Posted February 6, 201411 yr Today's heavy snow and keeping a 9 a.m. appointment in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood aren't mutually exclusive. Both can happen, even when you own a rear-wheel-drive sports coupe that is useless in snow. So just after 8 a.m. I bundled up and left my condo near Lakewood's Gold Coast and trudged through the wind-driven snow and un-shoveled sidewalks (quite a workout!) to the corner of Clifton Blvd and West 117th Street. This is Clifton ... Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. Cars backed up on Clifton as far as the eye can see. One of the TV stations was getting footage of the backup on Clifton which is a favored snow route into downtown Cleveland from the West Shore suburbs instead of I-90. Even GCRTA's freeway flyer buses from the Westlake park-n-ride were detouring down Clifton this morning to avoid I-90.... Running about 10 minutes late was the southbound #78 bus on West 117th Street. It starts at Winton Place on the Gold Coast and goes to NASA Glenn Research Center near Hopkins Airport. But I'm taking the #78 only about 1 mile to the West 117th-Madison Rapid station.... Arrival at the West 117th-Madison Rapid station, a stop on the 19-mile-long Airport-Downtown-Windermere Red Line.... A westbound Red Line train to the Airport pauses at the station. My schedule shows a westbound was supposed to stop at this station at this time, so good job GCRTA!.... Conditions on West 117th below the station platforms don't look so good. BTW, the Chicago-East Coast tracks that Amtrak uses for two of its services are next to the Red Line here. Had I taken a Red Line train a couple of trains behind mine (about 15 minutes later, as a friend did), I would have seen a tardy Amtrak Lake Shore Limited (Chicago-New York City/Boston) zip by at track speed (79 mph).... Red Line trains run every 6-9 minutes during rush hours. I needed to depart W117th-Madison station by about 8:30 a.m. to ensure I arrived my meeting on time. This train showed up at 8:25 a.m., which is right when it was supposed to.... A full but not overcrowded Red Line train, but it got more full as we traveled closer to downtown. The W117th-Madison station is the fourth station west of Tower City Center-Downtown, where this train will terminate. Tower City Center is where connections to the Blue, Green, Waterfront rail lines, the HealthLine BRT and numerous other bus routes are made. Every other rush-hour train on the Red Line continues beyond Tower City Center to University Circle and Windermere.... But I got off at the stop before Tower City -- Ohio City. The scheduled travel time on the Red Line to this station is 9 minutes and we experienced no delays as the train scooted through the snow at nearly 60 mph. The Ohio City station is enclosed with glass which helped protect it from strong northeast winds this morning which gusted off Lake Erie at up to 40 mph.... Just then, a westbound train to the airport paused at the Ohio City station which is below street level, but reached by stairs and an elevator which works sometimes. You can also see some of the security cameras, which are common at all stations, inside the trains and on buses. GCRTA has one of the top-10 largest police departments in the State of Ohio as measured by full-time officers. Unfortunately, I see them in patrol cars moreso than on the trains. The various destinations of the Red Line are displayed on the station signs shown here.... At the top of the stairs of the Red Line station in Ohio City, I emerge across Lorain Avenue from the West Side Market. For some reason, I think the market looks even more impressive here during the snowstorm than it does on a clear day. A stream of pedestrians come out of the train station while cars slide past. I join the peds stomping toward West 25th Street through drifts and slush. Many peds are surely heading to West 25th as it is a busy transit corridor used by several bus routes. But its also gaining new employers including the offices for Skylight Financial and the headquarters of Mitchell's Ice Cream, all within a short walk of the Red Line. Several large, new housing developments are also in the works for the area around the train station.... Success!! About 50 minutes after I walked out my front door, and 35 minutes after I stepped on the #78 bus, I arrive stress-free at my destination on Market Avenue across from the Great Lakes Brewing Co. Ironically, I ran into several people I knew along the way, including one person who sat next to me on the train and was already following my All Aboard Ohio tweets of my commute! Those tweets were retweeted by GCRTA, the PD, Fox8, Global Cleveland and people from other cities like Cincinnati, Columbus and Indianapolis which had lots of snow today but no trains to ease their high-stress commutes. BTW, at the Ohio City station, I ran into the person I was meeting with. He regularly commutes on the Green Line from the east side, then transfers to the Red Line at Tower City. We counted our blessings that Cleveland has a rail system, especially in weather like this.... "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 6, 201411 yr Very nice! Thanks for letting us live a day in the shoes of KJP! :) Those were boots this morning.... ;) "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 6, 201411 yr Awesome KJP. That system was a godsend for me during my college years. Fares were a buck!
February 6, 201411 yr Ah, if only my first bus ride had been on rails it might not have taken an hour and a half (usually 35 minutes). Alas, then I'd have had a shorter nap. C'est la vie.
February 6, 201411 yr Will RTA run all of red line trains through to the east side once the new stations open?
February 6, 201411 yr Thanks, KJP. I took the 8:07 out of Windermere this morning and found it to be smooth sailing all the way to Ohio City. I have to admit, though, that I drove to the station.
February 6, 201411 yr Thanks, KJP, this was great! Just think how easy your commute would be if there were a DMU or rapid line on the Lakewood rail corridor!
February 6, 201411 yr I miss Cleveland very much. The weather...not so much. It's 47ºF and sunny in Houston today, but the natives still call it winter. Still, I'm grateful for your shots, they make me home-sick.
February 6, 201411 yr I bypass I-271 on s***y days primarily using Richmond Road, crossing to it via Emery, to 91 via Wilson Mills, and then down 20 to 306. The real secret is to leave very very early, so the road is empty. Since we're a 24-7 operation, this works out.
February 6, 201411 yr Will RTA run all of red line trains through to the east side once the new stations open? I would be surprised if they did for two reasons. 1. The joint line (Red/Blue/Green) between Tower City and East 55th is very busy with rail traffic. 2. If all Red Line trains run through Tower City, it will be because the existing trains cannot handle new ridership generated by the new stations and all the TOD happening and planned (especially near the Little Italy station). And the existing east side Red Line trains can accommodate more riders. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 6, 201411 yr Nice! A rail would have been awesome for me today... COTA buses were really tardy.
February 6, 201411 yr I could've used the (nonexistent) I-77 rail express today.... Stupid commute to Akron took an hour and a half. Although, I don't think I'll ever manage to top my 4 hour University Circle to Downtown commute during that freak rush hour lake effect band a few years back, unless, of course, I happened to move to Atlanta.
February 6, 201411 yr I could've used the (nonexistent) I-77 rail express today.... Stupid commute to Akron took an hour and a half. Although, I don't think I'll ever manage to top my 4 hour University Circle to Downtown commute during that freak rush hour lake effect band a few years back, unless, of course, I happened to move to Atlanta. Where is your workplace in Akron? Would the North Coast Express have worked for you? Description: http://www.akronmetro.org/ncx-service-to-cleveland.aspx Schedule X61: http://www.akronmetro.org/route-schedule.aspx?Route=x61 "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 6, 201411 yr ^^OMG I was stuck in that ATL nonsense!!! It was horrible. Four hours to get 10 miles. This also makes me miss the snow; however, it is pretty nice to be in a tank and shorts in February.
February 6, 201411 yr Thanks, KJP, this was great! Just think how easy your commute would be if there were a DMU or rapid line on the Lakewood rail corridor! You beat me to it Strap... KJP would have had just a 2 extra block walk south on W.117 to the nice new station (or perhaps the station stop at Cove I’d also have on the new NS extension), for a straight 9/10 min shot to W. 25… It does make me grateful for the rail system we have; its usefulness demonstrated by all the cars slogging along as trains zip right through to their destinations. Excellent.
February 6, 201411 yr I could've used the (nonexistent) I-77 rail express today.... Stupid commute to Akron took an hour and a half. Although, I don't think I'll ever manage to top my 4 hour University Circle to Downtown commute during that freak rush hour lake effect band a few years back, unless, of course, I happened to move to Atlanta. ... or maybe CVSR into Tower City?
February 6, 201411 yr I could've used the (nonexistent) I-77 rail express today.... Stupid commute to Akron took an hour and a half. Although, I don't think I'll ever manage to top my 4 hour University Circle to Downtown commute during that freak rush hour lake effect band a few years back, unless, of course, I happened to move to Atlanta. Where is your workplace in Akron? Would the North Coast Express have worked for you? Description: http://www.akronmetro.org/ncx-service-to-cleveland.aspx Schedule X61: http://www.akronmetro.org/route-schedule.aspx?Route=x61 I don't work downtown, so it would involve at least one transfer. I believe the one time that I looked at it it was going to be at least and hour and a half on a normal day (compared to 35-40 minutes).
February 6, 201411 yr I could've used the (nonexistent) I-77 rail express today.... Stupid commute to Akron took an hour and a half. Although, I don't think I'll ever manage to top my 4 hour University Circle to Downtown commute during that freak rush hour lake effect band a few years back, unless, of course, I happened to move to Atlanta. Where is your workplace in Akron? Would the North Coast Express have worked for you? Description: http://www.akronmetro.org/ncx-service-to-cleveland.aspx Schedule X61: http://www.akronmetro.org/route-schedule.aspx?Route=x61 I don't work downtown, so it would involve at least one transfer. I believe the one time that I looked at it it was going to be at least and hour and a half on a normal day (compared to 35-40 minutes). That's typical I suspect. Bedford to Brooklyn was about two hours versus a 25 to 30 minute drive. Plus the lateness factor: the very earliest I could get in was a few minutes after the time I was "supposed" to be there, a good half hour after I normally was. Maple Heights to W.110th/Berea/Madison was a little better, hour and a half versus about a half hour drive. But that was a 4 day 40 hour workweek even for management, and there was simply no way to be there on time. Bad weather makes the on-time factor less relevant in most places.
February 8, 201411 yr Man, I am jealous of Cleveland's rail system. The snow and ice have been absolutely brutal here in Cincinnati this week. I've got an old, light car and the first word of the name of my neighborhood is 'Mount'...not a good combination. The road conditions in these photos look pretty treacherous, though. I always hear things about people not knowing how to drive in the snow, but I seriously don't know how you are supposed to drive in conditions like these. If these were the road conditions in Cincinnati, I can only imagine how terrible the traffic would be. It's one thing to putz along slowly on a flat slushy street. It's quite another thing to try to climb a hill or go down a hill in this slush/snow/ice.
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