6 minutes ago, Luke_S said:

Okay, so that funding is out there. Seems like RTA has an ally in the Bibb administration. It's still early so hard to say exactly what ways he will support the agency, but seems like nominating people to the board who are actual riders seems a good place to start. Hopefully a new administration at the county level will be an ally. 

 

How far do those two things get us? 

 

If not very far who is needed where to be able to bring this money in so our transit can be appropriately funded? 

I think it goes to the agency leadership.  Laketran's CEO Ben Capelle seems to do quite well in securing assistance.  He was able to get the $14.7 million for its main headquarters and bus storage/maintenance facility.  He was able to line up money for the electric battery buses along with the supporting infrastructure such as charging stations.  Their highway and city buses are all no more than six years old (except for perhaps 4 30-foot coaches that if still in service, would be replaced this year--haven't seen them in service in western Lake County for a while).  Even when their buses are retired from service, they are in very good condition for their ages.  Capelle has been able to work with Senator Brown and Representative Joyce in getting these grants.  

 
RTA doesn't want to pursue a tax hike because they think it would fail. They're probably right. But I think it would interesting to test voters' reactions to funding scenarios for a range of potential expansion/realignment plans.

Agreed - a good test case would be the marginal cost of fare machine upgrades. The fact the agency can’t afford a system to ensure it simply has paying customers is a straightforward, marketable need.


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31 minutes ago, ASP1984 said:

Agreed - a good test case would be the marginal cost of fare machine upgrades. The fact the agency can’t afford a system to ensure it simply has paying customers is a straightforward, marketable need.


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Best in class systems use Proof-of-payment. One reason why is that it’s much less expensive. RTA needs to fully implement this on BRT and rail lines. It improves service speed, decreases operational expenses, and is much less expensive to implement. 
 

important note - the law suit a few years back was that RTA couldn’t use uniformed police to check payment. They are absolutely allowed to use other staff for payment checking. (Which is how they should have done it in the first place)

4 minutes ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

Best in class systems use Proof-of-payment. One reason why is that it’s much less expensive. RTA needs to fully implement this on BRT and rail lines. It improves service speed, decreases operational expenses, and is much less expensive to implement. 
 

important note - the law suit a few years back was that RTA couldn’t use uniformed police to check payment. They are absolutely allowed to use other staff for payment checking. (Which is how they should have done it in the first place)

RTA would rather downsize transit than downsize their police force.

Another train will soon be donating its salvageable parts...

 

 

India Birdsong on free fares:

 

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/03/cuyahoga-county-has-been-dreaming-of-free-transit-but-rta-officials-say-its-not-a-likely-reality.html

 

"Other transit agencies that dropped fare enforcement during the pandemic quickly reinstated it because it became difficult to enforce rules, keep up with demand, and discourage joyriders or squatters, Birdsong said."

^All of those are addressable in other ways. But I’m glad they aren’t seriously consider it. Any money that could go towards free fares should be used to improve frequency instead - far more helpful to the people who need transit, and more likely (than free fares) to attract riders who have other options.  

5 hours ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

^All of those are addressable in other ways. But I’m glad they aren’t seriously consider it. Any money that could go towards free fares should be used to improve frequency instead - far more helpful to the people who need transit, and more likely (than free fares) to attract riders who have other options.  

I agree, there are other ways to deal with those issues, and is increased demand, "joyriders and squatters" really a problem?  Only a fraction of the fares is revenue for most transit agencies -- you have to deduct the cost to buy and maintain ticket dispensers, handle cash and coins, and pay for enforcement.  And enforcement slows down boarding and creates friction with your customers, many of whom are poor and from minority communities.

 

Quote

In Lawrence, the zero-fare experiment that began in 2019 just expanded to the regional Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority. Noah Berger, the authority’s administrator, said that for every dollar the system collected in fares, 76 cents went to the costs of collecting those fares — from fixing and maintaining fare boxes to physically counting cash. “It’s a very inefficient, clunky way to generate revenue,” he said.

Eliminating fares also removes the primary source of friction between drivers and riders and allows drivers to spend less time at each stop, he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/14/boston-free-public-transit/

 

Boston's new mayor says transit is a public good and should be treated as such -- advocating for fare free transit.

Quote

She is looking to expand the fare-free service to key bus routes that connect Boston to its nearest neighbors such as Cambridge. She also wants to see discounted fares for low-income residents across the system. In the long run, she said, public transportation is “a public good and should be funded that way.”

I really like this idea. 

 

What do we pay for roads?  $25 for a 4-year license ($6.25/year) and $30/year for registration -- call it $40 per year.  Plus gas taxes (average of 13,500 miles per year, 25mpg, $.385/gallon gas tax is $207.90 per year) -- we can round up to $210.  With gas taxes, registration, and licensing, Ohioans are paying about $250 per year in "use taxes" to use all the roads.  (Actually, a lot more because the highway trust fund has been refilled several times with income tax revenue.  ODOT highway budget in 2021 was $3.6B.  https://www.lsc.ohio.gov/documents/budget/133/transportation/IN/budgetinbrief-hb62-in.pdf)

 

What kind of revenue does RTA get from its "use taxes" -- fares?  About $22m. (and $10m from the state; the state's largest transit authority receives about 0.3% of what the state spends on roads) http://www.riderta.com/sites/default/files/pdf/budget/2022/4-FundBudgets.pdf

 

If everyone in the RTA region paid a transit tax alongside their water and sewer bills, say $20 per month per HOUSEHOLD ($240 per year, roughly the same as we pay for roads) -- RTA would double its revenue to $40m (assuming approximately 175,000 households in greater Cleveland) and could eliminate fares.  $20 per month for everyone in your house to hop on RTA any time they wanted is a steal compared to the current $95 monthly pass per person. 

Sales and use tax revenues are much higher. The report you linked to shows 2022 revenue from the countywide sales tax is $242,986,048

4 hours ago, KJP said:

Sales and use tax revenues are much higher. The report you linked to shows 2022 revenue from the countywide sales tax is $242,986,048

 

That's true -- but I was trying to separate out the taxes paid by users from the taxes paid by the general public.  Sales taxes are not based on our use of RTA (neither are our state income taxes, some of which do come back to RTA).

 

 

 

 

On 3/18/2022 at 12:19 PM, Boomerang_Brian said:

Best in class systems use Proof-of-payment. One reason why is that it’s much less expensive. RTA needs to fully implement this on BRT and rail lines. It improves service speed, decreases operational expenses, and is much less expensive to implement. 
 

important note - the law suit a few years back was that RTA couldn’t use uniformed police to check payment. They are absolutely allowed to use other staff for payment checking. (Which is how they should have done it in the first place)

 

This is how they originally did do it, on the Red Line.  The turnstiles were manned.

10 hours ago, E Rocc said:

 

This is how they originally did do it, on the Red Line.  The turnstiles were manned.

That’s not how a modern proof-of-payment works. They ALMOST had PoP right on the HealthLine, but they used police officers instead of civilian employees for fare inspection. 
 

One advantage if proper PoP is that there is no need for turnstiles or “Isolated paid area” - this cuts WAY down on capital expense for building new stations. There are simple pay and validation machines at each station, and that’s it for capital. Then you have fare inspection employees. 

11 hours ago, GISguy said:

 

 

If the RTA doesn't self implode from going broke, then I'm sure the loss of trains will shut down the red line for the foreseeable future. This is all a result of intended neglect for public transit in this region and state. Pathetic cities all over this country are developing new trolleys and light rail in their downtowns and we can't even have a GD functioning train. 

51 minutes ago, AsDustinFoxWouldSay said:

If the RTA doesn't self implode from going broke, then I'm sure the loss of trains will shut down the red line for the foreseeable future. This is all a result of intended neglect for public transit in this region and state. Pathetic cities all over this country are developing new trolleys and light rail in their downtowns and we can't even have a GD functioning train. 

This is why I keep complaining about the snail's pace for securing the funding to purchase the replacement rail cars.  The Red Line fleet is in worse condition than the Blue/Green line fleet.  It is due in large part by being forced to run 2-car trains when ridership does not warrant it, causing double the equipment usage to stack up the wear and tear on the fleet.  The Blue/Green Line fleet is not in much better shape.  Those rail cars suffer frequent breakdowns and won't last much longer as well.  If RTA decides to award a contract to replace the Red Line fleet, even if it is the beginning of the common fleet for the entire system, it will be a smaller overall total and raising the cost for each rail car.  If the order as an option for the Blue and Green line fleet, the cost of the option is always higher per rail car than the original order.  Another factor is that the option will be for another small order.  One unified order for approximately 76 rail cars will cost less than an order and option of 40 and 36 rail cars (lower the cost = less money needed). 

 

RTA has more than enough yard space to store its current rail car fleet plus another 76 new cars when they are delivered.  The Central Rail Maintenance Facility yard was designed to hold at least double the size of the current fleets (108 rail cars total) when they were initially delivered in the 1980's.  It is vastly under-utilized.  As a fall-back, RTA also has the basically unused rail yard at the old Brookpark Shop.

 

As it is, there should be serious doubts that the Red Line fleet will last the approximately five years that it would take from awarding the bid to time of delivery.  If the Blue/Green line fleet replacement option doesn't occur for 2 or 3 years, will that fleet be operational 7 or 8 years from now?

13 hours ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

That’s not how a modern proof-of-payment works. They ALMOST had PoP right on the HealthLine, but they used police officers instead of civilian employees for fare inspection. 
 

One advantage if proper PoP is that there is no need for turnstiles or “Isolated paid area” - this cuts WAY down on capital expense for building new stations. There are simple pay and validation machines at each station, and that’s it for capital. Then you have fare inspection employees. 

 

On the other hand, "papers, please" is going to turn off some potential riders.   Isolated paid area is also good for security.

13 minutes ago, E Rocc said:

 

On the other hand, "papers, please" is going to turn off some potential riders.   Isolated paid area is also good for security.

Those people then, um, would really struggle on a (non-transit) train pretty much anywhere in the world. 
 

The only people that want to make a connection between PoP on a transit system and Communism? Nazism? whatever -ism and “You Are Now Entering The America Sector” reality you are inferring are probably not transit riders lost in the first place. Or certainly won’t be after another 10 years or so. 🤷‍♂️

43 minutes ago, E Rocc said:

 

On the other hand, "papers, please" is going to turn off some potential riders.   Isolated paid area is also good for security.

You keep saying this. That doesn’t make it true. 
 

We desperately need to learn from the rest of the world. Part of that means being open to what works. When I visited Munich, PoP was confusing to me. But that doesn’t make it a bad system, it just takes getting used to. And absolutely the instructions need to be clearly communicated everywhere someone gets on transit. 

14 hours ago, AsDustinFoxWouldSay said:

If the RTA doesn't self implode from going broke,

 

Financially, RTA is facing the opposite situation. Their finances thanks to federal COVID relief funds and improving sales tax revenue is the best that it has been in a very long time. Sales tax revenue is up 55 percent in the past two decades and RTA now has a four-month operating reserve. They've wanted to have a 3-month reserve as well as a reserve in their development to improve their credit rating and reduce their cost of borrowing. They've achieved some great things financially.

 

On the other hand, you'd never know it by looking at their rail AND bus fleets. The condition of their rail fleet is well documented on this thread. I don't see how RTA is going to make it to 2030, when they hope to have the entire rail system fleet replaced, and not have a rail line (ie: the Green Line) be converted to bus operation because RTA simply doesn't have enough functional railcars to operate everything.

 

And even then, will we have enough buses for a long-term bus substitute of a rail line? We have downtown trolleys providing service on mainline trunk bus routes like the #22 and the #26. We don't have enough operable buses to provide service on the existing bus system, let alone to provide substitute rail service over an extended period.

 

1 hour ago, E Rocc said:

 

On the other hand, "papers, please" is going to turn off some potential riders.   Isolated paid area is also good for security.

 

No one is checking riders' identities, E Rocc.

The fact that we're in the richest country in the world and these kinds of conversations are happening is thoroughly depressing.  

Cross-posted in the Cleveland safety thread

3 hours ago, KJP said:

 

Financially, RTA is facing the opposite situation. Their finances thanks to federal COVID relief funds and improving sales tax revenue is the best that it has been in a very long time. Sales tax revenue is up 55 percent in the past two decades and RTA now has a four-month operating reserve. They've wanted to have a 3-month reserve as well as a reserve in their development to improve their credit rating and reduce their cost of borrowing. They've achieved some great things financially.

 

On the other hand, you'd never know it by looking at their rail AND bus fleets. The condition of their rail fleet is well documented on this thread. I don't see how RTA is going to make it to 2030, when they hope to have the entire rail system fleet replaced, and not have a rail line (ie: the Green Line) be converted to bus operation because RTA simply doesn't have enough functional railcars to operate everything.

 

And even then, will we have enough buses for a long-term bus substitute of a rail line? We have downtown trolleys providing service on mainline trunk bus routes like the #22 and the #26. We don't have enough operable buses to provide service on the existing bus system, let alone to provide substitute rail service over an extended period.

 

 

No one is checking riders' identities, E Rocc.

 

No one is doing so at the self check-outs either but the receipt check is a big part of why people don't like to do it.

3 hours ago, Cleburger said:

The fact that we're in the richest country in the world and these kinds of conversations are happening is thoroughly depressing.  

 

Once transit became a social program on wheels, they were inevitable.  

5 minutes ago, E Rocc said:

 

Once transit became a social program on wheels, they were inevitable.  

I've just spent the last week in Detroit which is the poster-child for white-flight in America.   Let me tell you, their concrete is not a path to prosperity either.   I thought our roads in Cleveland were bad....metro Detroit is literally crumbling.  

2 hours ago, Cleburger said:

I've just spent the last week in Detroit which is the poster-child for white-flight in America.   Let me tell you, their concrete is not a path to prosperity either.   I thought our roads in Cleveland were bad....metro Detroit is literally crumbling.  

 

Leaving aside that most of us would have fled Detriot if we lived there then (I would have, and I live within the Cleveland city limits), how much of that is due to horribly corrupt local and regional government?   

When I went to the SAE show every year longer ago than I care to admit, it was considered a big deal that the "safe zone" was pushed out from Fort Westin and Cobo Hall to that street between them.   Oddly enough, locals advised us that the People Mover was perfectly safe.

Are we talking about RTA?

6 hours ago, Cleburger said:

I thought our roads in Cleveland were bad....metro Detroit is literally crumbling.  

 

4 hours ago, E Rocc said:

 

Leaving aside that most of us would have fled Detriot if we lived there then (I would have, and I live within the Cleveland city limits), how much of that is due to horribly corrupt local and regional government?   

When I went to the SAE show every year longer ago than I care to admit, it was considered a big deal that the "safe zone" was pushed out from Fort Westin and Cobo Hall to that street between them.   Oddly enough, locals advised us that the People Mover was perfectly safe.

 

There may or may not be or have been corrupt officials in Detroit government, but certainly Michigan has a lot (too many) concrete roadways, and lower quality concrete jobs can degrade quicker.  I suspect that concrete fails in ways that asphalt does not, which is better at sealing out water.  Concrete pavement requires expansion joints -- intentional cracks -- which lets water in.  When it freezes, pop goes the concrete. I for one am happy to be riding on asphalt most of the time here in Ohio, despite the spring pothole-bloom.

 

Not sure how vague claims of corruption in local government or crumbling roadways gets us to limited safety on Detroit's streets or safety on Detroit's People Mover or what that has to do with RTA.  But here we are.

13 hours ago, KJP said:

Financially, RTA is facing the opposite situation. Their finances thanks to federal COVID relief funds and improving sales tax revenue is the best that it has been in a very long time. Sales tax revenue is up 55 percent in the past two decades and RTA now has a four-month operating reserve. They've wanted to have a 3-month reserve as well as a reserve in their development to improve their credit rating and reduce their cost of borrowing. They've achieved some great things financially.

 

On the other hand, you'd never know it by looking at their rail AND bus fleets. The condition of their rail fleet is well documented on this thread. I don't see how RTA is going to make it to 2030, when they hope to have the entire rail system fleet replaced, and not have a rail line (ie: the Green Line) be converted to bus operation because RTA simply doesn't have enough functional railcars to operate everything.

 

And even then, will we have enough buses for a long-term bus substitute of a rail line? We have downtown trolleys providing service on mainline trunk bus routes like the #22 and the #26. We don't have enough operable buses to provide service on the existing bus system, let alone to provide substitute rail service over an extended period.

The fall-back to using surplus downtown trolleys in regular service will carry things only so far.  That fleet consists of 12 buses.  Probably two are needed in downtown service.  That leaves only ten "surplus" trolley-style buses to fill in.  What's next up for fill in service?  45-foot surplus highway coaches (not designed for exclusive stop-and-go city service)?  Any of the original operational HealthLine 60-foot articulated buses that were recently retired (though I heard they were pretty well worn out by the time they were being replaced)?  Cobbled together buses pulled off the scrap line?  Really, really sad state of operations for RTA. 

 

What happens if the high gas prices causes enough of rider surge where they need more buses that they don't have?  This would have been one opportunity for RTA to gain riders with the hope making a good enough impression to keep them long-term.  The way things are now, there is almost zero chance of these riders continuing with RTA once gas prices ease. 

It took RTA *four* days to issue a public statement?? Things just haven't been the same at RTA PR since Jerry Masek retired....

 

 

General question about the RTA.

 

Other cities have their public transit under their Port Authority, right? Why isn't the Cleveland RTA structured the same way? 

 

The port authority seems to be better run and better funded. Would think it could help pull the RTA out of this spiral...

1 hour ago, Luke_S said:

General question about the RTA.

 

Other cities have their public transit under their Port Authority, right? Why isn't the Cleveland RTA structured the same way? 

 

The port authority seems to be better run and better funded. Would think it could help pull the RTA out of this spiral...

There are other transit agencies that are under the banner of "Regional".  Based upon ridership, the Cuyahoaga County 1.0% sales tax does better of funding the system than the Port Authority of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh's system) with the county and state aid.  As @KJP stated above, "Their finances thanks to federal COVID relief funds and improving sales tax revenue is the best that it has been in a very long time. Sales tax revenue is up 55 percent in the past two decades and RTA now has a four-month operating reserve. They've wanted to have a 3-month reserve as well as a reserve in their development to improve their credit rating and reduce their cost of borrowing. They've achieved some great things financially." 

 

The problem with RTA has nothing to do with its name, the banner that it operates under or money.  Shifting the operation to be under the Port Authority banner here will mean nothing.  When RTA was formed in 1975, Cleveland Transit System was the largest agency of the systems that combined and most of its management just shifted from CTS to RTA.  The problem has to do with the people who have been running the operation for well over 20 years.  They have been the cause of the system's death spiral.  Calabrese jumped ship when the Dixon scandals broke and others, plus knowing the overall direction of the system.  He knew where RTA was going and wanted nothing to with it.  Birdsong has done nothing to reverse things and by many accounts, has accelerated the decline. 

 

The board of trustees need to be pressured by the county, the city and the suburban mayors to not renew Birdsong's contract and actively recruit competent candidates to run the system.  It would not be surprising to learn that the obvious mess that RTA was in served as a major deterrent for potential good candidates in pursuing the general manager's opening that led to Birdsong's hiring.

6 hours ago, LifeLongClevelander said:

 Birdsong has done nothing to reverse things and by many accounts, has accelerated the decline. 

Do you have facts or credible sources to support this, or is this all anecdotal? 

^^Writing off Calabrese as “jumping ship” seems awfully generous to him. He was the cause of so many problems and didn’t fix other problems that needed fixing. Trying to lay this mess at Birdsong’s feet is nonsense. Yes, I’d like to see more improvement more quickly. Yes, I’d like better transparency. But I also acknowledge that Calabrese left a complete disaster and things weren’t going to get fixed overnight. 

5 hours ago, jeremyck01 said:

Do you have facts or credible sources to support this, or is this all anecdotal? 

Botched initial bidding process for rail car replacement (well documented).  This has delayed the whole replacement process by months and the whole process had to be repeated.  Deterioration of overall bus operations/availability to the point where RTA was forced to put surplus downtown trolleys into regular main line service.  Look at the system map for NextGen.  Frequencies on some routes were improved, but routes became more circuitous and in some cases transfers became necessary when they weren't before.  Any "savings" due to increased frequencies are negated by the time it takes to transfer.  A dozen new 45-foot highway coaches were received in 2020 at a cost of about $700,000 apiece.  In June 2021 when NextGen was implemented, two of the three routes using them were eliminated.  Some of those new buses that were in service for only 6 months became surplus and idled.  The system already had a dozen of those buses on hand.  Six of them with many years and miles of life remaining were sold for less than $7000 apiece.  The one remaining highway coach route (sponsored by by Strongsville and Brunswick) has six departures each in the morning and afternoon/evening that would require no more than four buses for service.  Fourteen "spare" buses for a route that requires only four to provide service is a waste in assets.  As @KJPstated above, it took FOUR days for a statement to be issued regarding the fatal shooting on the HealthLine.   

I have to agree with @LifeLongClevelander. Part of the problem is that she hasn't cleaned house. Old-guard deputy GMs hangers-on like Mike Schipper and Floun'say Carver need to go. I understand she wouldn't want to clean house at the start so as to ease her transition, but this September marks the start of her third year at GCRTA. If not now, when? RTA has the resources to improve and to become more efficient which will free up more resources (like contactless fare system or replacing cops with fare ambassadors on the entire rail system and BRT lines). It lacks to will to address its problems. They have only enough energy to seek and share excuses why anything can't be done. If I'm the GM and I hear that from my subordinates, they're gone. And I've been in rooms where she's heard that from them. She acted helpless in response. 

4 minutes ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

^^Writing off Calabrese as “jumping ship” seems awfully generous to him. He was the cause of so many problems and didn’t fix other problems that needed fixing. Trying to lay this mess at Birdsong’s feet is nonsense. Yes, I’d like to see more improvement more quickly. Yes, I’d like better transparency. But I also acknowledge that Calabrese left a complete disaster and things weren’t going to get fixed overnight. 

Calabrese jumped ship as the problems were brewing all along while he was at the helm.  After over 18 years on the job, all or nearly all of the top managers rose or were hired into their positions did so while he was in charge.  He knew of problems with Dixon, yet blamed the HR director, even though Calabrese himself stated he was aware of issues before that HR director took the position.  His bogus "investigation" on the Dixon fiasco never publicly released the results.  Calabrese knew what they were and they were not going to make him look good. 

 

Birdsong has been on the job for 2 1/2 years.  Yes, she inherited a mess, but there comes a time where accountability falls in her lap.  The botched rail car bid process occurred when she had been on the job for over 1 1/2 years.  NextGen was implemented after she was on the job for nearly two years.  The bus situation has been going downhill for a while, so why wasn't something done in the last two plus years to rectify it?  It is one thing to blame the predecessor(s) when someone is new to the job or has been at it for 6 months to a year.  When on the job for 2 1/2 years, that is more than ample time to bring in new people if the ones on the job aren't doing it and institute procedures to improve problems.  The rail car purchase is the most significant purchase facing the agency in years, yet by all descriptions (many by @KJP), it was very poorly handled.  

As citizens, is there anything we can do to advocate for change at the RTA? This seems like a horrible mess that needs to be addressed urgently. Who are these people accountable to? What role can the new mayor play in fixing RTA? It's embarrassing seeing the state of our transit agency. I used to think I could attribute it to being in the state of Ohio which has been woefully derelict in supporting public transportation, and while there's certainly some truth to that, based on what I'm reading here, the agency itself has a lot of blame to shoulder for poor management decisions and lack of vision. I really want to see it turn around as I believe a good public transit system is key to Cleveland's future. Cleveland has so much momentum...I'd like to see RTA start turning a corner...quickly! 

Join Clevelanders for Public Transit and work with them on ensuring that Cleveland Mayor Bibb, the new county executive and the suburban mayors and city managers appoint quality candidates to the GCRTA board. For too long, the GCRTA board has not challenged staff to do better or to urge the GM to remove them. The board has taken what the staff says at face value. That's got to stop.

1 hour ago, cleveman86 said:

As citizens, is there anything we can do to advocate for change at the RTA? This seems like a horrible mess that needs to be addressed urgently. Who are these people accountable to? What role can the new mayor play in fixing RTA? It's embarrassing seeing the state of our transit agency. I used to think I could attribute it to being in the state of Ohio which has been woefully derelict in supporting public transportation, and while there's certainly some truth to that, based on what I'm reading here, the agency itself has a lot of blame to shoulder for poor management decisions and lack of vision. I really want to see it turn around as I believe a good public transit system is key to Cleveland's future. Cleveland has so much momentum...I'd like to see RTA start turning a corner...quickly! 

Via the county-wide sales tax, RTA receives significantly more money than the Port Authority of Allegheny County receives with the combination of state funding and county support.  The problem isn't money; it is how the system spends it.  The entrenched leadership is unresponsive to riders and is incapable of enacting change.  Management is blind to internal problems.  As @KJPstated, too many of the old guard that have been in place for many years under Calabrese are still in major positions under Birdsong.  Birdsong has had 2 1/2 years to establish her management team, clean out the dead wood and hasn't.  Problems developed and festered where bus availability sinks to a point where downtown loop trolley style buses are pressed into regular route service.  Other expensive assets get purchased only for most of them to sit unused or sold for a tiny fraction of what they are worth.  Bidding processes for vital replacement equipment are so bungled to where quality builders are driven away, the process gets halted and must be re-bid, delaying acquisitions longer.  Even simple standard part replacements (Red Line rail car wheels) get botched where the system runs out of usable wheels.  Shut-downs and sub-standard alternative services drag on for extended periods of time, driving away passengers.  Tiny transit systems are able to run circles around RTA in obtaining major funding grants and awards.  

 

The board of trustees appears to be no more than a bunch of rubber-stampers with a number of them concerned about their own gain.  Former trustee and long-time board president Dixon mis-used the agency cell phone for personal use to the point where RTA had to expand the plan.  He defrauded the system by not paying for medical coverage.  Internal audit controls completely failed to discover these large thefts.  McCall double-dipped when not entitled to it.  Former trustee Trevor Elkins (2016-19, Newburgh Heights soon to be ex- mayor) used campaign funds for personal expenses.  The downward spiral goes on for years, yet trustees continue to get re-appointed for term after term.  These trustees are the same ones who rewarded Calabrese with contract extensions, pay raises and bonuses.  The city, county and suburban mayors haven't held their respective appointees accountable for their actions. 

 

Hopefully Mayor Bibb's efforts to name people who actually use RTA will yield results in shifting the direction of the board and agency.  Unfortunately, it will take time to cycle through appointments.  Even then, the appointees from Bibb will not be a majority of the board.  We still have to deal with the appointments made by Buddish and one of which dates to Fitzgerald.

3 hours ago, LifeLongClevelander said:

The board of trustees appears to be no more than a bunch of rubber-stampers with a number of them concerned about their own gain.  Former trustee and long-time board president Dixon mis-used the agency cell phone for personal use to the point where RTA had to expand the plan.  He defrauded the system by not paying for medical coverage.  Internal audit controls completely failed to discover these large thefts.  McCall double-dipped when not entitled to it.  Former trustee Trevor Elkins (2016-19, Newburgh Heights soon to be ex- mayor) used campaign funds for personal expenses.  The downward spiral goes on for years, yet trustees continue to get re-appointed for term after term.  These trustees are the same ones who rewarded Calabrese with contract extensions, pay raises and bonuses.  The city, county and suburban mayors haven't held their respective appointees accountable for their actions. 
 
Hopefully Mayor Bibb's efforts to name people who actually use RTA will yield results in shifting the direction of the board and agency.  Unfortunately, it will take time to cycle through appointments.  Even then, the appointees from Bibb will not be a majority of the board.  We still have to deal with the appointments made by Buddish and one of which dates to Fitzgerald.

The public should start leaving flaming bags of poo on their doorsteps until they realize that they’re not only a part of this community but actively screwing their neighbors in the process. Cleveland is a small community. This kind of flagrant mismanagement shouldn't be allowed to occur without consequences.

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Edited April 2, 20223 yr by ASP1984

WASHINGTON, D. C. -- The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that it will supply more than $20 billion to support transit around the country in 2022, with Ohio’s share at $259 million.

 

Legislators who represent Northeast Ohio said Cleveland will get $65,192,461 of that money and $12,283,925 will go to Akron.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2022/04/ohio-gets-259-million-in-federal-transit-money-for-2022.html

 

 

 

On 4/14/2022 at 12:19 PM, KJP said:

 

Is this post a sad anniversary reminder of how extremely slowly this project has been going on?  The LTK study came out in April 2019.  It cites procurement for the replacement Red Line equipment by 2020 with delivery by 2023.  At the pace we are seeing, we will be lucky to see the procurement of the Red Line equipment by 2023, the time that it was recommended for the replacements to be on property.  At the rate things are going, the whole rail system may be shut down due to lack of operational equipment.

3 hours ago, LifeLongClevelander said:

Is this post a sad anniversary reminder of how extremely slowly this project has been going on?  The LTK study came out in April 2019.  It cites procurement for the replacement Red Line equipment by 2020 with delivery by 2023.  At the pace we are seeing, we will be lucky to see the procurement of the Red Line equipment by 2023, the time that it was recommended for the replacements to be on property.  At the rate things are going, the whole rail system may be shut down due to lack of operational equipment.

 

Where are the unions representing the hundreds of jobs directly involved with the daily operation of our rail system?   They should be out there daily on the forefront brining attention to the matter.  Instead they are behaving just like RTA management, content to collect their dues until it's too late. 

Gotta give credit where it's due. The red line to the airport makes life so much easier when traveling solo, yet it always seems so dead. Absolutely baffling; my hunch is a lot of east siders are not familiar with it

 

Plus the red line literally bridges the divide between east and west sides. Little Italy to Lakewood in 30 minutes. A person can see a lot of fun Cleveland on the cheap without worry about parking. 

Edited April 18, 20223 yr by TBideon

It's unreliable and expensive. My family doesn't even take it anymore to the airport and we can walk to it in 20 minutes or take a short bus ride to it (even more expensive). Much less expensive to get a ride from extended family or take an Uber/Lyft. I haven't ridden transit in Cleveland in more than a year. In fact, I can't even remember the last time.

Certainly everyone's situation and experiences are different; I've just been fortunate to not have any issues with it. 

 

I really think there's some massive untapped potential with the Little Italy to Ohio City or Lakewood route. An easy day trip in either direction. 

 

Edit: Green road shuttle again. Uch.

Edited April 19, 20223 yr by TBideon

21 hours ago, TBideon said:

Gotta give credit where it's due. The red line to the airport makes life so much easier when traveling solo, yet it always seems so dead. Absolutely baffling; my hunch is a lot of east siders are not familiar with it

 

Plus the red line literally bridges the divide between east and west sides. Little Italy to Lakewood in 30 minutes. A person can see a lot of fun Cleveland on the cheap without worry about parking. 

There are multiple reasons why the Red Line, not to mention the entire rail system, is doing so badly in ridership.  The equipment situation is poor.  Between the drawn out problems where they ran out of usable wheels for the Red Line fleet and overall operational reliability, riders lost interest.  If somebody risks missing a flight due to breakdowns and lack of equipment, that won't be an attractive option to use the Red Line.  Aside from the Little Italy and University Circle stations, the remainder of the east side Red Line stops are in areas with questionable safety and security issues.  There have been long and drawn-out major reconstruction projects on the Red Line (west side S-curve reconstruction) and Blue/Green Line trunk reconstruction.  Substitute bus service does nothing towards desirability.  People have become accustomed to making due without rail service.

Cleveland's Healthline among rapid transit systems that improve property values, OSU study says: Multi-family residences saw a 41.5 percent increase in their property values.

 

Quote

CLEVELAND — A new study reveals that high-quality bus systems have a significant benefit to nearby property values.

 

Researchers at The Ohio State University studied the impact of bus rapid transit (BRT) systems on property values near 11 BRT systems in 10 US cities. The systems didn’t have a negative impact in most of the cities studied and improved multi-family property values in some cities.

 

...

 

Cleveland’s own BRT system, the Healthline, was one of 11 systems analyzed in the study. It found that single-family homes along the Cleveland Healthline system saw no change in their values and multi-family residences saw a 41.5 percent increase in their property values.

 

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/state/clevelands-healthline-among-rapid-transit-systems-that-improve-property-values-osu-study-says#:~:text=Cleveland's Healthline among rapid transit,increase in their property values.&text=CLEVELAND — A new study reveals,benefit to nearby property values.