To JMasek[/member] or JeTDoG[/member]: this was posted on AAO's Facebook page today regarding the HealthLine....

 

Will the bus have air conditioning? The 90F that leaves E9th and Lakeside at 3:36 PM did not have air in this horrible heat.  This is not the first time. I made a complaint on the website - no response. Why are the new buses no longer on the southeast side of the city?

 

That's an old Maple Heights Transit route.  They had older buses, but way better maintained.  No openable windows on the new ones, right?

Anyone else sad that everyone who depends on the bus and transfers from an east side rout to a west side route is going to have to walk ten blocks through all the craziness just to carry on with their day?

 

Incorrect. The B-Line trolley will run between the two terminals from 5am-1am, and those east side buses that run 24 hours will have their routes extended between 1am and 5am to service the stop at Frankfort and West Roadway: http://www.riderta.com/service-alerts/downtown-riders-convention-reroutes

 

Props for planning ahead.  You guys catch hell when it doesn't look like you didn't, hope it's noticed that you did.  Not holding my breath of course....

 

 

Ah, I didn't realize that. My mistake  -- I was going off of how it was done for the Cavs parade and what a cluster that was when I was trying to get home from work. What's the frequency for the b-line going to be?

 

Didn't mean to rag on RTA -- y'all do a good job with the curve balls that are thrown at you ceaselessly. Let's hope we can get some more funding soon!

What's up with all the trees dying on the Green Line east of Shaker Square? There is a significant die-off - and all of the trees appear to be of the same type and era.

^Yikes, could you give more detail? It's not that majestic row of oaks between SS and Coventry I hope. I'm hoping it's just the hawthorns (I think?) that line the tracks farther east.

It's the smaller trees - they fit within the narrow right of way. I can see about getting a photo or two when I'm on my way back from Eton.

Yes those are the hawthorns SC is talking about.  There has been quite a drought in Shaker, but most of those hawthorns are fine.  There is a certain stretch a ways down Shaker that has died.  It is a different variety that the others. 

 

Many of the oaks between SS and Coventry have also indeed died or are in decline.  There is something hitting the pin oaks which is causing many to be in decline just about everywhere (even many of the new ones on Euclid in University Circle.  We lost some huge ones in front of Moreland Courts.     

^Oh man, I'm so bummed to hear that about the oaks. Just terrible. It takes so long to develop mature trees like those...  Hopefully the newer disease-resistant elm varieties can step in over the next few decades.

This is worth mentioning in the Shaker Square thread, which I will aid and abet.

Has anyone used RTA's mobile app yet? I'm curious how it works...do you show it to the operator? Is there a separate lane entering and exiting the rapid at Tower City?

 

 

Has anyone used RTA's mobile app yet? I'm curious how it works...do you show it to the operator? Is there a separate lane entering and exiting the rapid at Tower City?

 

 

 

As a trial application, it is currently visual inspection validation only.

 

Simply show the generated QR code for an activated fare to any gate attendant (at Tower City, the center swing gate used for wheelchair access), and you'll be permitted through. Similarly, displaying the code to a fare enforcement officer on the Red Line or HealthLine, or the bus operator as you're boarding any other bus, proves fare payment.

I've used it.  It was kind of confusing because there is nothing in the app or at the station telling you how to show your ticket.

RTA will reroute westbound passengers through Tower City during repairs

 

By Ginger Christ, The Plain Dealer

Email the author | Follow on Twitter

on July 15, 2016 at 1:51 PM, updated July 15, 2016 at 1:56 PM

 

LEVELAND, Ohio -- The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority on Aug. 1 will close down its westbound tracks – referred to as Track 8 – for reconstruction and will reroute those trains to unused tracks – Track 7 – through Thanksgiving.

 

The Tower City tracks last were updated in 1990 and have deteriorated since then.

 

"All rail lines go through Tower City. If the tracks in Tower City go down, the entire rail system goes down," said Joe Calabrese, CEO of RTA.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/07/rta_opening_alternate_tracks_d.html

Proactive maintenance is great - so I'm curious, is there a track layout of Tower City? I'm wondering how many disused or special event tracks there are.

Proactive maintenance is great - so I'm curious, is there a track layout of Tower City? I'm wondering how many disused or special event tracks there are.

Planning an exploration?  :)

Proactive maintenance is great - so I'm curious, is there a track layout of Tower City? I'm wondering how many disused or special event tracks there are.

 

As an old-time Shaker Rapid user, this appears to be the old SR platform area, which was orginally physically separated from the Red Line (formerly the CTS Rapid).  These photos stirred memories; I recognized it immediately even though I haven't seen this area since RTA merged the stations in 1990 when Tower City opened.  I distinctly remember the wall to the right in PD's photo 1 which was platform height for HRVs with the still-visible office doors and windows and was probably the train-control center for CTS/Red Line trains back in the day... KJP would know this for sure.  I have read that the old Shaker tracks and platform area had been kept intact though hidden from view... this confirms it.

 

I hope this temporary train routing through this area works although it seems like a too-small platform area for handling all 3 East Side inbound lines (Red, Blue and Green) as well as outbound WFL trains during big events... I can imagine it getting overcrowded and confusing for big crowds like the Browns games mentioned in the article.  We'll have to wait 'n see.

 

Why transit was key in bringing the RNC to Cleveland

By Faiz Siddiqui July 19 at 1:21 PM

 

Those attending the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week have a panoply of transit options for getting around: heavy and light rail, bus rapid transit, traditional buses and even trolleys.

 

Once arriving at the airport, visitors can hop on Cleveland’s Red Line for a swift, 29-minute trip to Tower City station, a six-minute walk from the convention site. That’s part of what made Cleveland such an attractive site for the convention, officials there say. It has the transit infrastructure to handle a sudden influx 50,000 visitors.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/07/19/why-transit-was-key-in-bringing-the-rnc-to-cleveland/

^^Key to bringing the convention to Cleveland....but don't ask us to vote to fund any of it.

^^Key to bringing the convention to Cleveland....but don't ask us to vote to fund any of it.

 

It's even more ironic considering this is the major convention for Republicans: the very people who hate transit (and cities, generally) and are starving it to death in Cleveland from the Ohio Statehouse. 

^^Key to bringing the convention to Cleveland....but don't ask us to vote to fund any of it.

 

Yes, because all good things are free, right?

Proactive maintenance is great - so I'm curious, is there a track layout of Tower City? I'm wondering how many disused or special event tracks there are.

 

As an old-time Shaker Rapid user, this appears to be the old SR platform area, which was orginally physically separated from the Red Line (formerly the CTS Rapid).  These photos stirred memories; I recognized it immediately even though I haven't seen this area since RTA merged the stations in 1990 when Tower City opened.  I distinctly remember the wall to the right in PD's photo 1 which was platform height for HRVs with the still-visible office doors and windows and was probably the train-control center for CTS/Red Line trains back in the day... KJP would know this for sure.  I have read that the old Shaker tracks and platform area had been kept intact though hidden from view... this confirms it.

 

I hope this temporary train routing through this area works although it seems like a too-small platform area for handling all 3 East Side inbound lines (Red, Blue and Green) as well as outbound WFL trains during big events... I can imagine it getting overcrowded and confusing for big crowds like the Browns games mentioned in the article.  We'll have to wait 'n see.

 

 

It is. In fact, RTA has prepped the station entrance including a new sign -- the only thing missing is the lettering (photo courtesy of TPH2[/member] )....

 

 

 

And here's a track layout of RTA's Tower City station....

 

 

 

Details....

 

 

 

 

And why is the work being done? Because the track beds are a hot mess...

 

 

 

They should look like this track at the airport station. The tracks and tunnel were redone in 2013....

 

Airporttunnel6 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

I'm assuming the track beds were last rebuilt during the station re-do in the mid/late 1980s? 30-ish years seems like a disappointingly short lifespan for that kind of asset.

When was track 6 and 7 disused - after Tower City Station was completed?

I'm assuming the track beds were last rebuilt during the station re-do in the mid/late 1980s? 30-ish years seems like a disappointingly short lifespan for that kind of asset.

 

Trackbeds were rebuilt in 1989-90. Their deterioration is what happens when you don't replace the 1928-built drainage ducts under the tracks and instead only clean them out.

 

When was track 6 and 7 disused - after Tower City Station was completed?

 

Yes, tracks 6 and 7 are the old light-rail (Shaker) station tracks which were no longer in active service after Tower City Center opened in February 1991. They have served other, occasional uses since -- such as for emergency station access, boarding of VIP trains (such as the first media tour of the new Waterfront Line in June 1996, or the shuttle trains between valet parking at Tower City and a Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad fundraiser at the Central Rail Facility), storage of track maintenance equipment, and the collection of historic streetcars and interurbans that were once displayed at the Gerald E. Brookins Museum of Electric Railways and Trolleyville U.S.A. in Olmsted Falls.

Why are there tracks 6, 7, 8, 10W, 10E, 13, but no tracks 1-5, 9, 11, 12...

Removed after the end of CUT?

 

Also, I'd be in favor that after this project is done you have your primary east-bound, and primary west-bound tracks, but also have a good-condition alternate track available so that Tower City doesn't get brought down to its knees when one thing malfunctions, causing everything to stop for hours of delays. And perhaps, find a way to make a more convenient walkway between the main platforms and the alternate. i.e. knock open a wall, so you can walk to the alternate, as opposed up, over, down, around.

 

Off-topic. Where does/did the Detroit/Superior bridge's lower level streetcar connect with the rest of the system? Would the streetcar have merged from lower-level to Superior Ave surface, or was there a tunnel and it was a subway to CUT?

The underside of Detroit-Superior emerged, to my knowledge, in three places:

 

1. In front of Bounce nightclub where Detroit gets wider (roads went around the hole in the ground)

2. On West 25th in front of the West 25th Street Lofts that are getting built (also where the road is wider)

3. On Superior avenue just on this side of the bridge (kinda in front of the State office building)

 

Off-topic. Where does/did the Detroit/Superior bridge's lower level streetcar connect with the rest of the system? Would the streetcar have merged from lower-level to Superior Ave surface, or was there a tunnel and it was a subway to CUT?

 

Glad you brought this up.

 

The idea of converting the Health Line to LRT, dropping it into a subway into Tower City and out the lower deck of the Detroit-Superior (Veteran's Memorial) Bridge makes a helluva lot of sense.  As KJP revealed in his extensive presentations from years past, there is ample existing infrastructure to facilitate such a project that would make it waaaay cheaper than if built from scratch.  Health Line trains would be diverted from Euclid to Huron at PHS then drop down through the (grade separated) Huron subway-connector into Tower City.  Consider that the above article reveals that the old Shaker Rapid station is extant and, in fact, will be used during the Tower City construction.  This station and its access tracks are on the north side of Tower City's rail station complex -- making it closest to both the Huron connector and the Det-Superior subway deck (than the existing Rapid tracks) meaning the Health Line service could be segregated from the current Blue, Green, Red and Waterfront Lines. 

 

Thus with a working Shaker Rapid station in Tower City, the extant Huron subway-connector to the east and the (also extant) Detroit-Superior subway deck to the west, Health Line LRTs could be brought into Tower City RIGHT NOW...

 

Such a move, with buses feeding into this new Health Line LRT and, thus, the elimination of their need to enter Cleveland's CBD core would fundamentally alter RTA's current transit network ... for the better!

Why are there tracks 6, 7, 8, 10W, 10E, 13, but no tracks 1-5, 9, 11, 12...

Removed after the end of CUT?

 

Also, I'd be in favor that after this project is done you have your primary east-bound, and primary west-bound tracks, but also have a good-condition alternate track available so that Tower City doesn't get brought down to its knees when one thing malfunctions, causing everything to stop for hours of delays. And perhaps, find a way to make a more convenient walkway between the main platforms and the alternate. i.e. knock open a wall, so you can walk to the alternate, as opposed up, over, down, around.

 

 

There were to be more interurban station tracks (the Shaker station was part of the old interurban station), but by the time Cleveland Union Terminal opened, nearly all of the interurbans were gone as government-paved roads put the privately funded interurbans out of business. All of the interurban and rapid transit tracks (which were to reroute the interurbans off city streets and into CUT via what eventually became the Red Line) were reworked over the years with many track spaces replaced with wider, more comfortably spaced platforms.

 

Here's CUT originally proposed track configuration in 1920:

 

cut track plan-first variation by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

 

This is what was built and opened for service by electric traction railways (interurbans, rapid transit, etc) and steam railroads in 1930:

 

cut-track-final by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

 

 

Off-topic. Where does/did the Detroit/Superior bridge's lower level streetcar connect with the rest of the system? Would the streetcar have merged from lower-level to Superior Ave surface, or was there a tunnel and it was a subway to CUT?

 

The Detroit-Superior streetcar subway was built in 1917 anticipation of a city-wide subway system, a bond issue for which was placed on the city ballot right after the war when interest rates were high. City voters felt it should be a countywide bond issue and voted it down (later passing a subway bond issue in 1953 but never building it). The bridge subway was built before Cleveland Union Terminal was proposed and approved by voters in 1919. So no connection was provided between the subway and CUT. However, the Van Sweringen brothers proposed eliminating the ramp up from the subway to East 6th and instead make the tracks turn into the traction terminal.

 

Detroit-Superiorbridge-east1915 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

Detroit-Superiorbridge-east1915-2 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

Detroit-Superiorbridge-west1915 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

Detroit-Superiorbridge-west1915-2 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

Detroit-Superiorbridge-west1915-3 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

Detroit-Superior-EastEnd1927-1 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

Detroit-Superior-EastEnd1927-2 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

 

Bump

 

 

Off-topic. Where does/did the Detroit/Superior bridge's lower level streetcar connect with the rest of the system? Would the streetcar have merged from lower-level to Superior Ave surface, or was there a tunnel and it was a subway to CUT?

 

Glad you brought this up.

 

The idea of converting the Health Line to LRT, dropping it into a subway into Tower City and out the lower deck of the Detroit-Superior (Veteran's Memorial) Bridge makes a helluva lot of sense.  As KJP revealed in his extensive presentations from years past, there is ample existing infrastructure to facilitate such a project that would make it waaaay cheaper than if built from scratch.  Health Line trains would be diverted from Euclid to Huron at PHS then drop down through the (grade separated) Huron subway-connector into Tower City.  Consider that the above article reveals that the old Shaker Rapid station is extant and, in fact, will be used during the Tower City construction.  This station and its access tracks are on the north side of Tower City's rail station complex -- making it closest to both the Huron connector and the Det-Superior subway deck (than the existing Rapid tracks) meaning the Health Line service could be segregated from the current Blue, Green, Red and Waterfront Lines. 

 

Thus with a working Shaker Rapid station in Tower City, the extant Huron subway-connector to the east and the (also extant) Detroit-Superior subway deck to the west, Health Line LRTs could be brought into Tower City RIGHT NOW...

 

Such a move, with buses feeding into this new Health Line LRT and, thus, the elimination of their need to enter Cleveland's CBD core would fundamentally alter RTA's current transit network ... for the better!

[Note: Al Roker's Red Line video tweet over the Flats; he was hoping over into downtown from the WSM in Ohio City; nothing new for Al; he used to ride the Blue Line home after his nightly weather casts at WKYC during the 80's.]

 

RTA running smoothly during the RNC

 

By Ginger Christ, The Plain Dealer

Email the author | Follow on Twitter

on July 21, 2016 at 9:10 AM, updated July 21, 2016 at 9:11 AM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – With 50,000 people coming into town for the Republican National Convention, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority was prepared for crowds to fill its trains, buses and trolleys to the brim.

 

That was not the case.

 

Unlike during the Cleveland Cavaliers parade, when RTA set ridership records with 500,000 people using public transit to get downtown, the week of the RNC has been relatively slow.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/rnc-2016/index.ssf/2016/07/rta.html#incart_maj-story-1

^^Love the Calabrese quote about preparation.  Makes you think he might start planning for the future (or not). 

 

I've said it in these forums before--the rank and file RNC attendee is not riding RTA.  They were bussed in from the airport and will be bussed back.

What evidence do you have that none of the delegates are using RTA? In fact, I've seen evidence that they have been using it. The article makes clear that the heavy rider losses is due to workers teleworking or otherewise avoiding going into work during the RNC.

What evidence do you have that none of the delegates are using RTA? In fact, I've seen evidence that they have been using it. The article makes clear that the heavy rider losses is due to workers teleworking or otherewise avoiding going into work during the RNC.

 

Delegates may not be while staffers are.  Voting delegates tend to be a bit pampered.

What evidence do you have that none of the delegates are using RTA? In fact, I've seen evidence that they have been using it. The article makes clear that the heavy rider losses is due to workers teleworking or otherewise avoiding going into work during the RNC.

 

Delegates may not be while staffers are.  Voting delegates tend to be a bit pampered.

 

Correct.  RTA is there for the help.  The delegates may have an event at the Rock Hall, but they sure aren't taking the waterfront line to E9th.  They are on planned transportation from hotel to event.

i've seen a lot of credentials hanging off people necks on the train this week

I've seen several people who I think were here for the convention on the train between downtown and Ohio City. Most of them looked like delegates to me. I don't know if my impressions were correct. I gave directions to a media person who was taking the Red Line downtown from 25th. As someone else mentioned, I think the falloff in ridership was due to many Clevelanders deserting the city for the week. Today I notice that the WSM parking lot, usually overflowing on Fridays, has many open parking spaces.

There were also a number of charter buses at the West 150th-Puritas station, indicating the RTA was shuttling people from downtown to an outlying distribution point. That was the pre-convention plans for the Shaker lines as well, to take conventioneers to buses at the end of the Green Line and then to Beachwood-area hotels. But I don't know if that part of it actually took place.

As I noted in another thread, Al friggin Roker Tweeted video from his Red Line trip in from Ohio City/WSM... Roker of course rode the trains when he lived/worked here in the early 80s. Still, he's Al Roker, a high-profile national celeb (who is big enough to even have a notable Seinfeld cameo-- ironically on the NYC subway) who could order any limo he wanted...but he opted for the Red Line.

As I noted in another thread, Al friggin Roker Tweeted video from his Red Line trip in from Ohio City/WSM... Roker of course rode the trains when he lived/worked here in the early 80s. Still, he's Al Roker, a high-profile national celeb (who is big enough to even have a notable Seinfeld cameo-- ironically on the NYC subway) who could order any limo he wanted...but he opted for the Red Line.

 

We should get Al on board for a Twitter campaign asking the Mayor and all of council to use public transit for one month.  #leadbyexample

As I noted in another thread, Al friggin Roker Tweeted video from his Red Line trip in from Ohio City/WSM... Roker of course rode the trains when he lived/worked here in the early 80s. Still, he's Al Roker, a high-profile national celeb (who is big enough to even have a notable Seinfeld cameo-- ironically on the NYC subway) who could order any limo he wanted...but he opted for the Red Line.

 

We should get Al on board for a Twitter campaign asking the Mayor and all of council to use public transit for one month.  #leadbyexample

 

That would be nice, since Mayor Jackson grew up in Central?  Kinsman?  either of which are the poorest, most transit-dependent districts.  Of course we couldn't get Jane Campbell to ride the Rapid either.  Jane grew up in Shaker Heights: home of the Shaker Rapid, and when she was mayor, lived on Drexmore, a block from the Blue Line which could have taken her to within a block of her City Hall office on the Waterfront Line to North Coast... She never did, preferring her chauffeured limo to City Hall...

 

... so whether you're poor from the transit-dependent hood or middle/upper middle class from a transit friendly suburb and live near rail, the ongoing Cleveland narrative is to love freeways and hate transit. Albert S. Porter must be smiling in his grave.

 

I was speaking with a local City Engineer this week who also sits on an area transportation planning committee. He mentioned that prior to the Cavs championship, Joe Calabrese said he would be taking rail cars out of service that week in preparation for the RNC. When asked by another committee member "what if the cavs win" he replied simply with "it's the Cavs."

 

The source was credible and to me explains why the red line was only running two car trains. I don't know enough about the blue/green to know if it had an effect there. Has anyone heard anything like this before? If so this was horrible mismanagement...

I was speaking with a local City Engineer this week who also sits on an area transportation planning committee. He mentioned that prior to the Cavs championship, Joe Calabrese said he would be taking rail cars out of service that week in preparation for the RNC. When asked by another committee member "what if the cavs win" he replied simply with "it's the Cavs."

 

The source was credible and to me explains why the red line was only running two car trains. I don't know enough about the blue/green to know if it had an effect there. Has anyone heard anything like this before? If so this was horrible mismanagement...

 

Your source sounds credible, all right.... All I can say is, it's par for the course.

I had a friend staying in town with me from San Antonio this past week. We took the red line every chance we got - to and from the airport, Little Italy, UC... The trains were always pretty full when we were on them, and there were always plenty of people waiting at the stations, both locals and visitors alike. My friend remarked a few times on how nice it is to have the trains to take, not have to worry about parking and traffic, and how he wishes they had stuff like this back in Texas. Made me feel pretty good about what we have here :)

I had a friend staying in town with me from San Antonio this past week. We took the red line every chance we got - to and from the airport, Little Italy, UC... The trains were always pretty full when we were on them, and there were always plenty of people waiting at the stations, both locals and visitors alike. My friend remarked a few times on how nice it is to have the trains to take, not have to worry about parking and traffic, and how he wishes they had stuff like this back in Texas. Made me feel pretty good about what we have here :)

 

Cleveland has a very nice transit system built for, as many have noted, a much bigger city that used to exist. Glad folks like you and your friend got out and actually used it. Too many people here drive when they need not. They could only dream of such a system in San Antonio which is much larger than Cleveland.

Seeing ODOT Cleveland tweet and encourage people to ride the rapid is kind of ironic, but maybe not because I don't follow them. Either way having them, Destination CLE, and DCA encouraging transit usage is great, if only it would continue.

 

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

 

Fare card app ad showed up on my Facebook feed today, for what it's worth.

Seeing ODOT Cleveland tweet and encourage people to ride the rapid is kind of ironic, but maybe not because I don't follow them. Either way having them, Destination CLE, and DCA encouraging transit usage is great, if only it would continue.

 

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Have you heard any conversation or funding strategies/proposals other than from Ken and maybe Scene, about next year's shortfall, funding crisis for RTA?  I know I haven't; certainly not from the Mayor, Valarie McCall, Calabrese or any other local official.

Seeing ODOT Cleveland tweet and encourage people to ride the rapid is kind of ironic, but maybe not because I don't follow them. Either way having them, Destination CLE, and DCA encouraging transit usage is great, if only it would continue.

 

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Have you heard any conversation or funding strategies/proposals other than from Ken and maybe Scene, about next year's shortfall, funding crisis for RTA?  I know I haven't; certainly not from the Mayor, Valarie McCall, Calabrese or any other local official.

Only other place was Cleveland.com

 

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

Seeing ODOT Cleveland tweet and encourage people to ride the rapid is kind of ironic, but maybe not because I don't follow them. Either way having them, Destination CLE, and DCA encouraging transit usage is great, if only it would continue.

 

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Have you heard any conversation or funding strategies/proposals other than from Ken and maybe Scene, about next year's shortfall, funding crisis for RTA?  I know I haven't; certainly not from the Mayor, Valarie McCall, Calabrese or any other local official.

Only other place was Cleveland.com

 

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

 

And that was just the one article about a month ago.  Amazing how nonchalant our state an local officials are about this.  The Slate Magazine article noted the irony that State and local officials cited RTA, especially the airport Rapid in their attempt to land the RNC, and yet they don't want to fund it... and yet everyone is talking about what a good and reasonable candidate John Kasich would be for president.  Cleveland has obviously come a long way on the downtown/development front but they refuse to see how much will be undone if they continue to thumb their collective noses at the needs of mass transit.  It's despicable. 

Fare card app ad showed up on my Facebook feed today, for what it's worth.

 

That reminds me, tried to use the app to get tickets last week. Surprised and disappointed that I couldn't get single tickets, only all day pass. Ended up just always using the machines at the redline stations, which were major pains when they wouldn't accept cards (Little Italy on Tuesday) or totally ran out of tickets (Airport on Sunday)