release, http://www.riderta.com/newsroom/releases/?listingid=1689, says that all resolutions were adopted.

^ There is no such space that I am aware of. Predicting when something will be fixed has many variables, and target dates often change. * For example, safety-related issues always take a higher priority over all other issues. * The weather is a factor too. The staff that plows the snow at stations has duties to perform when there is no snow. If we get bombarded with lots of bad weather, then those other duties may drop to a lesser priority. * Some issues, like elevator-escalator repair and the neon sign at W. 25, are handled by vendors. Even if RTA promptly reports an issue to a vendor, they may not give us a promised date of repair, or adhere to it if they do give us one. I am aware of times when RTA put up informational signs for the customer, when elevator/escalator repairs took unusually long. We both agree that customer communication is important, and we are working to improve that. Our Commuter Alerts for rail is a good example.