February 10, 200916 yr ^Where did you hear that? That's great news! I think I'll go take a ride Thursday or Friday afternoon and see how fast it is now. The info previously posted about a start date for the fare vending machines is inaccurate. A release will be sent as soon as a date is set, and my good friends at Urban Ohio will be told immediately. Let's not go chasing rumors. Thanks. can you provide an update on how the weekend testing went and what issues remain? it seemed that with the call for employee volunteers to man stations during morning and even rush hours, that the thursday launch was set - barring some other issues.
February 10, 200916 yr ^ You are correct. The call for employee volunteers was put out, just to be on the safe side. But some issues still remain, and work continues to get the machines up and running. This same scenario may happen again -- several times. That's why it's confusing -- and inappropriate -- to put this news in the public domain. When the machines are ready, we will say so. To post things that MIGHT happen makes our job even harder than it is. I am very committed to keep the posters on Urban Ohio well-informed. I sometimes even post things here a few minutes BEFORE I post them on rideRTA.com.
February 10, 200916 yr I am very committed to keep the posters on Urban Ohio well-informed. I sometimes even post things here a few minutes BEFORE I post them on rideRTA.com. ohhhhh. We rate high !! Thanks jerry. We apprecaite all you do.
February 10, 200916 yr Anyone know what those metal things being installed at the E.13 platform are? They are on the eastern part of the platform, right where the grassy/mud area begins. I saw them being put in on Saturday.
February 10, 200916 yr Anyone know what those metal things being installed at the E.13 platform are? They are on the eastern part of the platform, right where the grassy/mud area begins. I saw them being put in on Saturday. They're supposed to become art.
February 10, 200916 yr ^I assumed they were some type of public art, but they didn't look like much when I saw them on Saturday.
February 17, 200916 yr MORE GOOD NEWS FOR THE HEALTHLINE · Ridership up 39 percent · Ticket vending machines are ready CLEVELAND -- Ridership on the new HealthLine service on the Euclid Avenue is up an impressive 39 percent for the first three months of operation, says Joe Calabrese, CEO and General Manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). The service began Oct. 24, 2008 Speaking today to the RTA Board of Trustees, Calabrese said ridership increases for specific months are: · November 2008 - Up 46 percent · December 2008 - Up 28 percent · January 2009 - Up 43 percent “These ridership numbers are comparing the new HealthLine with the #6 bus line that previously served Euclid Avenue,” Calabrese said. “The #6 bus line was traditionally RTA’s busiest and most productive route.” Ticket vending machines are ready for use Calabrese also told the Board that testing is complete. Customers can start using the ticket vending machines (TVMs) along the HealthLine, starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18. He said RTA staff members will be on hand at key HealthLine stations to help customers use the machines. Riders are reminded of RTA’s “proof-of-payment” system · Buy your fare before you board. Keep your proof-of-payment with you while riding the HealthLine. · You can use a fare purchased earlier (such as a weekly or monthly pass). · You can also purchase a 1-ride ticket or an All-Day Pass at a ticket vending machine at any HealthLine station. If the ticket vending machine at a HealthLine station is not working, just pay the farebox next to the operator inside the vehicle, as soon as you board. If you are a student at a college that offers a U-Pass program, keep your college ID card with you at all times. A ticket vending machine… · Offers Braille and audio features for sight-impaired customers. · Accepts coins and bills, but does not give change. · Accepts debit and credit cards – Visa, MasterCard and Discover. · Issues magnetic tickets for any kind of All-Day Pass and receipts for one-way cash fares. In other words, it simulates an on-board farebox. What needs to be activated (validated) before you board · 7-Day Flex Passes must be activated before first use only. · All-Day Passes must be activated. · On 5-Trip Farecards, each trip needs to be activated. Monthly Passes are already activated for the month they were purchased for. Passes and farecards can be activated at any ticket vending machine. Some platforms also offer a smaller unit for activation only.
February 17, 200916 yr ^^Nice numbers on ridership. How does that fall in line with what was projected? Higher? Also, it is winter, and I would safely assume the numbers will only go up when the weather turns warm.
February 17, 200916 yr Question about U-pass: I still have my Fall semester sticker, which technically expired last month. I have long since been billed for the current semester's U-pass, but because of their restricted hours I have been unable to get my new sticker from student services. Recently a driver refused to honor my U-pass due to its being expired. Can't blame him, for all he knows I dropped out last semester. But this issue specifically worries me with regard to the HealthLine. Will I be charged criminally if I paid for a bus pass but have been unable to acquire the actual sticker?
February 17, 200916 yr Question about U-pass: I still have my Fall semester sticker, which technically expired last month. I have long since been billed for the current semester's U-pass, but because of their restricted hours I have been unable to get my new sticker from student services. Recently a driver refused to honor my U-pass due to its being expired. Can't blame him, for all he knows I dropped out last semester. But this issue specifically worries me with regard to the HealthLine. Will I be charged criminally if I paid for a bus pass but have been unable to acquire the actual sticker? What is the criminal charge for paying for something you don't use? There's nothing illegal about that.
February 17, 200916 yr ^I think he mean's if he's caught on the Healthline with an expired sticker. I would assume you would get ticketed, just like if you bought a ticket but threw it away and then got checked. They would ticket you.
February 17, 200916 yr Hardy har har. I'm serious! They have every right not to honor an expired sticker, but I shoudn't get a ticket when the sticker is my only problem.
February 17, 200916 yr ^I think you will get ticketed. I would assume the onus is on you to make sure the proper procedures for verification are followed. It's like paying for a parking pass but then throwing out your proof of purchase. When you roll up to the gate, you know you'll get charged a full day price.
February 17, 200916 yr why cant you just go get the sticker? and while you are there please get mine because I havent had a chance to get mine either.
February 17, 200916 yr ^^It's like getting a new license plate & registration but leaving your old one on. Get off UO and go wait in that never moving line at the new UC.
February 18, 200916 yr MORE GOOD NEWS FOR THE HEALTHLINE · Ridership up 39 percent · Ticket vending machines are ready CLEVELAND -- Ridership on the new HealthLine service on the Euclid Avenue is up an impressive 39 percent for the first three months of operation, says Joe Calabrese, CEO and General Manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). The service began Oct. 24, 2008 Speaking today to the RTA Board of Trustees, Calabrese said ridership increases for specific months are: · November 2008 - Up 46 percent · December 2008 - Up 28 percent · January 2009 - Up 43 percent “These ridership numbers are comparing the new HealthLine with the #6 bus line that previously served Euclid Avenue,” Calabrese said. “The #6 bus line was traditionally RTA’s busiest and most productive route.” JMasek, Can you comment or provide figures for the increase in ridership of the Healthline over the #6 the last year before the Euclid Corridor construction began? I would assume that the construction caused the $6 ridership to decrease, so comparing January 2009 to January 2008 doesn't really give us the true value of the Healthline. How about January 2009 compared to January 2005?
February 18, 200916 yr 327, I'm guessing that the ID card agreement with the RTA says something to the effect of "must present valid ID" without the sticker, it would be invalid or expired It is like trying to be served at a bar with an expired ID. According to the law it an expired ID is invalid, and should not be used for ID purpose. You may very well be 21+, but without a valid ID you don't get the privilages that you would have had if you had a valid ID. Does that make sense?
February 18, 200916 yr MORE GOOD NEWS FOR THE HEALTHLINE · Ridership up 39 percent · Ticket vending machines are ready CLEVELAND -- Ridership on the new HealthLine service on the Euclid Avenue is up an impressive 39 percent for the first three months of operation, says Joe Calabrese, CEO and General Manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). The service began Oct. 24, 2008 Speaking today to the RTA Board of Trustees, Calabrese said ridership increases for specific months are: · November 2008 - Up 46 percent · December 2008 - Up 28 percent · January 2009 - Up 43 percent “These ridership numbers are comparing the new HealthLine with the #6 bus line that previously served Euclid Avenue,” Calabrese said. “The #6 bus line was traditionally RTA’s busiest and most productive route.” JMasek, Can you comment or provide figures for the increase in ridership of the Healthline over the #6 the last year before the Euclid Corridor construction began? I would assume that the construction caused the $6 ridership to decrease, so comparing January 2009 to January 2008 doesn't really give us the true value of the Healthline. How about January 2009 compared to January 2005? Excellent point.
February 18, 200916 yr 327, I'm guessing that the ID card agreement with the RTA says something to the effect of "must present valid ID" without the sticker, it would be invalid or expired It is like trying to be served at a bar with an expired ID. According to the law it an expired ID is invalid, and should not be used for ID purpose. You may very well be 21+, but without a valid ID you don't get the privilages that you would have had if you had a valid ID. Does that make sense? Philosophically it makes no sense at all, but I can see why they'd do it anyway.
February 18, 200916 yr Can you comment or provide figures for the increase in ridership of the Healthline over the #6 the last year before the Euclid Corridor construction began? I would assume that the construction caused the $6 ridership to decrease, so comparing January 2009 to January 2008 doesn't really give us the true value of the Healthline. How about January 2009 compared to January 2005? Sorry to jump in here, but I can help answer. I have 2004 ridership data for each RTA route, courtesy of RTA's Bus Route Performance 2004 report. In it, the report shows the #6 had 2,941,560 boardings for the year. It was RTA's second-busiest bus route, trailing the #326's 3,442,131 boardings in 2004. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 19, 200916 yr Hi Jerry/JetDog, just a couple things. 1. Is that new announcement about fares going to be permanent on the BRTs? I'm assuming you know what I'm talking about, but for everyone else's sake, there's a fare announcement tacked onto each stop announcement. So now each stop announcement is 15-20 seconds long (30 if you're reading the scrolling LED boards) and says "Next stop, Euclid Ave. and E. Blah, blah, blah St. (sponsored by Blah, blah, blah). If you have not validated your farecard or paid your fare, please come to the front of the bus and see the operator. Thank you for riding with RTA." Now as you can imagine, this announcement is way too long for EVERY stop, especially between E. 55th and E. 79th where the buses tend to be able to skip more stops. Therefore, the stop announcements get all messed up, not to mention the fact that I was able to memorize that entire announcement without even trying it because I heard it so much that I had a nervous twitch by the time I got to Adelbert. A little less frequent announcements would be appreciated :). 2. So the instructions for UPasses are essentially to not swipe or validate at all? So RTA doesn't care to know how many rides students with UPasses take? Thanks!
February 19, 200916 yr Can you imagine the poor bus drivers?? They probably hear those announcements in their sleep. It's like the ice cream truck driver who claimed insanity from hearing that damn song for hours every day... "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 19, 200916 yr Can you imagine the poor bus drivers?? They probably hear those announcements in their sleep. It's like the ice cream truck driver who claimed insanity from hearing that damn song for hours every day... Yeah, it would be nice to hear their take on it, even though it's only been 2 days. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have to hear that for 8 hours straight, or however long each shift is.
February 19, 200916 yr I thought about the drivers too. In one of my many jobs, I managed haunted houses every fall for various companies. One year I was the manager of a house that played the theme music to the movie Halloween at the entrance, you know, the piano music that's only about 4 notes total? It was on a tape loop and played all night long, every night, Thursday-Sunday for 5 weeks. Let me tell you how much fun THAT was. I honestly think the verbal announcements are useless unless it announces one word or phrase, such as the name of the next coming stop. All this blah blah about thank you for riding RTA and don't forget your belongings and everything at every stop is overkill.
February 19, 200916 yr I thought about the drivers too. In one of my many jobs, I managed haunted houses every fall for various companies. One year I was the manager of a house that played the theme music to the movie Halloween at the entrance, you know, the piano music that's only about 4 notes total? It was on a tape loop and played all night long, every night, Thursday-Sunday for 5 weeks. Let me tell you how much fun THAT was. I honestly think the verbal announcements are useless unless it announces one word or phrase, such as the name of the next coming stop. All this blah blah about thank you for riding RTA and don't forget your belongings and everything at every stop is overkill. Damn Girl. How in the world did you have time to make a baby? I swear you have a little Jamaican in you! LOL
February 19, 200916 yr I thought about the drivers too. In one of my many jobs, I managed haunted houses every fall for various companies. One year I was the manager of a house that played the theme music to the movie Halloween at the entrance, you know, the piano music that's only about 4 notes total? It was on a tape loop and played all night long, every night, Thursday-Sunday for 5 weeks. Let me tell you how much fun THAT was. I honestly think the verbal announcements are useless unless it announces one word or phrase, such as the name of the next coming stop. All this blah blah about thank you for riding RTA and don't forget your belongings and everything at every stop is overkill. Yeah, the automated stop announcements the way they were before on the Healthline were just fine since they were actually audible. It's just that extra fare announcement and the "thank you for riding" thing that make it way too long.
February 19, 200916 yr Most of the new automated announcements are beneath RTA in my opinion. They detract from their surroundings and from the overall experience. Have a real person record that stuff and don't play it so much. One disadvantage to the healthline payment system appeared before me this morning. I got on at 30th going in, and this lady was dozing in the seat in front of me. Three transit police had gotten on with me and were going from person to person checking fares. Luckily, I had just updated my Upass the yesterday! But this lady in front of me had to be woken up, and she was disoriented so it took her a minute to figure out just why a cop was waking her up and what she needed to fish out. Much awkwardness. I guess if she came from Windermere, it might make sense to doze a little if she needed to, but she was about to have to wake up anyway because the ride was about over. I still prefer this new quicker system, but it creates some odd situations. And to your question #2, I think the drivers are supposed to beep a button for each Upass they see. In my experience they do it about 75% of the time.
February 19, 200916 yr Most of the new automated announcements are beneath RTA in my opinion. They detract from their surroundings and from the overall experience. Have a real person record that stuff and don't play it so much. One disadvantage to the healthline payment system appeared before me this morning. I got on at 30th going in, and this lady was dozing in the seat in front of me. Three transit police had gotten on with me and were going from person to person checking fares. Luckily, I had just updated my Upass the yesterday! But this lady in front of me had to be woken up, and she was disoriented so it took her a minute to figure out just why a cop was waking her up and what she needed to fish out. Much awkwardness. I guess if she came from Windermere, it might make sense to doze a little if she needed to, but she was about to have to wake up anyway because the ride was about over. I still prefer this new quicker system, but it creates some odd situations. And to your question #2, I think the drivers are supposed to beep a button for each Upass they see. In my experience they do it about 75% of the time. Cude, this happens in every country, especially in Europe. I don't find this odd at atll. Based on how you wrote this, the transit police did exactly what they were suppose to do. No need to take owner ship of the other passengers "issue".
February 19, 200916 yr Most of the new automated announcements are beneath RTA in my opinion. They detract from their surroundings and from the overall experience. Have a real person record that stuff and don't play it so much. One disadvantage to the healthline payment system appeared before me this morning. I got on at 30th going in, and this lady was dozing in the seat in front of me. Three transit police had gotten on with me and were going from person to person checking fares. Luckily, I had just updated my Upass the yesterday! But this lady in front of me had to be woken up, and she was disoriented so it took her a minute to figure out just why a cop was waking her up and what she needed to fish out. Much awkwardness. I guess if she came from Windermere, it might make sense to doze a little if she needed to, but she was about to have to wake up anyway because the ride was about over. I still prefer this new quicker system, but it creates some odd situations. And to your question #2, I think the drivers are supposed to beep a button for each Upass they see. In my experience they do it about 75% of the time. Cude, this happens in every country, especially in Europe. I don't find this odd at atll. Based on how you wrote this, the transit police did exactly what they were suppose to do. No need to take owner ship of the other passengers "issue". I didn't say anyone did anything wrong. It's just a new experience for many locals. Also it took two people about ten minutes to explain the various fare systems to a local at one of the healthline stops yesterday. I and the other guy had it down pat, but this lady was pretty much bewildered. I don't think it's a bad system (or set of systems), but I do think better written explanations would be helpful to a lot of people. Separate question about the vending machines, which just came on line. On most of the purchase menus, the options default to a standard pass. But on one menu (can't remember which right now) the default setting is a senior/disabled variety, and you have to move the cursor to switch to a standard pass. This is just asking for trouble. People are going to end up buying passes they can't use.
February 19, 200916 yr Most of the new automated announcements are beneath RTA in my opinion. They detract from their surroundings and from the overall experience. Have a real person record that stuff and don't play it so much. One disadvantage to the healthline payment system appeared before me this morning. I got on at 30th going in, and this lady was dozing in the seat in front of me. Three transit police had gotten on with me and were going from person to person checking fares. Luckily, I had just updated my Upass the yesterday! But this lady in front of me had to be woken up, and she was disoriented so it took her a minute to figure out just why a cop was waking her up and what she needed to fish out. Much awkwardness. I guess if she came from Windermere, it might make sense to doze a little if she needed to, but she was about to have to wake up anyway because the ride was about over. I still prefer this new quicker system, but it creates some odd situations. And to your question #2, I think the drivers are supposed to beep a button for each Upass they see. In my experience they do it about 75% of the time. Cude, this happens in every country, especially in Europe. I don't find this odd at atll. Based on how you wrote this, the transit police did exactly what they were suppose to do. No need to take owner ship of the other passengers "issue". I didn't say anyone did anything wrong. It's just a new experience for many locals. Also it took two people about ten minutes to explain the various fare systems to a local at one of the healthline stops yesterday. I and the other guy had it down pat, but this lady was pretty much bewildered. I don't think it's a bad system (or set of systems), but I do think better written explanations would be helpful to a lot of people. Separate question about the vending machines, which just came on line. On most of the purchase menus, the options default to a standard pass. But on one menu (can't remember which right now) the default setting is a senior/disabled variety, and you have to move the cursor to switch to a standard pass. This is just asking for trouble. People are going to end up buying passes they can't use. I actually saw a lot of people still just paying on board this morning.
February 19, 200916 yr I didn't say anyone did anything wrong. It's just a new experience for many locals. Also it took two people about ten minutes to explain the various fare systems to a local at one of the healthline stops yesterday. I and the other guy had it down pat, but this lady was pretty much bewildered. I don't think it's a bad system (or set of systems), but I do think better written explanations would be helpful to a lot of people. Separate question about the vending machines, which just came on line. On most of the purchase menus, the options default to a standard pass. But on one menu (can't remember which right now) the default setting is a senior/disabled variety, and you have to move the cursor to switch to a standard pass. This is just asking for trouble. People are going to end up buying passes they can't use. As it is with any system, when Chicago went with the transit pass riders experienced "growing pains"; I'd just moved to NYC when the blue metrocard was introduced, talk about change of every day habit/culture. People didn't know how to buy or use and the station clerks were clueless. As more and more stations came online, people understoond how to use the system. The same will happen in Cleveland, it's just a matter of time and the citizens have been thrown into the 21 century. They need to get with the program. Period.
February 19, 200916 yr People will catch on to it...i dont think it is that difficult to use though, ive a u-pass with csu but was just playing around with the machine yesterday while waiting for the brt to come and didnt really have any real trouble with it.
February 19, 200916 yr There is an extent to which the program needs to get with them, just a little bit. People adapt slowly to new technology. Those in transit-dependent demographics are less likely to have had much exposure to computer upgrades. It's just like with the Diebold voting systems, don't tell me that the customer is the problem. That explanation carries zero weight in business and has no place in government either.
February 19, 200916 yr There is an extent to which the program needs to get with them, just a little bit. People adapt slowly to new technology. Those in transit-dependent demographics are less likely to have had much exposure to computer upgrades. It's just like with the Diebold voting systems, don't tell me that the customer is the problem. That explanation carries zero weight in business and has no place in government either. I'm not saying it's a user problem but a cultural wake up. People are use to riding/paying on RTA one way. Now they've got to learn a new way of doing things.
February 19, 200916 yr "People adapt slowly to new technology." People have yet to adapt to the millions of dollars of signage, rumble strips, lighting, etc. on Deadman's Curve; people have yet to adapt to simple traffic signals for god's sake - how much handholding do people need before we finally declare that evolution hasn't stopped? If people can't adapt and freak the f#ck out because of something so simple, my guess is that the gene pool needs some bleach! clevelandskyscrapers.com Cleveland Skyscrapers on Instagram
February 19, 200916 yr "People adapt slowly to new technology." People have yet to adapt to the millions of dollars of signage, rumble strips, lighting, etc. on Deadman's Curve; people have yet to adapt to simple traffic signals for god's sake - how much handholding do people need before we finally declare that evolution hasn't stopped? If people can't adapt and freak the f#ck out because of something so simple, my guess is that the gene pool needs some bleach! Good Lord sweetie! Simma Down Now! Take out those Hawaii pictures and look at the pretty sunsets. LOL
February 19, 200916 yr Deadman's Curve is a complete debacle. I mean, we don't call it Safety Curve or Competent Engineer's Curve do we? No amount of signage makes up for bad work. If you're betting on people getting things done, and new technology is involved, it is highly advisable to bet against them. It is highly inadvisable to blame them for failing, when the same pattern plays out over and over again. The new technology was invariably designed by a non-user and they failed to account for one or more major factors. What may look like people failing to adapt to technology is actually people adapting failed technology to reality.
February 19, 200916 yr Can you comment or provide figures for the increase in ridership of the Healthline over the #6 the last year before the Euclid Corridor construction began? I would assume that the construction caused the $6 ridership to decrease, so comparing January 2009 to January 2008 doesn't really give us the true value of the Healthline. How about January 2009 compared to January 2005? Sorry to jump in here, but I can help answer. I have 2004 ridership data for each RTA route, courtesy of RTA's Bus Route Performance 2004 report. In it, the report shows the #6 had 2,941,560 boardings for the year. It was RTA's second-busiest bus route, trailing the #326's 3,442,131 boardings in 2004. KJP, Thanks for the info, but that doesn't really answer my question. JMasek's article only gave a percentage increase from individual months last year to this year, so we can't really compare that to number of rides for all of 2004.
February 19, 200916 yr ^Yeah. We need to know how many riders there were in November, December, and January of 2004/5.
February 19, 200916 yr And we'd need the hard numbers for Nov, Dec, and Jan 08/09 instead of just percentage increases from the previous year.
February 19, 200916 yr Separate question about the vending machines, which just came on line. On most of the purchase menus, the options default to a standard pass. But on one menu (can't remember which right now) the default setting is a senior/disabled variety, and you have to move the cursor to switch to a standard pass. This is just asking for trouble. People are going to end up buying passes they can't use. RTA is looking at reconfiguring the screens now. There will be some small changes, like the default you pointed out on a 1 ride or 2 ride pass, as well as other potential additions - like the button numbers, "R3" for instance, on the screen arrow so that taller people can see which button to press (they don't line up well when viewed from above), possibly defaulting each transaction to "1" quantity, to eliminate a press of the "increment" button, changing language from "increment" and "decrement" to increase and decrease, as well as the elimination of some of the screens and the addition of spanish screens. Right now it takes 7 or 8 steps to purchase a pass - this seems like too many.
February 19, 200916 yr And to your question #2, I think the drivers are supposed to beep a button for each Upass they see. In my experience they do it about 75% of the time. But the Healthline drivers aren't supposed to have to look. I flash it when boarding from the righthand side at Adelbert (because I feel inclined to when I walk right past the driver), but there really isn't any reason for me to fight through people in the morning when I board from the left side just to get to the front of the bus to show the driver I have a UPass. And considering the Healthline serves CSU and Case, I'd think RTA would want to keep better track of us for their numbers. I want to make sure the numbers reported aren't deflated cause I want RTA to have continued success!
February 19, 200916 yr And we'd need the hard numbers for Nov, Dec, and Jan 08/09 instead of just percentage increases from the previous year. From published RTA ridership reports, overall, the ridership on the 6 did decline slightly during the construction, but was still the #1 or #2 route in the system. Total ridership on 6 by year 2004 - 2,941,560 2006 - 2,896,597 (-1.5% under 2004) 2007 - 2,597,767 (-11.5% yoy) # 6 Ridership Numbers from 2007 Nov. 2007 - 217,222 (Nov. 2008 46% inc. = 99,922 additional riders, 317,144 total) Dec. 2007 - 194,626 (Dec. 2008 28% inc. = 54,495 additional riders, 249,121 total) Jan. 2008 - XXX,XXX (Jan. 2008 43% inc. = ?)
February 19, 200916 yr ^I hope RTA is going to demand $$ from the vendor. Indeed. I keep wondering about that. One would think reconfigurations would have been finished sometime between the system's official debut and the day they said it was all finally working. Let's not give more ammo to the Cleveland.com people. RTA should not take the blame for all this.
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