Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  1m

Shuttle buses to replace Blue & Green line trains btwn Tower City & end of lines until further notice.

 

Forever...

 

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  1m

Shuttle buses to replace Blue & Green line trains btwn Tower City & end of lines until further notice.

 

Anyone know what is going on? Last night and this morning the green line train was not only delayed but the ride was jumpy and jerky the whole time. It was really odd and obviously something wasn't right

Per the RTA web site, an overhead wire is down near Shaker Square: http://www.riderta.com/service-alerts/bluegreen-line-served-buses.

Thanks. Just saw a tweet from WKYC saying that too (they probably saw it on the RTA site!).

 

But what's up with the rough ride?

New study shows hotels in cities with rail-airport links perform better than in convention-draw cities without links

 

http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/ATPA-UST-New-Partnership.pdf

Thanks. Just saw a tweet from WKYC saying that too (they probably saw it on the RTA site!).

 

But what's up with the rough ride?

 

My guess would be voltage fluctuations if there's a problem with a wire.

JMasek/JeTDoG

 

Do you know when the Cedar University Rapid station will be finished. Based on the 24 month timeline it would be September 2014, but I believe that is for the entire project which also includes the new bus stations to replace the loop. Will the train station open before that and do you know if construction is ahead of schedule? Thanks.

 

I look forward to seeing the finished station. And thank you RTA for improving a key station, while also relocating the East 120th station(which I hate) to Mayfield Road. I really cant wait for that one to open! I really believe ridership will jump and this will be one of the best urban stations in the system.

 

Edit: Two more questions.

 

For the RTA guys, does RTA plan to upgrade the pedestrian route under the Mayfield bridges like they are doing with the Cedar bridges?

 

And for UO in general, does anyone know if Case plans on improving their campus's connection with the new station. Maybe demolish a building along MLK.

Blue-Green Line power outage report.....

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/11/blue_and_green_line_trains_bac.html

 

 

And RTA will add longer, extra trains for the Friday morning rush (with the Inner Belt closed). Wonder if ODOT will get all of the Inner Belt work done by Monday morning, what with the cold and snow expected to hit Sunday?

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/11/rta_says_it_will_add_bus_train.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-2

Blue-Green Line power outage report.....

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/11/blue_and_green_line_trains_bac.html

 

 

And RTA will add longer, extra trains for the Friday morning rush (with the Inner Belt closed). Wonder if ODOT will get all of the Inner Belt work done by Monday morning, what with the cold and snow expected to hit Sunday?

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/11/rta_says_it_will_add_bus_train.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-2

Well I heard on the news that since ODOT moved the date up that the work will be done by Monday.

And for UO in general, does anyone know if Case plans on improving their campus's connection with the new station. Maybe demolish a building along MLK.

 

It's not obvious, but there are ways to get from the Case quad to the RTA station fairly easily—there are several sets of stairs down from the quad to MLK already, and also a way to cut through from the upper to lower levels of Veale and exit out onto MLK across from the bus loop. Most Case students know how to do this, though some signs/maps posted near the station might be useful for the general public.

Well I heard on the news that since ODOT moved the date up that the work will be done by Monday.

 

I'm sure it will -- weather permitting.

JMasek/JeTDoG

 

Do you know when the Cedar University Rapid station will be finished. Based on the 24 month timeline it would be September 2014, but I believe that is for the entire project which also includes the new bus stations to replace the loop. Will the train station open before that and do you know if construction is ahead of schedule? Thanks.

 

I look forward to seeing the finished station. And thank you RTA for improving a key station, while also relocating the East 120th station(which I hate) to Mayfield Road. I really cant wait for that one to open! I really believe ridership will jump and this will be one of the best urban stations in the system.

 

Edit: Two more questions.

 

For the RTA guys, does RTA plan to upgrade the pedestrian route under the Mayfield bridges like they are doing with the Cedar bridges?

 

And for UO in general, does anyone know if Case plans on improving their campus's connection with the new station. Maybe demolish a building along MLK.

 

Didn't want this to get lost on the last page.

Question for moderator- I just registered but can't find any New Topic button which is supposed to be at the top and bottom of the page.  Is this a feature that will show up later when I answer some post or can you add it to my page access?  Thanks.

 

Bill in Fairview Park

And for UO in general, does anyone know if Case plans on improving their campus's connection with the new station. Maybe demolish a building along MLK.

 

It's not obvious, but there are ways to get from the Case quad to the RTA station fairly easily—there are several sets of stairs down from the quad to MLK already, and also a way to cut through from the upper to lower levels of Veale and exit out onto MLK across from the bus loop. Most Case students know how to do this, though some signs/maps posted near the station might be useful for the general public.

 

This is quite true, I knew a bunch of them even though since I had worked summers in White Building I had a key to the first floor door.  But there's still quite a distance, and the tunnel on Cedar Road can be quite a splash risk, and potentially other risks at night.  More often than not if I was going all the way downtown, I'd take the 9 down Euclid.

Welcome genstab! You should be able to find the "new topic" button atop the listing of discussion topics/threads such as on a board page like this one....

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/board,38.0.html

 

Let me know if still not showing up for you.

Apparently things went pretty well on the Red Line-west this morning with the Inner Belt bridge shut down. I saw a few tweets from people who rode for the first time and appreciated the staff that GCRTA placed at stations to help them find their way. Apparently these were bus drivers working some overtime so this did not come cheap to GCRTA. I am thankful for GCRTA's efforts this morning.

Staffed stations change everything. Changes the whole vibe for the better. I still hope someday RTA staffs Ohio City and the two University Cicle stations. These stations are actually urban stations that serve destinations. Would be good on cutting down on people not paying, and more importantly, creating a safer, more secure feeling station, probably reducing vandalism, while also being able to help visitors of these neighborhoods know where to go and how to ride.

The Airport is as good a station to have it staffed. Even some marketing or business interns from CSU or CWRU staffing a "welcome wagon" kiosk would be a great addition.

^ I agree. Forgot to add that station to my list.

 

Quick question. The red line seems to rock from side to side far more than any other train I have been on. What's the reason behind this?

Heavy-rail vehicle cars are being done in two phases.

 

Phase 1 is the overhaul of the electrical and mechanical parts -- the things you don't see. That phase is almost done.

 

Phase 2 starts in 2013, and will include an overhaul of interiors and exteriors. I think you will like what you see.

 

2013 is coming to an end. When will we see these changes!!

Just noticed today that the University Circle shuttle buses use a system called NextBus to track the location of the buses and give riders actual arrival times. This site is used by major systems all over the United States and Canada. It also has a great phone app which remembers your system and favorite routes/stations, gives the next arrival time and a map of the route/stations. Why did RTA decide not to go this route and instead go with NextConnect(which I think is only used here) which lacks an app and doesn't seem to work one bit.

 

Here is a list of the systems they cover

http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/agencySelector.jsp

 

And here is a real time map of the 501 streetcar in Toronto showing you the exact location of the streetcars and lets you see them move.

http://www.nextbus.com/googleMap/?a=ttc&r=501&d=501_0_501Bus&s=5050

 

 

It's that time of year again.  I ride a Park n Ride from Great Northern (North Olmsted) to downtown.  Every year I have taken this bus (263) when the weather

gets cold we can often count on the bus coming into the lot, sitting about 60 feet from the loading point until about five minutes before departure, then pulling up while we regard it and freezing.  These are not drivers who have gotten out to use the lavatory- you could understand that- and admittedly not all drivers but

enough to make a difference.  Why does this happen?  They're on the clock- it has to be company tme when they're in a uniform sitting in a bus.  The time clock has

to be back at the garage.

I was going to post this on the old Great RTA Thread site but can't find it any more.  I'm sure RTA management reads this forum though.  Could we have some empathy here?  Former GM Ron Tober used to ride the Rocky River (55) bus daily and knew what was going on.  To me it won't matter much as I don't have long till retirement but there are a lot of riders- at the other Park n Rides also- who will be customers for years to come and who could use some consideration in inclement weather, so common in Cleveland.  Rain counts also.

It must have been cost.  Whatever they're paying for NextConnect, though, it's not worth it.  It's an unreliable piece of junk that can't even tell us if a time is estimated or actual, rendering it worthless.  We might as well just have scheduled times all the time on the website and ditch the tracking mechanism if you can't rely on or even differentiate the times.

This sounds like a ATU union rule--that the driver gets his/her break before loading up.  I call BS--why can't a driver take a break and have people wait inside the warm bus?

 

BTW--the RTA thread is here:  http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,4504.8960.html

This is quite true, I knew a bunch of them even though since I had worked summers in White Building I had a key to the first floor door.  But there's still quite a distance, and the tunnel on Cedar Road can be quite a splash risk, and potentially other risks at night.  More often than not if I was going all the way downtown, I'd take the 9 down Euclid.

 

Completely agreed that the current situation is not ideal, particularly for non-students/staff who wouldn't have an ID to use to get into many of the first floor entrances to buildings on the quad.

 

Unfortunately, with Veale being where it is, I don't think there's currently any good option for building a direct link between campus and the Cedar Road RTA. Now, if Veale ever gets completely replaced (long, long overdue...), it would be nice to see a direct link with the RTA. Maybe in 15 years? :roll:

Today was my first Browns game RTA experience and I was happy to see that RTA was very organized (much more so than the Browns.....) and easily managed the large crowds. Lots of announcements and clear direction, extra trains, etc.  Kudos to all the staff! One issue: on the way home to Green Rd. our train had some malfunctions. The PA system stopped working and after Shaker Square the train lost traction and there were a few stretches where we were barely moving and I wasn't sure we were going to make it. Nobody knew what was going on because the driver couldn't announce anything or call out stops.  Is this common when temps drop or what?  Only negative thing of the day- just wish the trains were a bit more reliable. Overall though everyone else seemed to have a good experience.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/11/cleveland_students_will_walk_l.html#incart_m-rpt-2

 

This is a about plan to give RTA passes to students in the CMSD six grade and up if they live more than a 1/2 mile from school.

 

The responses from cleveland.bomb posters was predictably drenched in racial/class hatred, of course.

1/2 miles is not far at all.

 

The biggest negative is that this is generally the age group that makes the ride unpleasant.

1/2 miles is not far at all.

 

The biggest negative is that this is generally the age group that makes the ride unpleasant.

 

I walked a mile or so to school every day from about second grade through ninth.  But I think some of the concerns here are about the neighborhoods.

 

That said, I thought something like this was already the case.  RTA was buried with a swarm of kids during the mid 1980s, the crosstown busing era.  I took the Red Line then a few times a week, and watched grownup ridership plummet, a lot harder than the statistics showed.  I suspect it had a lot to do with the severe decline in transit ridership overall during that era.

Like E Rocc mentioned even though a half mile isn't far it's about safety. Look at the neighborhood's a lot of these schools are based in a lot of them are in areas known for extreme drug and criminal activity. Even the exceptions (John Hay, The new School of Arts, etc) A good number of the students live in rough neighborhoods. I sure would not want my child walking in this area I wish this was implemented when I was in high school it would have saved me the fear factor of walking.

This sounds like a ATU union rule--that the driver gets his/her break before loading up.  I call BS--why can't a driver take a break and have people wait inside the warm bus?

 

BTW--the RTA thread is here:  http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,4504.8960.html

 

I'm guessing it's meant to give the driver time to decompress a little bit.  When I rode, I would estimate that 5-10% of riders were a pain in the posterior....lots of questions, insist on chatting up the driver, etc. 

 

I'm guessing it's meant to give the driver time to decompress a little bit.  When I rode, I would estimate that 5-10% of riders were a pain in the posterior....lots of questions, insist on chatting up the driver, etc. 

 

Ride again and tell me if that's what you see.

Id like to know how often RTA police checks fares on the Healthline and Red Line. I never see them doing either. I never see them at any stations either. I thought that was one of their main responsibilities with the POP but its something I never see. Ive heard other people talking about never seeing them as well.

 

Is their primary job giving parking tickets? Thats the only thing I have seen them do other than being at the Tower City station.

BTW, I posted this Cuyahoga County land values map in another thread in response to a question but this map ought to be available to all of you. Note how the highest property values per acre aren't out in Hunting Valley or Pepper Pike or Bentleyville or Westlake. They're in Cleveland (even the inner city neighborhood!) and in dense streetcar suburbs like Lakewood, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Parma etc.

 

I have much higher resolution versions of this map (without the Rapid Transit lines which I added here), so if you want one and can accept e-mails up to 20 mb each, let me know via PM.

 

^ Cool map but its easier to understand why. Hunting Valley and Pepper Pike have much more valuable properties(excluding downtown and UC obviously) but they are large lots making the value per acre lower compared to Lakewood and other smaller parcel neighborhoods/cities.

^ Cool map but its easier to understand why. Hunting Valley and Pepper Pike have much more valuable properties(excluding downtown and UC obviously) but they are large lots making the value per acre lower compared to Lakewood and other smaller parcel neighborhoods/cities.

 

Bingo. Density! Thus if a community wants to increase its taxbase (economic development=anything that increases a taxbase), increasing density is a proven means to do so. This map demonstrates one such taxbase -- property.

Seeing that the Euclid Corridor Project ripped up the tracks on Euclid Ave. my question is do tracks exist on St.Clair or Superior?

Seeing that the Euclid Corridor Project ripped up the tracks on Euclid Ave. my question is do tracks exist on St.Clair or Superior?

 

I think so. But I don't see them being used for a new streetcar someday.

I don't know if RTA has a hiring program with the mentally ill and/or felons, but the guy working at Tower City is making quite an impression. Yelling and rudeness is a hell of a 'Welcome to Winterfest from the RTA' introduction to suburbanites and their families. Where did you guys find this yahoo (late 60s, white facial hair, black dude)

I don't know if RTA has a hiring program with the mentally ill and/or felons, but the guy working at Tower City is making quite an impression. Yelling and rudeness is a hell of a 'Welcome to Winterfest from the RTA' introduction to suburbanites and their families. Where did you guys find this yahoo (late 60s, white facial hair, black dude)

 

RTA needs to implement or improve their customer service training. The employees at Tower City are never that friendly. Their drivers aren't that great either. They do have a great driver on the Red Line during the evening though. Never got his name or id but sounds like an older guy who is great on the PA system.

Seeing that the Euclid Corridor Project ripped up the tracks on Euclid Ave. my question is do tracks exist on St.Clair or Superior?

 

FYI......

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,10253.msg685753.html#msg685753

I don't know if RTA has a hiring program with the mentally ill and/or felons, but the guy working at Tower City is making quite an impression. Yelling and rudeness is a hell of a 'Welcome to Winterfest from the RTA' introduction to suburbanites and their families. Where did you guys find this yahoo (late 60s, white facial hair, black dude)

 

RTA needs to implement or improve their customer service training. The employees at Tower City are never that friendly. Their drivers aren't that great either. They do have a great driver on the Red Line during the evening though. Never got his name or id but sounds like an older guy who is great on the PA system.

 

They're a monopoly.  That's the first thing to go.  Remember the BMV before it was privatized?

I don't know if RTA has a hiring program with the mentally ill and/or felons, but the guy working at Tower City is making quite an impression. Yelling and rudeness is a hell of a 'Welcome to Winterfest from the RTA' introduction to suburbanites and their families. Where did you guys find this yahoo (late 60s, white facial hair, black dude)

 

RTA needs to implement or improve their customer service training. The employees at Tower City are never that friendly. Their drivers aren't that great either. They do have a great driver on the Red Line during the evening though. Never got his name or id but sounds like an older guy who is great on the PA system.

 

It kills me but I have to agree with this.  I ride RTA often and am frequently disturbed by the lack of unprofessionalism and downright rudeness of some employees.

Id like to know how often RTA police checks fares on the Healthline and Red Line. I never see them doing either. I never see them at any stations either. I thought that was one of their main responsibilities with the POP but its something I never see. Ive heard other people talking about never seeing them as well.

 

Is their primary job giving parking tickets? Thats the only thing I have seen them do other than being at the Tower City station.

 

Last week there were officers at the top of the stairs from the platform at Puritas checking passes.  I do agree that I have not encountered them often, but we likely represent a small sample of the overall operation.  It also could be that those traveling during rush hour are not the most likely to be in violation. 

 

I'm guessing it's meant to give the driver time to decompress a little bit.  When I rode, I would estimate that 5-10% of riders were a pain in the posterior....lots of questions, insist on chatting up the driver, etc. 

 

Ride again and tell me if that's what you see.

 

I last saw it a couple years ago.  Saw it on and off a lot back in the day.  Unless things have changed dramatically in two years....

Id like to know how often RTA police checks fares on the Healthline and Red Line. I never see them doing either. I never see them at any stations either. I thought that was one of their main responsibilities with the POP but its something I never see. Ive heard other people talking about never seeing them as well.

 

Is their primary job giving parking tickets? Thats the only thing I have seen them do other than being at the Tower City station.

 

Last week there were officers at the top of the stairs from the platform at Puritas checking passes.  I do agree that I have not encountered them often, but we likely represent a small sample of the overall operation.  It also could be that those traveling during rush hour are not the most likely to be in violation. 

 

I often ride the Healthline and Red Line at all hours so I wouldn't think rush hour would play a major factor. Although I still haven't seen them on the Healthline(besides once the first year), I did see them get on the Red Line today. They just stood up front though and did not check anyone for passes.

I've seen them a couple times on the HL during morning rush hour.

Heavy-rail vehicle cars are being done in two phases.

 

Phase 1 is the overhaul of the electrical and mechanical parts -- the things you don't see. That phase is almost done.

 

Phase 2 starts in 2013, and will include an overhaul of interiors and exteriors. I think you will like what you see.

 

2013 is coming to an end. When will we see these changes!!

 

I didn't want this to get lost. Also it is now December 2nd and the Little Italy station still hasn't seen any actual work begin. Whats the holdup?

Are there security cameras in the Red Line stations?  The reason I ask is that a friend was robbed at gunpoint in the West 117th Street station last night.  Obviously, whatever cameras exist did not deter this crime, but perhaps they might be useful to help identify and catch the robbers.  Can someone at RTA speak to this question?  Thanks!

^ RTA has the sixth largest law enforcement organization in Ohio with over 100 officers, yet they have almost no visible police presence outside of Tower City. I would like to see at least 10 of those officers patrolling the rapid stations, using the train to get from station to station. When I do see officers, they always seem to be in groups of at least 2. Maybe breaking them up and letting them patrol alone would be more effective.