June 21, 201212 yr <<Does RTA still plan on running the Waterfront Line daily once the Flats East Bank opens up?>> Yes. I think the date is sometime in 2013. Awesome, thanks for the quick response.
June 22, 201212 yr GCRTA: 230,907,701/46,200,000 = 5.00 per passenger (rounded) PAAC: 370,151,875/63,000,000 = 5.88 per passenger (rounded) I was being a little bit of a trouble-maker, but my intent was to highlight how much more other states like PA subsidize public transit. Looking at these numbers, how much of those operating costs per-passenger come from the respective states? From this site: http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/survey_state_funding_FY_08.pdf In 2008, Ohio spent $1.37 per capita on transit. In the same year PA spent $91.16 per capita. (From page 23, Table 1-9). $91.16 vs. $1.37! :drunk: Once you start laughing and crying, that is why I (snarkily) suggested that PAAC might have an easier time funding their $5.88 per passenger operating budget vs. GCRTA's $5.00 per passenger operating budget.
June 22, 201212 yr So I have been playing around with RTA's NextConnect site and overall it is really nice. However, the UI on it seems to be more geared to a full web browser rather than a mobile browser. I'm not sure if it is another companies site that is being overlayed with RTA's info, but it is harder to navigate than RTA's mobile site. Also, right now the map for the red line shows only 4 trains. That can't be right for afternoon rush hour traffic can it?
June 23, 201212 yr Author At 8:30 p.m., I couldn't get it to show any Red Line trains. :| "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 23, 201212 yr Okay twitter seems to be sharing bad experiences with NextConnect and now this... IT pro gives RTA's new real-time schedule website a failing grade http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2012/06/it_pro_gives_rtas_new_real-tim.html
June 23, 201212 yr Saw this on twitter. "@GCRTA Why must we suffer worst ticket machines on planet? http://pic.twitter.com/MWMZpEeX" RTA's response..."changes are coming sooner than you think!" ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Also, has anyone had a chance to use http://www.nextconnect.riderta.com/ yet? It works. I just save the Eastbound and westbound trains from my normal origins to my favorites in my smart phone and it is as easy as pie.
June 23, 201212 yr I used it last week and it worked like a charm (on the home desktop, haven't used it on a mobile device) - took a little time for the route map to load. clevelandskyscrapers.com Cleveland Skyscrapers on Instagram
June 23, 201212 yr The text-only times seem to work fine. The map is slow but informative. It would be extremely helpful if the map could indicate which direction the vehicles were traveling. The site design...well let's just say you should pay MayDay or someone with an artistic eye to take care of the worse-than-horrible aesthetics.
June 23, 201212 yr Anyone know what happened to the RTA bus shelter for the eastbound 8 and 11, directly in front of the Wolstein Center on Prospect? Looks like a vehicle hit it. Edit: http://imgur.com/wVcwf.jpg
June 23, 201212 yr Okay twitter seems to be sharing bad experiences with NextConnect and now this... IT pro gives RTA's new real-time schedule website a failing grade http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2012/06/it_pro_gives_rtas_new_real-tim.html Perfection does not exist. It works fine for me.
June 23, 201212 yr Okay twitter seems to be sharing bad experiences with NextConnect and now this... IT pro gives RTA's new real-time schedule website a failing grade http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2012/06/it_pro_gives_rtas_new_real-tim.html Perfection does not exist. It works fine for me. Good to hear, maybe there is problems with certain routes. This feature is a great addition though. Just got a bit nervous after seeing a lot of complaints on twitter and then that Cleveland.com post.
June 23, 201212 yr Complaints on Cleveland.com? Say it ain't so! :) Haha just the letter they posted from a man in Cleveland Heights, which went along with everything on twitter. The link is above.
June 23, 201212 yr Took the green line to and from public square today. It was a very nice experience--yea, the fare machines are crappy but RTA had a person at hand to help out. I forget how nice it is to have rail from down here in cbus!
June 23, 201212 yr Author Took the green line to and from public square today. It was a very nice experience--yea, the fare machines are crappy but RTA had a person at hand to help out. I forget how nice it is to have rail from down here in cbus! Bring some of your city and business leaders next time. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 24, 201212 yr The real time system is actually quite complicated and limited. 1. It is provided by Trapeze which is RTAs major data back end provider. The data is in proprietary formats and isn't easily accessible except for the vendor's software package, which RTA installed. 2. The software itself is pretty bad in terms of usability. There is a mobile version of the software, but it doesn't work with RTAs older version of the back end software. There was some talk that a mobile optimized version will be available within the next year if RTA upgrades their back end software. 3. RTA is the largest system in the US using the trapeze software. Other cities that have robust real time data available to riders are using a completely different scheduling/dispatch/tracking system. Other systems using RTAs version are in many cases worse than what RTA is offering because RTA staff spent a lot of time trying to get rid of inconsistencies in the software which the smaller systems using the real time portal apparently just accepted, even though the data was in error for many trips. 4. Real time only works when a driver/operator is actually logged into the computer at the front of the bus /train. Some high percentage of drivers are logged in, say 98%, but due to radio signal problems logging in, radio/computer/gps problems, and sometimes operator error, not every bus or train may be logged into the system. If 200 buses and trains are operating, this might mean 2 or 4 vehicles in the system aren't properly represented, for example. This is especially pronounced on the red line, where for a number of reasons the trains aren't consistently logging in. RTA can see the trains internally and communicate with them, but the real time software will not display the train if it isn't logged in. Software limitation that a fix has been requested, but to my knowledge, won't be fixed by vendor. 5. The system offers a real time estimate for the next 30 minutes, anything more than 30 minutes out defaults to the schedule time as it can't accurately be predicted. In cases where a bus/train isn't logged in properly, the system should default to displaying scheduled time for the next trip - but I think this is changing or may have changed, so it may not show the next bus coming if it isn't logged in. 6. Hopefully the local software community/students / transit riders will help develop a mobile friendly interface and apps in the coming months. No off the shelf apps exist for the trapeze system that RTA is using, so something will hopefully be developed independently or perhaps in partnership with RTA to provide some better user interfaces for riders. The best shot at this is using the text links on next connect which pass all data browser side and should allow a fiairly easy integration.
June 24, 201212 yr RTA says fare machines don't measure up, so supplier won't get payment Angered by poor response to problems with the machines, RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese and his staff are pressing Xerox Corp. to simplify the devices and fortify them against the weather, among other issues. More than 70 percent of the ticket-vending machines are rusting, little more than three years after they were set up along the rapid-bus HealthLine and rapid-train Red Line, RTA says. The devices are expected to last 15 to 20 years, Calabrese said. "We've made no excuses for the machines," Calabrese said in an interview last week. "We concur with our customers who say they are not user-friendly." Because of the problems, RTA says it has withheld millions of dollars on the $10 million contract it signed with Affiliated Computer Services Inc., of Dallas, in 2006. Right now, riders must follow instructions through seven clicks of a button to buy a ticket. RTA officials say that's unacceptable. They want the screen flow down to no more than four clicks. Xerox showed last week it could be done, Calabrese said. Other problems vex riders. The screens on the red machines are too vertical instead of angled up, forcing users to bend over to read the screen and punch buttons. Poor contrast, flashing cursors and small font make the screens hard to read, especially for riders with poor vision, said Chase, head of the citizens board. Chase said his group red-flagged the problems after trying a mock-up of the machines, before they were delivered. RTA officials said the process was too far along to make changes but that they could pursue improvements later, according to Chase. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/06/rta_says_fare_machines_dont_me.html
June 24, 201212 yr The article leaves one wondering how these machines ever got purchased in the first place, if RTA is so acutely aware of their flaws.
June 24, 201212 yr RTA says fare machines don't measure up, so supplier won't get payment Angered by poor response to problems with the machines, RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese and his staff are pressing Xerox Corp. to simplify the devices and fortify them against the weather, among other issues. More than 70 percent of the ticket-vending machines are rusting, little more than three years after they were set up along the rapid-bus HealthLine and rapid-train Red Line, RTA says. The devices are expected to last 15 to 20 years, Calabrese said. "We've made no excuses for the machines," Calabrese said in an interview last week. "We concur with our customers who say they are not user-friendly." Because of the problems, RTA says it has withheld millions of dollars on the $10 million contract it signed with Affiliated Computer Services Inc., of Dallas, in 2006. Right now, riders must follow instructions through seven clicks of a button to buy a ticket. RTA officials say that's unacceptable. They want the screen flow down to no more than four clicks. Xerox showed last week it could be done, Calabrese said. Other problems vex riders. The screens on the red machines are too vertical instead of angled up, forcing users to bend over to read the screen and punch buttons. Poor contrast, flashing cursors and small font make the screens hard to read, especially for riders with poor vision, said Chase, head of the citizens board. Chase said his group red-flagged the problems after trying a mock-up of the machines, before they were delivered. RTA officials said the process was too far along to make changes but that they could pursue improvements later, according to Chase. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/06/rta_says_fare_machines_dont_me.html Just more proof that someone should be fired. There absolutely zero excuse for this complete failure of oversight.
June 24, 201212 yr Author Interesting post, urbanlife. And glad to see more attention is being paid to the fare machines. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 25, 201212 yr Interesting and in depth analysis: Oh! Come let’s sing Ohio’s praise: Cleveland transit explored. Posted on Sunday, 24th June 2012 Of all the surviving trolley systems in eastern North America, Cleveland is the one to which I’ve devoted the least attention, in terms of railfanning and collecting. I began to rectify that situation with a two-day outing this month, an enjoyable experience which has me regretting not spending more time exploring the system much sooner. Light rail was my principal focus, in the form of Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s Blue and Green lines, historically known as the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit system. Diverging from this venerable light rail operation (embodying the LRT concept decades before it acquired the name), I also was keenly interested in riding RTA’s HealthLine. The 24-hour bus rapid transit route opened in 2008 along the busy Euclid Corridor using massive articulated buses — equipped with real streetcar gongs — serving high-platform stations in and along the street. Finally, there was the system’s lone heavy rail line, the Airport-Louis Stokes (Windermere) Red Line, to ride, along with a busy urban bus network. http://tramsstophere.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/oh-come-lets-sing-ohios-praise-cleveland-transit-explored/
June 25, 201212 yr Thanks to MuRrAy Hill for linking to my blog post, and to ClevelandOhio for the kind comments. Glad to have discovered this site and these forums as a result; had not seen them before, but will definitely return. Finding the transit discussions especially worthwhile and enlightening. As you can see, I visited Cleveland very much as a tourist -- albeit a transit tourist -- and so both my experiences and impressions are somewhat more superficial than those of a resident and regular rider. I will say that I was generally impressed with the system, though it's obvious from previous posts that funding issues continue to dog RTA as they do many cities. For all that, the rail vehicles seemed to be in good repair (though some stations, as I say, clearly need work) -- or at least those that weren't rusting away in the yard. I was in Pittsburgh for a few days before I drove up to Cleveland. I've had much more experience with that system over the years, but hadn't visited since 2005. The shadow of massive cuts to come seemed to hang heavily, and one can only hope that Port Authority is playing chicken with Harrisburg. That new North Shore subway seems rather a line to nowhere at the moment, but perhaps it will prove its worth over time, especially if extensions are ever possible. Off-peak headways on Pittsburgh's T, especially Library, seem quite longer than they used to be. Whatever the problems in Cleveland (and I confess I have much to learn), the general atmosphere seemed a lot less fatalistic. I hope to explore Cleveland some more in the future. In the meanwhile, feel free to explore my blog some more. It is admittedly geared more toward enthusiasts and historic issues than transit development and economics, though those issues do appear. I write a lot about Britain, also, but Ohio topics appear from time to time. For those of you with an interest in Ohio's interurbans, please see the August 11 post at http://tramsstophere.wordpress.com/wednesday-postcards/august-2010-postcards/ Thanks.
June 25, 201212 yr Anyone know what happened to the RTA bus shelter for the eastbound 8 and 11, directly in front of the Wolstein Center on Prospect? Looks like a vehicle hit it. Edit: http://imgur.com/wVcwf.jpg Just checked with the shelter shop -- it was hit late Friday, and a crew should be out there this morning to replace it (according to the shop supervisor, right now, in fact).
June 25, 201212 yr ^Glad you enjoyed your trip here, but next time try to hit University Circle. Agreed. Although I hope you return sooner, in a few years you will be able to get on the healthline, take it to University Circle, then from there walk to the new Mayfield Road Red Line station, pass the new University Circle station, and take the line back into Tower City downtown. Those two new stations once constructed will be great additions to the system, and we will probably have the intervals back down to 15 minutes. Hopefully even less!
June 25, 201212 yr Author Roger, welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy your visits here. But I can encourage you to choose a different avatar? :) Next time you're in town, give me a shout. I'll give you a transit tour along with some background about why some things are the way they are. Again, welcome. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 25, 201212 yr Author Moved the HealthLine/streetcar debate to: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2840.0.html "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 26, 201212 yr Author "Slowed" not "stalled" is probably more accurate.... Cash crunch stalls RTA's plan to use more trolley-like shuttles Published: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 6:35 AM Updated: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 6:53 AM By Tom Breckenridge, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND, Ohio -- RTA's effort to launch expanded, free shuttle service downtown is in a fundraising slog. But look for the pace to quicken. The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority had hoped to offer night and weekend service by now with its trolley-like buses. But RTA and the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, representing property owners, are still about $270,000 short of the $720,000 needed to offer the service for three years. READ MORE AT: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/06/rta_downtown_cleveland_allianc.html "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 26, 201212 yr "Slowed" not "stalled" is probably more accurate.... Cash crunch stalls RTA's plan to use more trolley-like shuttles Published: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 6:35 AM Updated: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 6:53 AM By Tom Breckenridge, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND, Ohio -- RTA's effort to launch expanded, free shuttle service downtown is in a fundraising slog. But look for the pace to quicken. The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority had hoped to offer night and weekend service by now with its trolley-like buses. But RTA and the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, representing property owners, are still about $270,000 short of the $720,000 needed to offer the service for three years. READ MORE AT: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/06/rta_downtown_cleveland_allianc.html Sugar, it's the PD....you know how they like to "package" news!
June 26, 201212 yr "Slowed" not "stalled" is probably more accurate.... Cash crunch stalls RTA's plan to use more trolley-like shuttles Published: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 6:35 AM Updated: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 6:53 AM By Tom Breckenridge, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND, Ohio -- RTA's effort to launch expanded, free shuttle service downtown is in a fundraising slog. But look for the pace to quicken. The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority had hoped to offer night and weekend service by now with its trolley-like buses. But RTA and the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, representing property owners, are still about $270,000 short of the $720,000 needed to offer the service for three years. READ MORE AT: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/06/rta_downtown_cleveland_allianc.html Wow that first picture is quite old.
June 28, 201212 yr Just wondering why RTA doesn't report daily weekday ridership statistics. Anyone know? http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2012-q1-ridership-APTA.pdf
June 28, 201212 yr Author Just wondering why RTA doesn't report daily weekday ridership statistics. Anyone know? http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2012-q1-ridership-APTA.pdf Good question. I've seen them report weekday data in past reports. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 28, 201212 yr I have been here since 2000, and I have never seen weekday data reported, unless there is a special ask, as in "how many people did we carry on St. Patrick's Day?" Other than that, ridership is always reported by calendar month.
June 28, 201212 yr I have been here since 2000, and I have never seen weekday data reported, unless there is a special ask, as in "how many people did we carry on St. Patrick's Day?" Other than that, ridership is always reported by calendar month. Just wondering, can you share with us which stations have the highest ridership?
June 28, 201212 yr Author I have been here since 2000, and I have never seen weekday data reported, unless there is a special ask, as in "how many people did we carry on St. Patrick's Day?" Other than that, ridership is always reported by calendar month. I have. And it was done on a metropolitan basis, not an agency basis. So some extrapolations probably had to be done. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 28, 201212 yr Just wondering, can you share with us which stations have the highest ridership? Not to sound like a smarty, but generally those stations with the largest parking lots draw the most riders. I know Tower City is first overall, and Brookpark has the highest ridership on the West Side. University Circle leads all stations with bus-to-rail transfers.
June 29, 201212 yr Author Got per-station numbers? "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 29, 201212 yr I'd like to see several buses feed into the Triskett Station. It might reduce the number of cars in the parking lot. Buses could run up Triskett, up Lakewood Heights Blvd. and come in from W. 140th. It seems more like a "kiss and ride" station then a real urban station like the one at W. 117th. I'd like to see better than every half hour service on W. 117th (#78) for that matter.
June 29, 201212 yr RTA installed some new bicycle parking at Tower City a few weeks ago, on the ends of each of the rail platforms. This is a pretty good development, which provides a nice covered option to park a bike while downtown, or even to bike to TC and then park your bike and get on the train. There were apparently a lot of people who were locking bicycles up to trashcans and signs.
June 30, 201212 yr I'd like to see several buses feed into the Triskett Station. It might reduce the number of cars in the parking lot. Buses could run up Triskett, up Lakewood Heights Blvd. and come in from W. 140th. It seems more like a "kiss and ride" station then a real urban station like the one at W. 117th. I'd like to see better than every half hour service on W. 117th (#78) for that matter. You're dead on, Justine. Sadly, RTA's recent cuts take the "feeder" out of feeder bus routes, so bus routes serving Rapid stations through even dense areas, like the #32 along Cedar through Cleve Hts, are only half hourly. It really sucks.
July 2, 201212 yr Was there a problem with ridership counting/reporting in 2007? There is no way red line ridership went from 459,900 in march of 2006, to 815,600 in march of 2007, and back down to 478,900 in march of 2008.
July 2, 201212 yr Was there a problem with ridership counting/reporting in 2007? There is no way red line ridership went from 459,900 in march of 2006, to 815,600 in march of 2007, and back down to 478,900 in march of 2008. Euclid was basically shut down at the time so that may represent riders that would have taken the 6 in '06 and the Healthline in '08.
July 2, 201212 yr Some key parts of the article RTA, Xerox closer to solving problems with ticket machines along rapid lines Fixes for the devices along the Red Line and HealthLine should roll out in the next month or two, RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese said in a recent interview. Improvements include simpler, on-screen directions for using the red-and-gray machines, which drive many riders to distraction. More than 70 percent of the devices show signs of corrosion. Xerox agreed the machines weren't made of non-rusting steel, as required in the contract, according to Calabrese. Among other problems, key pads on the machines are failing prematurely, Calabrese said. RTA expects those to be fixed or replaced with better units, under the contract warranty. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/06/post_33.html
July 2, 201212 yr I don't pretend to know anything about this kind of product (other than on the user end), but was anyone else surprised by the $10M price tag for a little over 100 machines and the software? I guess everything had to be custom to be compatible with RTAs other fare collection equipment. And I still don't understand why stations with multiple machines can't mount at least one of them on a base to elevate it to a more user-friendly height. Oh well. Sounds like the machines will at least go from disaster to merely disappointing in a few weeks, which I guess is progress.
July 2, 201212 yr "More than 70 percent of the devices show signs of corrosion. Xerox agreed the machines weren't made of non-rusting steel, as required in the contract, according to Calabrese." So they basically just lied to RTA and violated the contract, which they would have never gotten if they would have told the truth about the machines? That should make the contract void, RTA should just walk away, sue them for the 2 million they paid for them, and find a completely new vendor. Clearly this one is a piece a sh!t and has been hard to work with the entire time. Even from the getgo the machines were late an entire month. Its been bad since day one.
July 2, 201212 yr RTA, Xerox closer to solving problems with ticket machines along rapid lines ... It looks like a few of us writing to Plain Dealer may have helped light a fire under someone and get something done. I'm claiming this as an accomplishment for UO, regardless of how significant/insignificant our efforts actually were. :-)
July 2, 201212 yr ^ In my opinion, UO may have called the PD's attention to write about the machines, but the progress on the contract was independent of that. The real game-changer was getting Xerox officials to the table and making them more aware of the scope of the issue. Believe me, all options were considered, including some of the ones that have been mentioned on this forum. In each case, we weighed the consequences of option A with the consequences of option B, and chose the one that, in our opinion, was best for RTA and our customers. You may disagree with our actions, and that is your right, but know that we never just ignored the problem, as some have said earlier.
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