Can  I ask you how the heavy rail investment RTA is conducting plays into the looming issues of not having enough train cars? it's a positive sign to invest in new track and build new stations but without some influx of funds soon what will it be for?

 

RTA should be doing what it can to upgrade the system. They have sounded the alarm, and now it's up to us as a community to help do something about. They shouldn't be planning their capital projects based on a worst case scenario. Plus, from all I've heard, the heavy rail cars have a longer life left in them than the LRT cars

Track upgrades replacing all LRT Oct. 24-25?  What's that?  RTA needs to be more specific than that.

 

They were. See the details in my posting of GCRTA's info.

 

The rail capital projects that GCRTA is doing are relatively small dollar-wise compared to the rail car fleet replacement. Deferring those won't help GCRTA afford new rail cars. Besides you don't want a bad stretch of track that costs $1 million to fix to be deferred and risk shutting down a rail line because of that. Besides, those little projects become more numerous and more expensive the longer you postpone them.

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  19m19 minutes ago

UPDATED: Mon 10/19-Fri 11/6 Red Line btwn @GoingPlacesCLE & Puritas replaced w/ 66R buses due to construction. http://ow.ly/TojSn

 

Article with embedded links posted at:

http://allaboardohio.org/2015/10/19/cleveland-rail-shutdown-unavoidable/

 

Cleveland rail shutdown unavoidable

October 19, 2015

 

In five years or possibly less, east-siders in Greater Cleveland will be riding substitute buses to work, school or medical appointments. Their trips will take two to three times longer than the trains they used to ride. And they will ride through Shaker Heights and Cleveland next to tracks of the Blue and Green lines rusted from disuse despite tens of millions of dollars (including federal funds) spent to keep tracks, stations and other infrastructure in a state of good repair.

 

Those needed repairs were the ones the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) could afford to make. But there is another expenditure RTA can’t afford.

 

If you regularly ride past the Brookpark rapid transit shops on Red Line trains into Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, you will notice a number of railcars sitting in the yard looking forlorn. This isn’t a repair shop. It has become the final destination for cars in RTA’s aging rail fleet. There, usable parts are cannibalized from these out-of-service trains to keep the rest of the fleet operational because parts for the trains are no longer available from their original suppliers.

 

The trains are now considered obsolete and the manufacturers stopped making parts for them several years ago. The economic life expectancy of railcars is about 25 years. RTA did an overhaul on some select railcars about 10 years ago extending their life to 35 years. The average age of the fleet is 33 years old with the Shaker rapid cars now over 35 years old. Once the most-decayed railcars are picked clean of anything usable, they are scrapped.

 

What railcars are replacing them? None. How much funding has been set aside for replacing them? None. What funding has the State of Ohio offered to this and other big-city transit needs? None. At the rate the aging rail fleet is failing, by 2020 there won’t be enough railcars left to operate a full schedule on the Blue and Green lines between Shaker Heights and downtown Cleveland. One or more of these rail lines will be unable to operate a full schedule and would have to be shut down and operated by replacement buses.

 

Worse, there’s nothing that anyone can do to avoid this. The only question left to resolve now is “how long would a rail shutdown last?”

 

It has been estimated that it would take approximately $280 million to replace the entire rail fleet with a new type of railcar capable of operating on all RTA rail lines in Cleveland. This is in addition to a reported $254 million gap in capital program funding needed to bring RTA bus and rail equipment and facilities up to a state of good repair. RTA cannot buy railcars until it has the money to pay for them. At about $5 million per car, RTA cannot afford replacement railcars. And once RTA finds the funding to buy railcars, it takes several more years for trains to be ordered, designed, built, delivered, tested and put into revenue service.

 

RTA’s railcar repair shop is the Central Rail Facility at East 55th Street. That’s where trains are stored between runs, inspected and repaired. It’s also where the 60 heavy-rail cars built by Tokyu in 1984-85 are being overhauled now. Actually, only 40 of the best remaining Tokyu-built cars are being overhauled for Red Line (Airport-Windermere) service. The rest are being scrapped and cannibalized for spare parts as no one makes parts for RTA’s trains anymore. But the Red Line trains should be able to keep running past 2025. That’s not far off.

 

The bigger crisis is on the Blue/Green lines. In 1980-81, 48 light-rail cars were built for RTA by Breda and refurbished in 2005 for Blue/Green Line (Waterfront-Shaker/Van Aken) service. These cars are falling apart. Unlike the Red Line’s more durable stainless-steel bodies, these trains use regular steel that’s getting brittle with age. Their air conditioning systems rely on Freon that will be illegal to use starting next year.

 

But only half of the original roster of light-rail cars remains available for service today and that number keeps dropping as more cars take the final trip to Brookpark. At the current rate of railcar attrition, RTA won’t be able to offer a minimum number of trains for regular service on one or both of the Blue/Green lines between Shaker Heights and downtown Cleveland by 2020.

 

That doesn’t include winter-induced shutdowns. The last two winters have been very hard on RTA’s elderly trains and their outdated, fixed-contact overhead electric wires that broke in the extreme cold. Substitute buses were often operated. This is the unavoidable, every-day future.

 

RTA needs 14 light-rail cars to run a rush-hour schedule on the Blue/Green lines. More are needed for special events like Cleveland Browns games or St. Patrick’s Day. And there are always a few extra cars in the rotation, cycling through Central Rail for routine maintenance and inspection. As these cars age further, a greater share of the remaining fleet will be off-line to visit Central Rail for maintenance and repairs.

 

More railcars will continue to head west to Brookpark until sometime before 2020 when buses are ultimately substituted for the Blue/Green lines every day. The trains on these lines take about 25 minutes to travel between the Shaker Heights and downtown Cleveland. During rush hours, substitute bus trips will take two to three times longer.

 

RTA lacks enough local matching money to leverage federal grant dollars. The sales tax revenue is no longer generating enough local funding to support the capital replacement of an aging infrastructure and maintain the levels of service the community expects and demands.

 

And even if RTA acted today to increase its fares by 50 cents a trip to come up with a with additional local capital funding to match the federal 50 percent share, it can’t use that local money to leverage any federal dollars until 2019. RTA has tapped out its eligible 4-year pot of federal formula funding (called State-of-Good Repair funds) to pay for smaller, more affordable bus and rail state-of-good-repair projects systemwide. This money is being used to improve stations, tracks, bridges, signals and electrical systems. Without them, the rail system shuts down too.

 

Forget about expanding or restructuring the transit system so people can reach jobs in more distant suburban areas including those in adjoining counties. Or to protect University Circle from choking in traffic. Or to ease congestion on highways like I-480. Expansion can’t be afforded when there’s not enough money for the existing system. But as business author Peter Drucker wrote: “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.”

 

A new vision for public transportation in Greater Cleveland is needed, and it’s going to cost more money. The local share could be as much $100 million per year.

 

Greater Clevelanders, including those at RTA, are waking up to this fact. RTA in 1975 was blessed with a permanent 1-percent countywide ad valorem sales tax to fund all of its needs in perpetuity. It lulled many of us to sleep.

 

But a lot has changed since 1975. Employers and commuting patterns have expanded beyond Cuyahoga County and with them, population. Cuyahoga County had 1.8 million people in 1970. Today it has 1.3 million yet Greater Cleveland’s overall population has stayed flat at 2.1 million.

 

Those changes mean fewer riders for RTA, as ridership has fallen from 120 million in 1980 to 50 million today. Yet that’s still more than the transit ridership in Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton – combined.

 

No-growth urban sprawl also means fewer people are buying stuff in Cuyahoga County which means fewer sales tax dollars for RTA. That means RTA is shrinking when it should be growing and reaching out to new ridership sources. All of those criteria determine how much federal formula funds RTA can receive every four years. So that amount is decreasing, too.

 

That’s why multi-county transit expansion is as important as state-of-good-repair. So is the fact that more than one-third of all passengers using RTA’s suburban park-n-ride services live outside Cuyahoga County.

 

Few seem to believe the inevitable shutdown will occur. Many believe RTA is just making a threat or that, if real, a financial savior will emerge. But RTA doesn’t even have its own funding share to attract a savior.

 

Greater Clevelanders won’t be served if RTA is fixed by a temporary patch. It needs significant change. It needs to partner with or merge with transit agencies in surrounding counties. RTA needs several billion dollars over the next decade to rebuild, restructure and expand to get more Greater Clevelanders to jobs, school, and health care over a larger service area.

 

It needs to be part of regional development strategies that place more jobs, housing, shopping and education next to existing transit stops to increase access to opportunities. And we need reduce Greater Cleveland’s contribution to climate change. RTA and its collar-county transit partners can and should play a bigger role to help the region grow into more attractive place to live, learn, work and play.

 

But first it must replace aging infrastructure and procure a new railcar fleet. The coming rail shutdown should serve to galvanize support in Greater Cleveland for a new, constructive vision and funding mechanism for our region’s transportation system. All Aboard Ohio will take the lead in educating, activating and organizing stakeholders into a cohesive productive voice. Watch for details or contact us at [email protected]. After all, a problem is an opportunity dressed in work clothes. So join us and let’s get to work.

 

END

As of Nov. 22, RTA is extending Waterfront Line hours, a topic that was discussed here some time ago. The last train to leave South Harbor for Tower City will be at 12:05 a.m.

 

 

Article with embedded links posted at:

http://allaboardohio.org/2015/10/19/cleveland-rail-shutdown-unavoidable/

 

Cleveland rail shutdown unavoidable

October 19, 2015

 

In five years or possibly less, east-siders in Greater Cleveland will be riding substitute buses to work, school or medical appointments. Their trips will take two to three times longer than the trains they used to ride. And they will ride through Shaker Heights and Cleveland next to tracks of the Blue and Green lines rusted from disuse despite tens of millions of dollars (including federal funds) spent to keep tracks, stations and other infrastructure in a state of good repair.

 

 

As the old saying goes, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone."

 

I'm curious what an estimate on the red line life expectancy is.  If we lose the rail link to the airport, that will be a major blow.

 

I know some of the companies downtown offer incentives/credit for taking public transportation.  As with many things, if the business community can continue to support, perhaps some of the most draconian measures can be staved off.

We've spent a lot recently on rail station rebuilds and infrastructure for the bus system.  Those seem like lower priorities. 

 

Can't do the math right now, but if we had not built the 1) STJ transit center, 2) Clifton BRT-lite, and 3) the new Mayfield Rapid station, how close does that get us to keeping the rail lines open?

As of Nov. 22, RTA is extending Waterfront Line hours, a topic that was discussed here some time ago. The last train to leave South Harbor for Tower City will be at 12:05 a.m.

 

 

Great news, Jerry.  Thanks.

We've spent a lot recently on rail station rebuilds and infrastructure for the bus system.  Those seem like lower priorities. 

 

Can't do the math right now, but if we had not built the 1) STJ transit center, 2) Clifton BRT-lite, and 3) the new Mayfield Rapid station, how close does that get us to keeping the rail lines open?

 

Those projects all had significant federal stimulus funding that made them possible. It's not like we could have just taken that money and put it into new rail cars

Should we continue discussion of the future of RTA rail and finances in one of the other threads to keep this one more tied to day-to-day news?  Maybe this one? http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2768.0.html

 

This is a really tough problem. Thanks so much, KJP for raising the alarm. These are big decisions and there should be a lot of public discussion.

Kudos to KJP- this is indeed a large problem for the region.

 

I'll be writing my representatives in Columbus and D.C. to begin looking at ways to address this issue immediately instead of waiting for it to become a crisis.  Our rail is an asset that can give Cleveland a competitive advantage to drawing people and businesses form elsewhere.

 

That and I'm biased since I love taking public transit to work... dammit.

Should we continue discussion of the future of RTA rail and finances in one of the other threads to keep this one more tied to day-to-day news?  Maybe this one? http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2768.0.html

 

This is a really tough problem. Thanks so much, KJP for raising the alarm. These are big decisions and there should be a lot of public discussion.

 

Good suggestion. I've redirected one of my posts from here to this thread....

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,30302.0.html

So a couple of weeks ago my family and I took the Red Line to Little Italy.  Since we weren't taking transit anywhere else, we decided to get one ride tickets for the trip there at Brook Park where we boarded and we would get our return tickets at the Mayfield Rd. station.  I still have a couple of beefs with the ticket machines. 

 

On the trip there I was purchasing multiple tickets from one of the machines that give change.  There were 5 in our group, but the machine will only let you buy 4.  Why?  Over all not that big of a deal, but I'd still like to know why.

 

On the return trip, the only machines they have at Mayfield Road don't give change, which is fine, that's not my issue; however, it seems that the machines that don't provide change will only let you buy one ticket at a time.  Here's the problem:  I had the right combination of change and bills to purchase the tickets together, but it appears the ticket machines that don't provide change will only sell you one ticket at a time(at least that particular machine wouldn't, the other machine was off line)  I find this customer unfriendly.  Why can't you buy more than one ticket from a machine that doesn't give change?  As it turned out, the machine would not take bills, credit cards, or change so it was impossible to pay anyway, thus we rode back without tickets.  (for the record, I did talk to two RTA policemen parked on the side street by the station about the broken machines and they said just go ahead and if you get asked let them know). 

 

For the RTA lurkers on here, why is it that you can't buy more than one ticket from a machine that doesn't give change? Or was that just a bug in that particular one because it was broken anyway?  And, why is the total number of tickets  purchase at one time limited to 4 at the other machines? 

I HATE these machines. Both themselves and the tickets they give are terrible.  Since they've shortened the number of buttons you need to press to buy a ticket things have gotten better but still a far cry from other agencies.

 

What really grinds my gears is at Tower City how the passes swipe. The arrow needs to point away from the direction you're swiping! Who came up with that?! I've never met someone who gets it right the first time.

For the RTA lurkers on here, why is it that you can't buy more than one ticket from a machine that doesn't give change? Or was that just a bug in that particular one because it was broken anyway?  And, why is the total number of tickets  purchase at one time limited to 4 at the other machines? 

 

Ran into this same thing taking my wife and parents downtown.  Wanted to buy 4 all-day passes once I got to tower city.  I had a 20 dollar bill.  Nope, no option to queue up 4 all day passes, they must be purchased one-by-one by the machine that only accepts correct change.  So I had to use the other machine (non-display, specific for all-day passes) that spits out dollar coins as change and feed them back in for each all-day pass.  I feel like before they simplified the key press counts, you were to be able to add additional tickets to your order.

^ Yeah, the fare machines are the worst I've ever seen on a transit system. Not to mention as a 6' man, I have to crouch on my knees to use them.

 

But I'll give them credit for actually having machines. I rode the SEPTA subway in Philly a couple years ago and I had to buy a token to ride that was cash only and exact change required.

^Sounds like SEPTA is converting to modern smart cards this year, if they haven't already (http://www.septa.org/key/), so RTA may officially have the worst payment system of any rail transit in the country.

 

At this point, my guess is that RTA management is mortified by the whole machine debacle and wishes they had picked another vendor from the get-go. Hopefully we're not stuck with this junk for too many more years.

... and throw in the confusing Blue/Green Line pay enter eastbound, pay leave, westbound, (where the train often sits while people line up single file  to pay the driver ... the honest folks that is, unlike the westbound cheaters leaving prior to TC who bolt out the back door w/o paying) and you've got an even bigger mess.

^ A proof-of-payment system doesn't solve that last problem though

Someone should be fired.  But they never were.  I travel the world and the RTA machines are simply THE WORST of any I've seen anywhere.

I don't know about terminations, but we needed some acknowledgement of what went wrong systemically and what would be done to prevent such debacles in the future.  No one person could screw up a purchase to this extent... it takes a village.

Update:  Tried to submit a complaint about this via RTA's website, but the complaint form is limited to 500 characters!  Come on RTA, sometimes you can't limit your explanation that much! 

Update:  Tried to submit a complaint about this via RTA's website, but the complaint form is limited to 500 characters!  Come on RTA, sometimes you can't limit your explanation that much!

 

Yeah, I've had that issue before. I've submitted feedback on that form multiple time, but despite them saying you'll get a response back, I never have

I'm going to the airport from downtown later today and was going to take the rapid but saw that the tracks between Puritas and Airport stops are closed until November 6 and replaced by buses. Does anyone know how much time the buses add to the trip?

I'm going to the airport from downtown later today and was going to take the rapid but saw that the tracks between Puritas and Airport stops are closed until November 6 and replaced by buses. Does anyone know how much time the buses add to the trip?

 

I'm not an expert, but I would AT LEAST allow for 30 extra minutes, counting the transfer time.  My guess is that, from Puritas, buses will head down W. 150 to Brookpark Rd, then West to the Brookpark Station, then to the airport on Ohio 237.  That trip alone is probably about 20-25 minutes where the normal train time is probably just under 10 minutes, ... and that includes the wait for westbound trains that allow Brookpark passengers to clear the grade crossing at the temporary station there.  This may be a conservative estimate, but ... Also, my experience on the East Side with Shaker Heights bus replacements for the Blue/Green Lines is that the bus coordination is often poor, so you may want to figure this in as well. 

Busy day for our friends over at GCRTA's Twitterverse....

 

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  31m31 minutes ago

Mon 11/2-Sun 11/8, E 79 Red Line sta. out of service due to @ODOT_Cleveland bridge demo & construction over tracks http://ow.ly/TXXei

 

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  16m16 minutes ago

Credit/debit unavailable at Ticket Vending Machines along the Red Line at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience.

 

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  14m14 minutes ago

Credit/ debit cards unavailable on HealthLine Ticket Vending Machines. We apologize for the inconvenience at this time.

 

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  6m6 minutes ago

Hey @Browns fans! Brookpark station is still closed for construction. Park at Puritas, West Park or Triskett for the game on Sun!

This would have made a great 'Onion' headline:

 

Magazine names Joe Calabrese a Public Official of the Year

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20151110/NEWS/151119978/magazine-names-joe-calabrese-a-public-official-of-the-year

This would have made a great 'Onion' headline:

 

Magazine names Joe Calabrese a Public Official of the Year

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20151110/NEWS/151119978/magazine-names-joe-calabrese-a-public-official-of-the-year

 

Sort of like GCRTA being named "North America's best transit system."

 

I do think that Joe gets unfair criticism, but I'd expect this award to go to someone with some more bold vision and leadership. It's also been 7 years since the HealthLine opened, which is pretty much all the blurb talked about regarding accomplishments.

I think this is a well-deserved award. Joe and I may have our differences, but he is the most honest, sincere, apolitical and professional general manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority I have met in my 30 years of transportation advocacy. I loved Ron Tober for his aggressiveness, but in some cases he was too aggressive and some of the people he surrounded himself with concerned me.

RTA fare increase to $2.50 proposed for 2016, as well as a 1.3% service cut for buses

 

Page 5

http://www.riderta.com/sites/default/files/pdf/presentations/2016%20Transmittal%20Letter-FINAL-11-3-15.pdf

 

An additional fare increase of up to 50 cents will be needed so GCRTA can pay the local share for replacing the rail fleet. Service cuts should be avoided. They create a death spiral.

An additional fare increase of up to 50 cents will be needed so GCRTA can pay the local share for replacing the rail fleet. Service cuts should be avoided. They create a death spiral.

 

To put it mildly.  Making it less reliable means makes it less attractive to people with other options.  Those without have trouble dealing with the increase, and so it goes....

Scene's story on the fare hike, among other things

 

 

RTA to Raise Base Fare, Cut Service in 2016

 

Posted By Sam Allard on Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 10:21 am

 

In a letter to the RTA board of trustees, CEO Joe Calabrese proposed fare increases and a "slight service reduction" in the 2016 budget to react to what he characterized as downward financial trends.

 

The proposed budget includes an increase in base fare from $2.25 to $2.50 and an increase in Paratransit fare — the service for riders with disabilities — from $2.25 to $3.50. Also, due to overcapacity at RTA garages, Calabrese has proposed a 1.3 percent reduction in the number of buses in service.

 

The board deliberated at its meeting Tuesday morning, and will do so again, said Calabrese, at its meetings on December 1 and December 15. Public comments will be welcomed on those dates. (The meetings take place in the board room at RTA headquarters downtown, 1240 W. 6th St.).

 

..."This award [from Governing Magazine], together with the appointment of Valarie McCall as the chair of the American Public Transportation Association, shows the nation that Cleveland is leading the conversation on public transportation,” Jackson said...

 

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2015/11/12/rta-to-raise-base-fare-cut-service-in-2016

Are they cutting service, or are there "extra" buses?

 

An additional fare increase of up to 50 cents will be needed so GCRTA can pay the local share for replacing the rail fleet. Service cuts should be avoided. They create a death spiral.

 

Is that $.50 on top of the proposed $.25 increase, or total?

On top of. That assumes RTA provides 50 percent of the funding for the new rail cars. Federal policy allows them to contribute as little as 20 percent toward the cost, but RTA's service area population and extent of bus and rail system warrants only enough state-of-good-repair formula federal funds every four years to fund 50 percent of the cost and leave about $30 million in remaining federal funds so RTA doesn't neglect other state-of-good-repair needs during that four-year period. If RTA contributed only 20 percent, then it would either have to get ODOT to provide the remaining 30 percent or spread the railcar acquisitions over eight years, which is possible. RTA used to be eligible for more federal formula funds when Cuyahoga County had more population and when RTA had more ridership, but not anymore. That's an argument for RTA partnering with other NE Ohio transit agencies, or merging with them, or creating a new transit funding umbrella organization for NE Ohio such as through the MPOs forming a multi-jurisdictional initiative (legal under federal law). Whatever the answer is, it surely isn't the status quo. And it's going to be achieved either through a crisis, or by a community conversation or both.

 

EDIT: I starting getting into the big-picture stuff which gets into the topic of the other thread, so let's discuss it more there: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,30302.0.html

Scene's story on the fare hike, among other things

 

 

RTA to Raise Base Fare, Cut Service in 2016

 

Posted By Sam Allard on Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 10:21 am

 

In a letter to the RTA board of trustees, CEO Joe Calabrese proposed fare increases and a "slight service reduction" in the 2016 budget to react to what he characterized as downward financial trends.

 

The proposed budget includes an increase in base fare from $2.25 to $2.50 and an increase in Paratransit fare — the service for riders with disabilities — from $2.25 to $3.50. Also, due to overcapacity at RTA garages, Calabrese has proposed a 1.3 percent reduction in the number of buses in service.

 

The board deliberated at its meeting Tuesday morning, and will do so again, said Calabrese, at its meetings on December 1 and December 15. Public comments will be welcomed on those dates. (The meetings take place in the board room at RTA headquarters downtown, 1240 W. 6th St.).

 

..."This award [from Governing Magazine], together with the appointment of Valarie McCall as the chair of the American Public Transportation Association, shows the nation that Cleveland is leading the conversation on public transportation,” Jackson said...

 

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2015/11/12/rta-to-raise-base-fare-cut-service-in-2016

 

I'm surprised and saddened to hear that Alison Grant lost her job; hate that to happen to anybody, not to mention the PD now no longer has a Transportation writer.  I don't know what's in worse financial shape these days: RTA or the PD.

Wow, she did? That's terrible. She was with the paper a long time.

CBS 19 is doing an "investigative" report on the RTA rail situation during the 11pm newscast on Monday night

CBS 19 is doing an "investigate" report on the RTA rail situation during the 11pm newscast on Monday night

 

The only thing to investigate is the lack of funding for public transportation at the local, state and federal levels.

CBS 19 is doing an "investigate" report on the RTA rail situation during the 11pm newscast on Monday night

 

The only thing to investigate is the lack of funding for public transportation at the local, state and federal levels.

 

Investigative meaning they read the KJP/Scene write-ups?

Investigative meaning they read the KJP/Scene write-ups?

 

Hopefully not. Scene, like just about everyone else, interpreted our critique as a critique of GCRTA. Only a new vision for regional transit, including funding, can address what ails GCRTA.

Hopefully someone, somewhere, will raise a question about our esteemed governor-turned-presidential hopeful, John Kasich, who:

 

- has presided over this horrible transit funding situation (and no doubt encouraged it)

 

- had his party choose Cleveland for the 2016 RNC, largely because of good transit, principally the Rapid (which is ironic because Republicans generally, like Kasich, despise public transit as some kind of social engineering where poor and minorities ride -- Oh God, Obama and his lefty/socialist minions are coming to take our cars as well as our guns!!), and

 

- while playing the Proud Host at the RNC despite barely spending any time in Cleveland normally (accept to push hard for the Opportunity Corridor), ... the same city where his fellow Republicans will be zipping around ... on the rapid transit system he barely funds (talk about irony)...

 

... maybe, just maybe, somebody will put Kasich on the hot seat on this ... well, I'll be satisfied if it's merely a warm seat.

You won't see many RNC members on the Rapid.  They were concerned with this mainly so the help can get to work at the convention.

The plan, last I'd heard, was to use the Rapid to get conventioneers out to stations where they would connect to buses to get them to suburban hotels. I also seem to recall that public access to the Rapid would be limited during certain times, but I don't recall if that was part of the final plan.

Hopefully someone, somewhere, will raise a question about our esteemed governor-turned-presidential hopeful, John Kasich, who:

 

- has presided over this horrible transit funding situation (and no doubt encouraged it)

 

- had his party choose Cleveland for the 2016 RNC, largely because of good transit, principally the Rapid (which is ironic because Republicans generally, like Kasich, despise public transit as some kind of social engineering where poor and minorities ride -- Oh God, Obama and his lefty/socialist minions are coming to take our cars as well as our guns!!), and

 

- while playing the Proud Host at the RNC despite barely spending any time in Cleveland normally (accept to push hard for the Opportunity Corridor), ... the same city where his fellow Republicans will be zipping around ... on the rapid transit system he barely funds (talk about irony)...

 

... maybe, just maybe, somebody will put Kasich on the hot seat on this ... well, I'll be satisfied if it's merely a warm seat.

 

I sure hope this happens as well.  When Cincy was still in the running for the RNC, there were similar comments about how the streetcar was very appealing to party leadership.  Nevermind that Kasich tried to kill the project by taking back over $50 million in previously awarded state funding.  It seems that Republicans are commonly against things until they need them or otherwise have a personal connection to them. 

 

I was encouraged to catch a local news program this weekend (in Cincinnati) where representatives from the Chamber of Commerce were talking about a report they just published about the state of transit in Cincinnati.  While they were generally advocating for increased transit options in the region, they specifically called out the lack of funding from the state, which puts us at a competitive disadvantage compared to peer cities.  The Cincy Chamber is pretty famously conservative and has considerable pull with politicians and such, at least locally.  If enough voices echo the same message in cities across the state, maybe we can start to gain some traction on getting the state to at least pretend that it cares about transit.

Hopefully someone, somewhere, will raise a question about our esteemed governor-turned-presidential hopeful, John Kasich, who:

 

- has presided over this horrible transit funding situation (and no doubt encouraged it)

 

- had his party choose Cleveland for the 2016 RNC, largely because of good transit, principally the Rapid (which is ironic because Republicans generally, like Kasich, despise public transit as some kind of social engineering where poor and minorities ride -- Oh God, Obama and his lefty/socialist minions are coming to take our cars as well as our guns!!), and

 

- while playing the Proud Host at the RNC despite barely spending any time in Cleveland normally (accept to push hard for the Opportunity Corridor), ... the same city where his fellow Republicans will be zipping around ... on the rapid transit system he barely funds (talk about irony)...

 

... maybe, just maybe, somebody will put Kasich on the hot seat on this ... well, I'll be satisfied if it's merely a warm seat.

Cleveland did not win the RNC largely because of good transit (the rapid) and Cinci did not lose the RNC because of its lack of streetcars.  The RNC needed to be in a city with a certain number of buses and both CLE and CIN met this requirement.  CIN dropped out because of its shabby arena and CLE won due to its overall appeal.  To say CLE won the RNC because it has a rapid transit system and CIN lost because it does not is misplaced.

Hopefully someone, somewhere, will raise a question about our esteemed governor-turned-presidential hopeful, John Kasich, who:

 

- has presided over this horrible transit funding situation (and no doubt encouraged it)

 

- had his party choose Cleveland for the 2016 RNC, largely because of good transit, principally the Rapid (which is ironic because Republicans generally, like Kasich, despise public transit as some kind of social engineering where poor and minorities ride -- Oh God, Obama and his lefty/socialist minions are coming to take our cars as well as our guns!!), and

 

- while playing the Proud Host at the RNC despite barely spending any time in Cleveland normally (accept to push hard for the Opportunity Corridor), ... the same city where his fellow Republicans will be zipping around ... on the rapid transit system he barely funds (talk about irony)...

 

... maybe, just maybe, somebody will put Kasich on the hot seat on this ... well, I'll be satisfied if it's merely a warm seat.

Cleveland did not win the RNC largely because of good transit (the rapid) and Cinci did not lose the RNC because of its lack of streetcars.  The RNC needed to be in a city with a certain number of buses and both CLE and CIN met this requirement.  CIN dropped out because of its shabby arena and CLE won due to its overall appeal.  To say CLE won the RNC because it has a rapid transit system and CIN lost because it does not is misplaced.

 

Perhaps largely is too strong a word.  But Cleveland's quality public transit absolutely was a major reason the Republican site committee chose Cleveland, and why they didn't choose Columbus or Kansas City.  In particular transit was cited in article after article, including this one:

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/07/robust_public_transit_and_cent.html

It was mostly a fluff piece. Didn't get very far into the issues..

 

RTA spells out financial future following tough questions

http://www.cleveland19.com/story/30484206/rta-spells-out-financial-future-following-tough-questions

Green Line replaced with shuttle buses between Shaker Sq and Green Road...

 

 

RTA train collides with van in Shaker Heights

 

By Ryllie Danylko, cleveland.com

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on November 17, 2015 at 8:32 AM, updated November 17, 2015 at 8:35 AM

 

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- An RTA train and a minivan collided Tuesday morning in Shaker Heights.

 

Nobody was hurt in the crash that happened shortly before 8 a.m. at the intersection of Shaker Boulevard and West Park Boulevard.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/shaker-heights/index.ssf/2015/11/rta_train_collides_with_van_in.html

@GCRTA tweet from 7 minutes ago:

Emergency single tracking on the Red Line btwn West Park & Puritas may cause delays.