Here's hoping this year's festivities don't turn ugly the way they did last year.  Does anyone have a news update on the RTA plans for the increased ridership?  I checked their website but nothing was posted

I think there is information about that in the rta thread.. here's e4th at the moment...

Check their twitter handle - it is super helpful

4th st.patrick's day in a row with temps above 60. Today'll be 73. I'm enjoying the Irish music marathon on 88.7.

This will be my first St Patty's day downtown, even though I've lived here for 10 years.

If anyone has a camera, please take lots of photos for us :-)

I "attempted" to take the rapid from West Blvd to downtown at 11 am. BIG MISTAKE. Basically every train that would pass the station was already chock full of passengers and could board no more. People had already waited for 4 trains to pass when I arrived. An RTA person at the station told passengers that their best bet was to just get on a west bound train to the airport, stay on, and the train will return back downtown. So, what normally is a 12 minute ride turned into almost an hour and a half. Every station was MOBBED with passengers trying to board. The west bound trains were arriving to the airport at about 80% capacity, all of whom were just trying to get downtown, so when the train turned around, a few more would board at Brookpark and then could not accommodate any more passengers at any more west side stations. It was utterly insane. You had 1,000s of passengers trying to board completely full trains. I'm sure quite a few people just gave up and left.

 

I have no idea how the process continued for the rest of the afternoon, especially once peak time hit. But there is just no possible way to accommodate this kind of volume. Anyone trying to board east bound at any stop other than the Airport or Brookpark was SOL. Perhaps RTA ended up getting busses out to the other stations to get people downtown?

 

Perhaps they could have ran empty trains to particular stations to alleviate the build-ups.

 

Basically this was Manhattan at 5:10pm on a business day type of volume on the platforms. RTA would have needed 6 car trains every 3 minutes to handle this capacity.

 

In hindsight, I would have just drove (I wasn't drinking) over to Ohio City, parked on a side street and walked into downtown. Would have saved me a ton of time and a lot of hassle.

 

I don't blame RTA at all. Their system is just not able to handle this kind of demand. I think falling on a Saturday hurt as well because you had increased demand for public transit on a day where RTA runs fewer busses. RTA should have been running a weekday 55/55F route. This would have alleviated a significant amount of demand away from the Red Line which just couldn't handle this kind of volume. I did happen to see a 26 at the West Blvd station that could also not accommodate any new riders. So basically if you were at the West Blvd station, you were unable to go east bound via any public transit which was not making anyone happy.

I don't blame RTA at all.

 

Of course you should. Apparently RTA is aware that today is a big ridership day. (http://www.riderta.com/newsroom/releases/?listingid=1710) yet they're operating normal Saturday service? even if they operated 4-car trains, it wouldn't cost them anything in personnel--still one operator. (maybe a guy in the yard to oversee coupling). They should have been doing both---longer trains AND more frequent service.

I don't blame RTA at all.

 

Of course you should. Apparently RTA is aware that today is a big ridership day. (http://www.riderta.com/newsroom/releases/?listingid=1710) yet they're operating normal Saturday service? even if they operated 4-car trains, it wouldn't cost them anything in personnel--still one operator. (maybe a guy in the yard to oversee coupling). They should have been doing both---longer trains AND more frequent service.

 

I think 3 car trains is the max for the red line, someone correct me if I'm wrong. It also appeared that they were running the trains every 10 minutes. So it appeared that RTA was running the red line at its maximum, but unfortunately the maximum couldn't keep up with the demand.

 

I will be very curious to see any press release for ridership figures for today. They have got to be astronomical.

 

My only critique is that RTA shouldn't have put so much emphasis onto their train system. They should have been running more west side busses to alleviate the strain.

 

^^^You should blame RTA and hold them accountable, events like this are like "Black Friday" for them and a plan needs to be in place to handle crowds.  More trains should have been ran with more cars, and bus drivers should have been mandatory on call so they could dispatch reliever shuttle buses to overcrowded rapid stations.  It is an epic fail on RTA's part to have just been business as usual.  Handling something like this well is how you show the community that you are an indispensable asset that they need to fund.  Instead it looks like a bloated bureaucracy that just does the minimum....like going to the post office a week before Christmas and finding 2 employee windows open.

Wish I couldve made it home....here in boring ole Columbus ....sucks

This is basically exactly the way the rapid is on every St Patrick's day. It's usually a weekday and when I was a regular RTA rider, it was a freaking nightmare. I had to wait like 8 or 9 trains and SHOVE my way in like a sardine just to get home, and the year I was pregnant was absolutely the last straw for me. Me and my baby felt in danger physically and sitting down was not possible, and with so many people to load/unload at each stop, it was an excruciatingly long time to stand with 50 pounds pulling on your front and straining your back.

 

I really think they ought to hire out shuttle buses and run those from all rapid stops on St Patrick's. The buses I saw going down Pearl today were jammed to the gills with passengers and it's just too much capacity for RTA on both existing bus and rail lines.

This is basically exactly the way the rapid is on every St Patrick's day. It's usually a weekday and when I was a regular RTA rider, it was a freaking nightmare. I had to wait like 8 or 9 trains and SHOVE my way in like a sardine just to get home, and the year I was pregnant was absolutely the last straw for me. Me and my baby felt in danger physically and sitting down was not possible, and with so many people to load/unload at each stop, it was an excruciatingly long time to stand with 50 pounds pulling on your front and straining your back.

 

I really think they ought to hire out shuttle buses and run those from all rapid stops on St Patrick's. The buses I saw going down Pearl today were jammed to the gills with passengers and it's just too much capacity for RTA on both existing bus and rail lines.

 

Yeah. I figured it's been like this in the past, but I've personally never taken the rapid on March 17th. I've always taken a bus to work when St. Paddy's falls on a weekday and even then it was before 8 am, so I've never had to deal with the crowds. This was mind blowing.

 

It appeared that RTA was well prepared. There were agents selling all day passes so there was no need to queue up at the self serve kiosks. There were RTA agents on the platforms explaining the waits to people (and the alternate option of going to the airport and returning back) and a boatload of traffic police and regular police and even cleaning crews at the platforms.

 

RTA definitely envisioned a huge demand for the red line service today, but combine this holiday falling on a Saturday and falling during one of the warmest weeks on record for March and the hottest St. Patrick's Day temperature on record for Cleveland, you're going to have ridiculous crowds and ridiculous waits. I think it's reasonable to expect to maybe have to wait for a train or two for a busy event. But  up to 2 hours to get from W 117th street to downtown, that's just insane!

 

 

 

Guys,  every cities' public transport system is crazy today.  You should see how unbelievable the L is in Chicago, and the buses are as bad. It's a wild day no matter where u r

I have some pics that I will post if I have time.  All I know is that E. 13th and Superior was madhouse enough for me.  I cannot imagine what Public Square was like.

Wish I couldve made it home....here in boring ole Columbus ....sucks

 

Get thee to Grandview, it's always a rager out here come St. Patrick's Day.

I wonder what their service will be like the weekend of the casino opening... I would think it'd be a similar high demand

^Demand will be high, but not like this.

 

Last year I rode the bike to work and was able to make it home a lot faster than my friends that took the bus. This year, I stayed the hell away from downtown.

I read estimates had over 500,000 people downtown today, and this wasn't the only place packed insanely today.  I read the Zoo had record numbers as well.

Here was my experience.

 

There were three of us and we got on at the Green Road station at a little past 10 am. Good crowd already at that time, but the ride was smooth. On the way home, it was a whole different story. We entered tower city at about 4:45 I believe, and the crowd was massive. The lines were nearing the main entrances of tower city, a little past caribou coffee. Extremely packed, no order or instructions, and appeared to be very dangerous. I decided we should walk down to East 9th and see if we can hop on there and bypass the crowd! When we got there, there were only about 5 other people waiting. We were waiting for over 30 minutes and the train had yet to come. By that time, the station crowd went up to about 30 people. Very nice compared to the thousands of people at tower city. Also the group seemed to be more mature, and less drunken teenagers. Tony Grossi was waiting with us too, HA. Anyways we began doubting the train was going to come, but it finally did. Unfortunately it was the Blue line, but we hopped on anyways. When we got to Tower City you could see the massive lines on the station platforms. That part of the line seemed to be well organized and under control. We decided from seeing that to just stay on the train and get off at Shaker Square and transfer to the Green Line. Looked to be about 20 others who did the same, and were waiting at the Shaker Square station. Train came about 5 minutes after blue line left and was packed as hell, but we found some standing room on the last car of the train. So overall since I knew the system, it wasn't tooo bad, but for those who didn't, it was a nightmare. I heard the lines were up to 3 hours long.

 

My brothers friends arrived at the green road station at 12:30 to head down there and was told it was a two to three hour wait. I told them to go early but they didnt listen, and paid the price.

 

 

I would suggest that next year they promote the use of the waterfront line, and let people know those stations actually exist, and also man those stations. They need to do something to stop the extreme, dangerous crowds at tower city.

Here's a couple from today:

 

 

 

 

I would suggest that next year they promote the use of the waterfront line, and let people know those stations actually exist, and also man those stations. They need to do something to stop the extreme, dangerous crowds at tower city.

 

You're singin' my tune. ... I've been saying this since last year when I experienced scary/dangerous situations at Tower City (this year, we went late, after the parade to the parties, and came home after the peak crowds had thinned), so even though it we had about 15/20 mins longer rides, overall, it wasn't that bad ... But on a crazy transit day when everybody (all local news channels) were promoting using the Rapid, why center all the crowds at Tower City when you have a Waterfront Line with stations only a few blocks away from the Superior Ave parade route? --W. 3rd, ...E. 9th/North Coast?  I know RTA is hard wired about how much of a failure the Waterfront Line is so they don't like using it, but to not use it on always uber-crowded St. Paddy's Day to relieve Tower City crowding and potential passenger injury is just hard-headed and silly.

ROFL!  Only on UO is there a discussion thread about the best attended event downtown in many years and most of the posts are about how RTA responded.  :)

Aside from train delays, it sounds like everything else was safe & fun

For the most part, people were not as rowdy as in the past although there were 21 arrest.  I think the warm weather may have calmed people down.  However, one woman, surrounded by cops, was sitting on the curb by and bleeding badly from the head (don't know what happened).  An EMS unit cut through the crowds and got to her.  Fortunately she was sitting up and seemed OK, just out of it..

ROFL!  Only on UO is there a discussion thread about the best attended event downtown in many years and most of the posts are about how RTA responded.  :)

 

RTA's a critical component of St. Paddy's day, and we had a major disconnnect: News media, wisely, advised people to use the rails but, at times, RTA apparently lacked the capacity. ... In fairness, Jerry Masek warned that the rail system capacity was still limited because it hasn't completed repairs caused by the lightening strike to its Brook Park train-control signal tower late last summer.

Here's a couple from today:

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing!

ROFL!  Only on UO is there a discussion thread about the best attended event downtown in many years and most of the posts are about how RTA responded.  :)

 

What E said.  Let's hear more about the actual street experience

I usually enjoy a little downtown drunken debauchery, but I'm kind of glad I sat it out yesterday.

I worked it, then took a walk later in the evening to check out the scene.

 

For the most part, people were not as rowdy as in the past although there were 21 arrest.

 

Really that's not bad, if you think about it.  500,000 people- 21 arrests

 

As far as crowding, I know at one point they tried to get the police to East 4th St to try and thin the crowd a little, as it was getting so tight that people couldn't move around, but I don't know if they ever got there.

It took me 25-30 minutes to cross E.4th street and at one point we couldn't move for about 10 miniutes.

 

Some people were hanging out of the windows along east 4th and some were even dancing on a not so wide ledge. I think Public Square was not as bad as last year in terms of the crowd but almost everywhere else it was busier.

 

I also took the bus instead of the rapid this year and luckily I picked up the bus in Old Brooklyn because after my stop it was already packed and the bus didn't really bother stopping at any other stops. We drove by at least 10 stops that had 15+ people waiting to get on.

 

Also it didn't seem like the bus driver cared what was going on in the bus though because people weren't even hiding their alcohol and were openly drinking from cans and bottles and a couple of people were smoking on the bus as well. With that said it was still less rowdy and obnoxious then the rapid was last year. On the way back one guy made a comment to the bus driver saying their should be a law against this many people on the bus in which the bus driver responded there is a law but nobody cares... I'm sure since this only happens a couple times a year its not really a big deal.

 

 

Got down to E. 4th at 8:45. As noted earlier in the thread, E.4th wasn't crowded [to the point where you couldn't stretch both arms out and not hit someone] until about 11:30am.

 

It was only my 3rd or 4th time out downtown for SPD. I saw the parade for just a few minutes just east of e.3rd and Superior [south side]... The crowds were the most that I had ever seen in Cleveland. As I walked on superior to/from the arcade, the entire sidewalk was filled with people, literally shoulder to shoulder....And I had passed through the Arcade to Superior, I've never seen so many people in there ever (I imagined that's how it was during its heyday, without the drunks, of course :drunk:). I also then realized that the second level walkways are a bit small, maybe 5 or 6 people could walk past each other at a time?). Even though it's an Irish holiday, I was a little surprised how white the entire crowd was (I'd guess about 90%). There were quite a bit of tweens and high school kids there, though it was a Saturday... A friend from Richmond,VA, who was in CLE for the first time and we spent SPD at E. 4th, remarked that E.4th reminded him of a college town (Friends and I spent most of the time at the chinato patio or a friend's apt. on 4th.... Left around 4pm (had DDs drop us off and pick us up with no traffic problems.... Funniest happening: apt. dwellers 4-5 floors above city tap sprinkled a box or 2 of lucky charms upon guests on the city tap sidewalk patio...

 

+1 ctownrocks1, it had taken me 20+ minutes from e.3rd and superior to 4th and Prospect and that was being myself [crowds 101: if more than 1 person at a time is trying to move together, it will take longer].

Half a million?  Nice.  If only we could get 10% to move into the city!

ROFL!  Only on UO is there a discussion thread about the best attended event downtown in many years and most of the posts are about how RTA responded.  :)

 

True, but the travel to/from SPD events can be as much a part of the fun or dread of SPD. It is also the busiest transit ridership day of the year. That being said, for your transit feedback to be counted, post it at the RTA thread in the transportation section. RTA staff will actually read it there.

 

My experience with SPD events downtown was this: I arrived on Amtrak from Chicago on-time at 5:30 a.m. Took a cab with my friend back to Lakewood, got my car, drove to Greyhound so he could get his ticket to Chicago. The station agent was away until 6:30 a.m., so we went to my office on Euclid so I could take a printer upstairs and get caught up on mail. There was no one on the streets at all at 6:30 a.m. Went back to Greyhound, got his ticket and went to breakfast. None of my favorite spots downtown were open except Starbucks, Caribou and a couple of cookie/coffee places on Euclid. So we went to Juji's at the Statler. Turns out they don't open until 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays, but they opened at 7 a.m. for us! Now that's customer service! Got breakfast, took my friend to Greyhound, and headed for home. While passing through downtown at 7:45 a.m., the SPD vendors and some kids were starting to show up on the streets. But I went home and to bed.

 

How's that for excitement?!?!?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great pix!

 

After the riots last year, we decided to skip downtown with the toddler this year, what with the Saturday/crowds and nice weather. I am so glad we did, honestly. We went to the Little Polish Diner in Parma, shortly after it opened at 11. there were 2 regulars at the counter telling interesting stories and nobody else in the diner. We got 2 corned beef sandwiches that were very good, and came with a generous helping of their good cabbage and noodles. We got a "tour of Poland" platter for my kid - sometimes he eats like a marine, sometimes not. He enjoyed a little bit of everything.

 

We went next door to the nearly deserted Parma Cafe while waiting for the food. The old lady working behind the bar was super nice and turned on the old-style bowling machine so I could show my kid how to play. Couple of regulars in there too who were very friendly to me and my son. After eating, we went back to the bar so my husband and I could enjoy a quick shot of Jameson while the kid played the bowling machine some more. The bartender showed him how you put the cue ball in the holes of the pool table and it comes out the end, so they played like that for awhile. I felt like a good Irish lass taking my kid to a bar and having a drink on st. paddy's (I am 1/4 Irish). She invited us to come back anytime and said they wouldn't get really slammed til like 5pm. This is definitely a keeper idea for us.

Anyone go to Stone Mad on Sat.?  Just curious.

It took me 25-30 minutes to cross E.4th street and at one point we couldn't move for about 10 miniutes.

 

Some people were hanging out of the windows along east 4th and some were even dancing on a not so wide ledge. I think Public Square was not as bad as last year in terms of the crowd but almost everywhere else it was busier.

 

I also took the bus instead of the rapid this year and luckily I picked up the bus in Old Brooklyn because after my stop it was already packed and the bus didn't really bother stopping at any other stops. We drove by at least 10 stops that had 15+ people waiting to get on.

 

Also it didn't seem like the bus driver cared what was going on in the bus though because people weren't even hiding their alcohol and were openly drinking from cans and bottles and a couple of people were smoking on the bus as well. With that said it was still less rowdy and obnoxious then the rapid was last year. On the way back one guy made a comment to the bus driver saying their should be a law against this many people on the bus in which the bus driver responded there is a law but nobody cares... I'm sure since this only happens a couple times a year its not really a big deal.

 

 

We may have been side by side hahahaha.

Plain Dealer said 500,000 watching the parade and I believe it.  I honestly think there were so many more than 500k downtown tho.  Every single establishment that was open was packed to the brim.  I live above City Tap and Winking Lizard and there were people filling each and spilling out into the patios and outside of the patios and into the street lol.  People were openly smoking pot all over downtown lol.  I walked to Constantinos to get some chips for my party and Euclid was literally taken over by pedestrians.  We walked down the side streets to avoid Superior and they were all packed.  They shut down the front entrance of Tower City for some reason, so everyone taking the rapid had to go in side entrances and it was crazy.  I would have to think the city of Cleveland and all of the downtown establishments had to make record sales.  There was no place that wasn't filled over capacity that I saw. The food trucks were selling out of items around 3. Colossal Cupcakes (which is amazing by the way!!!) was packed and they were still so overwhelmed.  People were just drunk and having fun everywhere.  Walking down Superior during the parade was insanity.  There were almost a few fist fights (mostly parents pissed that idiots were pushing with their kids right there).  Everyone became best friends as we had our hands all over each other.  The closest thing I can use as a past experience is New Years in New York City.  It was crazy and I loved it!!!  Everyone complains about peddlers etc....well I didn't notice them at all.  It just takes people walking around.  Great first experience with SPD in Cleveland!!

This was my first spd parade in Cleveland and it was crazy.  People were openly drinking and smoking pot everywhere but not really being too rowdy.  All of Euclid ave was filled with people from public square almost up to e. 9th street.  I would have to imagine the experience was very close to new years eve in New York.  Public square was so mobbed that traffic could not get through for at least an hour or two.  I wonder if this was the largest event ever in downtown Cleveland.  Does anybody know of anything that attracted more people?

These are just some random shots I took while being in the crowd. I decided to enjoy myself a little more this year instead of just taking pictures  :drunk:

 

 

East 4th around 2:00

 

P1090224 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090218 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090217 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090223 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090222 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090227 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090219 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

 

More Random Shots

 

P1090212 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090212 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090199 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090199 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090176 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090198 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090197 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090209 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090207 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090210 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090202 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090204 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090206 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090191 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090189 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090187 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090190 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090184 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090186 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

 

P1090213 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

 

This was an hour or two after the parade

 

P1090231 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090225 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

P1090194 by Ctownrocks1, on Flickr

 

 

Fantastic pictures Ctown!!!!

Great pics guys.  Cleveland should be proud.  Just another reminder of how lame it is in DC for things like St Paddy's day. 

WHOA...great shots!

ROFL!  Only on UO is there a discussion thread about the best attended event downtown in many years and most of the posts are about how RTA responded.  :)

 

True, but the travel to/from SPD events can be as much a part of the fun or dread of SPD. It is also the busiest transit ridership day of the year. That being said, for your transit feedback to be counted, post it at the RTA thread in the transportation section. RTA staff will actually read it there.

 

 

Oh, true that.  I'm convinced that when an internet forum has topics go off in "different" directions, it's a sign of its vibrancy.  Though it sounds like RTA was either overwhelmed, didn't see it as what I call "time to shine", or both.

 

I haven't been to the parade for thirty years.....exactly.  A couple teammates from HS, a few ladies, multiple twelve packs, and myself caught it in 1982.  The next day, they announced they'd be cracking down on open containers the next year.  Coincidence?

 

I did stop by the campaign headquarters I was volunteering at.  I heard a couple of my coworkers were unamused at my inebriation, but the manager explained that drunkenness on StPD falls somewhere between tolerable and poltical savvy.  :)

WHOA...great shots!

 

Agreed! Thanks for taking pictures and posting them here!

Thanks for the pics Ctown. I sure don't remember seeing crowds this large before. Just wow!

RTA getting rave reviews from the locals:

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/03/two_passed_out_on_jammed_rapid.html

 

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

RTA getting rave reviews from the locals:

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/03/two_passed_out_on_jammed_rapid.html

 

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Wasn't this moved from this thread into the RTA thread?

RTA getting rave reviews from the locals:

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/03/two_passed_out_on_jammed_rapid.html

 

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Wasn't this moved from this thread into the RTA thread?

 

Was it?  If so, I apologize because I did not see it.