OK. So this is why the West Shoreway was closed this morning... It was RTA's fault!! ;) BTW, the Red Line (Puritas-Airport) was down AGAIN today. Thanks to @TheeRealMikeP on Twitter for these pics....

 

 

BTW, the Red Line (Puritas-Airport) was down AGAIN today.

 

From what I could gather from a co-worker the red line incident was a train stopped at Puritas he was on. He said the doors were doing that half close and rapidly open again thing they do but they never got them to completely shut. Everyone had to exit the train at Puritas and wait for the next train.

The trains will also experience cold-weather braking issues because of the way the operators drive the trains. A friend of mine who was involved in the procurement of the Red Line trains in the 1980s said that train operators should be using the brakes differently which would allow them to have full braking power in cold weather. I wish I could remember the details of what he said.

Looks like RTA will be gutted next year:

 

http://statenews.org/post/kasich-discusses-tight-budget-possibility-using-rainy-day-fund

We're working on some state funding ideas. And now more than ever, the legislature is not politically aligned with Kasich.

We're working on some state funding ideas. And now more than ever, the legislature is not politically aligned with Kasich.

 

KJP[/member],  has any more thought been given to Internet Sales Tax that you know of?  Colorado's new law was recently uphelp by the Supreme Court. It seems like an idea that might be politically favorable at the moment.

I think it's a great idea to make transit agencies, urban and rural counties, and the state government whole as a result of the Medicaid sales tax crunch.

 

Lawmakers aren't raising taxes, they're modernizing them to adapt to changing technology.

Cleveland RTA Red Line out of service indefinitely, buses available

 

By Kaylee Remington, cleveland.com

Email the author | Follow on Twitter

on December 17, 2016 at 12:51 PM, updated December 17, 2016 at 12:56 PM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The entire RTA Red Line, both eastbound and westbound, is out of service due to power issues, according to RTA spokesman Jerry Masek said.

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/12/cleveland_rta_red_line_out_of.html#incart_river_home

^Note: the cleveland.com article above says the Red Line is down due to "power issues" while the RTA website said it's a "mechanical issue."  Which is it and what, exactly, does it mean?

From cleveland.com, posted at 6:17 pm:

 

Cleveland RTA Red Line back in service after power issues

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The RTA Red Line, both eastbound and westbound, is back in service after power issues during the day, according to RTA spokesman Jerry Masek.

 

Riders can now travel on the trains between the Airport Rapid Station and the Louis Stokes/Windermere Rapid Station, he said.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/12/cleveland_rta_red_line_back_in.html#incart_river_home

Interesting Red Line station boardings data from the East 105th/Quincy station expansion report:

http://www.riderta.com/sites/default/files/pdf/presentations/2016-12-20E.105thStreet.pdf

 

Red Line Ridership: Highest to lowest (Average Weekday 2015)

1. Tower City: 4,990

2. Stokes-Windermere : 1,710

3. West Park: 1,443

4. West Blvd.-Cudell: 1,428

5. W. 25th-Ohio City: 1,162

6. Brookpark: 1,137

7. W. 117th-Madison: 1,130

8. Puritas: 1,095

9. Cedar-University: 1,066

10. W. 65th-Lorain: 777

11. Triskett: 707

12. Airport: 684

13. Superior: 616

14. E. 55th: 588

15. Little Italy-University Circle: 566

16. E. 105th-Quincy: 364

17. E. 79th St.: 219

18. E. 34th: 113

 

Some take-aways:

 

+ The west is best on the Red Line. Only two east-side stations (Stokes-Windermere, Cedar-University Circle) had more boardings than any west-side stations.

+ Little Italy-University Circle has probably already changed that. It opened Aug. 11, 2015 and has probably grown its boardings data more since. It may see even more in the coming years with more development rising next to the station. The Euclid-East 120th station it replaced had fewer than 200 boardings per day.

+ The East 105th-Quincy station could also see a rise in boardings too with development spreading south from Cleveland Clinic along East 105th Street toward the Opportunity Corridor. I doubt it will be as much as the Little Italy station, given how pedestrian friendly Little Italy already is.

+ Absent an amazing transformation of the land use around East 34th and East 79th, rebuilding those stations will be terrible investments. At least East 79th has a chance, however. East 34th has none, considering how complicated the landscape is around it. And there seems to be no interest by Campus District folks in extending the E-Line trolley to the station.

+ An infill station or two, each tied into new development, could tap more ridership. Locations include the new East 9th/Commercial Road hookup, and the Fulton/West 41st area.

+ Little Italy-University Circle has probably already changed that. It had 566 boardings in just 4.5 months of being open in 2015 (it opened Aug. 11, 2015).

+ Little Italy could end up being the third- or even second-most popular Red Line station, when measured over an entire year. And even more in the coming years with more development rising next to the station. The Euclid-East 120th station it replaced had fewer than 200 boardings per day.

 

Are we certain they didn't control for this in the calculation?  It would be silly not to, if they're calling it a daily average.  I find it hard to believe there were 1000 daily riders refusing to use the previous station.  Maybe there were, I don't know.

 

I agree about E 34 and E 79.  I wouldn't add any stops unless they involve extending the line, but that's another can of worms.

You're right. Math isn't my strong suit. I was thinking annual totals.

 

EDIT: fixed my incorrect comments/data.

Has anyone heard about the city turning on the signal prioritization on Euclid? I've noticed the traffic lights doing funky things that leads me to believe that they have.

Has anyone heard about the city turning on the signal prioritization on Euclid? I've noticed the traffic lights doing funky things that leads me to believe that they have.

 

Signal priority has been on for at least a year now. There was no announcement made about it though

Ohio transportation policy: Cleveland gets big, shiny new bridges for I-90 (& soon I-480) but its transit system is left to wither away. Same story around all of Ohio...

 

ODOT and the Ohio General Assembly will craft Ohio's transportation budget for the next two years starting in February. A coalition Ohioans for Transportation Equity is urging our state lawmakers in Columbus to dedicate 10 percent (not the current 1 percent) of ODOT's budget to public transportation. FYI, 9 percent of Ohio households have no cars and many more have multiple wage earners that must share one car. Find your two lawmakers at: ohiohouse.gov and ohiosenate.gov

 

Inner Belt Bridge, RTA problems, top transportation stories of 2016

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/12/inner_belt_bridge_rta_problems.html

Another key point to that article is that little asterisk at the bottom of the article:

 

*Self-driving vehicles gain ground in Ohio

 

Less than half of the money spent on testing autonomous vehicles in Columbus would have erased RTAs budget shortfall. Just sayin...

Very sad. I know two people at a transit consulting firm who worked with her. She was walking from the Tower City RTA station to work that morning...

 

Woman Struck by Bus at Public Square Has Died

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2016/12/29/woman-struck-by-bus-at-public-square-has-died

^Awful.

Is the RTA going to install QC code scanners on the turnstiles at Tower City station. With so many people going through it's hard to get the attention of the turnstile operator and show the QC code on the RTA CLE app.

^ Can't say for sure, but my guess is that they won't install any infrastructure for mobile payment until they transition it into a permanent system. The Passport app was just a free trial, I haven't heard anything about where they are with the process for a permanent contract.

I'm not sure if this belongs here or the Public Square thread:

 

FTA wants its $12 million back

 

"The FTA details how it first warned the RTA on August 10th that the continued closure would constitute a breach. It then documents how it sent another letter on October 12th to restate that very point.

 

Yet on November 16th, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and RTA Manager Joe Calabrese announced in a joint press conference that the square would stay closed."

 

 

 

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/cleveland/feds-order-rta-to-pay-back-12m-in-30-days/380370221

Either one. I'll post it there too.

Not a good outlook right now. Let's hope reason prevails and the administration folds on closing Superior Avenue. The funds to do that don't exist. Lord knows neither the city nor the RTA have  $12 million lying around.

 

$12 million dollar fine in addition to projected $19 million in lost sales tax revenue. That's like one-tenth of RTA's budget.

 

 

"I think the free fall of transit in Cleveland right now, from my perspective down 71, is the most shameful thing going on in Ohio right now. I just can't believe how RTA has been abandoned and left for dead, after it had so much momentum 5 years ago."  -- eurokie (from the OC thread)

 

I can't say 'Amen' enough to these comments.

January 9th came and went: that's the date RTA asked the Mayor in a recent letter to the city to open Superior Avenue to buses in response to the FTA's $12 million fine.

 

The mayor promised during the summer Public Square would reopen to buses Aug. 1 after the RNC.

 

Now almost six months later, The mayor says before he allows buses to cross Superior as planned, he needs evidence of substantial financial harm and operational harm to RTA in order to open the Square. He says he's been consistent in saying that. Traffic study is ongoing.

 

City and RTA are asking for a 30-day extension after Jan. 19, the day the $12 million fine goes into collections.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/oh-cuyahoga/12-million-federal-deadline-looms-for-rta-cleveland

How does Mayor Jackson not see a $12 million dollar repayment to the FTA as enough of a financial hardship if Superior remains closed? What is his ideal number to say he was wrong?  Even if Superior Ave is to remain closed the RTA must spend additional monies to remedy the lost times by adjusted lights for bus priority and traffic studies.  Yet The Mayor doesn't take into account all the inconveniences to the citizens of Cleveland whom rely on RTA daily.  He is out of touch.    One other question on the redesigned Public Square. Why was it necessary to make 4 lanes? Couldn't this have been changed to be 1 lane each way with a center lane for emergency use? 

...Why was it necessary to make 4 lanes? Couldn't this have been changed to be 1 lane each way with a center lane for emergency use?

 

I've been wondering the same. It still seems unnecessarily wide.

There are bus stops along Superior within the square. Buses just passing through need to be able to get around other buses stopped for passengers.

Pretty sure the extra lanes are passing lanes, allowing routes to serve specific shelters (important for waiting passengers) without buses stacking up at peak periods. Does seem like there might have been a more elegant solution, allowing for a narrower busway.

 

EDIT: mendo beat me to it.

Oh, Zach Reed... still one of the most self-centered, clueless council members.

 

Councilman's attempt to keep Cleveland from paying $12 million to feds stalled

 

Councilman Zack Reed hoped to use legislation to prevent the city from repaying $12 million owed to the federal government for closing Public Square to buses. But his ordinance was never introduced during Monday night's Cleveland City Council meeting.

 

[...]

 

"We generally don't pass ordinances to not spend money, and we certainly don't do it for hypothetical situations that may or may not arise. That's just not proper use of our ordinance authority," Kelley said.

 

[...]

 

"People in the City of Cleveland had no say so in that decision. Voters of the City of Cleveland had no say so in that decision. So why should the people of the City of Cleveland come up with 12 million to pay for a decision that they had nothing to do with?" Reed said. "It will get introduced."

True that taxpayers should not foot the bill.  I understand the decision was made more or less unilaterally by Mayor Jackson.  If that is the case, then he is responsible.  He needs to cough up the $12 million himself, *or* change his mind and return that short but vital stretch of Superior Avenue to its necessary historical purpose.  Preferably, the latter. 

I agree on that principle but ignoring the Fed's through legislative pandering doesn't solve the basic issue.

I'm not in any way condoning Mr. Reed's actions, which are clearly motivated by politics and not the genuine best interests of the people.  If the feds choose to fine the City, they will, regardless of what he or the council do.  Nonetheless, like him or not (and I don't), he has a point.  Those who make terrible decisions - and this particular one is WAY more than $12 million worth of terrible because of the value of the time it wastes on the part of RTA riders and the job losses that result - should be held accountable for their actions. 

Cleveland police chief seeks Public Square extension on terrorism concerns

 

The Cleveland Chief of Police is asking the federal government to pause demands to open Public Square to buses until the City's safety concerns can be addressed.

 

Chief Calvin Williams in a letter to Federal Transit Administration on Jan. 5 asked the FTA's Acting Administrator Carolyn Flowers to work with the City in identifying the safety risks in the square.

 

[...]

 

Williams sent the letter to the FTA on the same day Mayor Frank Jackson asked Secretary Anthony Foxx, who oversees the FTA through his role as head of the Department of Transportation, for an extension on repaying the FTA $12 million RTA owes for closing the square to buses.

 

--

 

These comments at cleveland.com are kind of on-point.

 

"It is laughable that anyone would take this claim seriously. Cancel all parades downtown because a terrorist, in theory, could drive a truck or a bus into a crowd. In fact, cancel all public gatherings, just in case.

 

Close all public and private buildings downtown, just in case somebody wants to copy the OKC bomber's method of terrorism.

 

There is no end to the absurdity of Mayor Jackson's terrorism nonsense."

 

"Where was the police chief during the design process to site his safety concerns? [...] These arguments of terrorism  and safety are getting tiresome. It can be applied to any number of streets and public gathering places."

 

"They cold have installed retractable bollards. Why didn't Chief Williams bring this up during the planning phase?

 

Currently Chief Williams has Public Square protected by a wood sign with two 50 pound sand bags. Do you think these signs will stop a truck?"

I don't see what "security risks" exist at Public Square that have not existed for over 200 years, other than that upper-middle-class white people now play there, and, apparently, are more deserving of the illusion of "security" than others who aren't in a position to demand it.  :(  Well, there is the risk that perpetually stopped traffic would prevent even the possibility of any kind of emergency response, in the event of any kind of emergency, but that is a risk that was CAUSED by closing Superior, and would be largely mitigated by opening it again.  I can almost understand the sick, cynical, perverse set of "incentives" that might cause corrupt politicians to sacrifice the entire transit system and the entire transit-dependent population so that the affluent can have another nice park to play in.  But I can't understand why anyone else would put up with it. 

Why the need for 3 individual letters from The Mayor's Office, Cleveland Police Chief, and GCRTA for an extension period to FTA's repayment deadline.  All articles posted by The Plain Dealer state  The City and RTA are cooperatively working together.  These separate letters do not give me that sense.  RTA wanted Superior reopened on Feb 9 to end the matter with FTA and The Mayor denies that request. The City and RTA cannot decide whom is responsible for the $12 million dollars. The Police Chief says he crosswalk pavement design is a safety/terrorism concern crossing Superior. Lots of blame for an ill-conceived design.  If the FTA denies the extension nobody has stated what Plan B is

From RTA Twitter today:

 

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  8h8 hours ago

NOW HIRING: District Business Analyst http://ow.ly/p2Qi307Gfwk

 

What is a "District Business Analyst?"

Just saw this job posting on RTA's Twitter from a couple days ago that gave me a laugh:

 

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  Jan 9

NOW HIRING: Legal Intern http://ow.ly/eRmz307Gc41

 

:roll: :roll: :roll:

 

They probably need a few dozen to run documents back and forth from W 6th to City Hall!  :roll:

I don't see what "security risks" exist at Public Square

 

This.

From RTA Twitter today:

 

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  8h8 hours ago

NOW HIRING: District Business Analyst http://ow.ly/p2Qi307Gfwk

What is a "District Business Analyst?"

 

Someone influential's nephew.

From RTA Twitter today:

 

Greater Cleve RTA ‏@GCRTA  8h8 hours ago

NOW HIRING: District Business Analyst http://ow.ly/p2Qi307Gfwk

What is a "District Business Analyst?"

 

Someone influential's nephew.

 

Here's the link to the job description if anyone is interested

 

https://websrvor15.gcrta.org:8000/OA_HTML/OA.jsp?page=/oracle/apps/irc/candidateSelfService/webui/VisVacDispPG&OAHP=IRC_EXT_SITE_VISITOR_APPL&OASF=IRC_VIS_VAC_DISPLAY&akRegionApplicationId=821&transactionid=250913646&retainAM=N&addBreadCrumb=RP&p_svid=12584&p_spid=627004&oapc=21&oas=RpV4WA-lQbDwJohZArIbUQ..

FYI: @GCRTA has fewer planned rail closures for upgrades. It's the unplanned closures that annoy me....

 

TTC plans 35 subway closures this year

The majority of the closures will affect Line 1 as the transit agency readies a new signalling system

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/01/13/ttc-plans-35-subway-closures-this-year.html

I'm taking my son to the women's march in Cleveland this Saturday. I'm sure parking will be terrible downtown, so am considering parking in OC and taking the train in to tower city.

 

I haven't ridden in a long time and I just spent time on RTA's website and I still don't understand. This really isn't a well-written website IMO.

 

From what I understand, the cheapest way for us to do this is for me to purchase an adult and child ticket, which is a one-way thing. Mine would be $2.50 and he would be $1.75. And then to come back, another $4.25 in the same fares. I'm already now thinking I won't do it because I don't want to spend $8.50 just on transportation, and I'll just try to get downtown super early so we can get free parking downtown on the street somewhere and walk. But if we can't find a place, this is the back up plan so I need to know how it works.

 

It doesn't say if I can use a credit card to purchase fares at the machines. I rarely carry cash.

 

It says the tickets are good for a transfer, but doesn't say how long, or how to obtain a transfer. Like if we march and then he's tired and I want us to take the Healthline back to PS, how does that work?

 

It says you buy the tickets and then something about putting it into the trim? I am really confused. Is this the thing at Tower City that I insert the tickets into once we get off the train? Or something on the machine?

 

If I buy 1-ride tickets for each of us, do we have to then do something to "activate" them?

 

Please help me understand.

You can use a credit card at the ticket machines at the Rapid station. If you buy a single fare ticket, it should already be activated upon purchase. There are no transfers allowed on them though. Only the all day pass and multi-trip passes have transfer capability. An all day pass may be worthwhile, which would allow you to use the HealthLine if need be. And the only time you'll need to swipe the card is when you exit/enter the platform at the Tower City station.

 

But yes, sadly it is probably easier to find parking downtown somewhere as street parking will all be free.

What exactly does activation mean?

Thanks TPH. I think we'll try for street parking first and this will only be a backup plan if I can't find anything.

What exactly does activation mean?

 

You can buy a day pass days or weeks in advance of your trip. It is not activated if there is no machine-stamp time/date ID on the back when you buy it. If there is a time/date stamp on the back, it means it was activated when you bought it and thus the clock has started ticking on how long you can use it. Usually an activated day pass is active until 3 a.m. the next day.

 

If you bought an non-activated pass, you can activate it by feeding it in a ticket vending or card-activator machine at a train station or into a bus' fare machine.

What exactly does activation mean?

 

You can buy a day pass days or weeks in advance of your trip. It is not activated if there is no machine-stamp time/date ID on the back when you buy it. If there is a time/date stamp on the back, it means it was activated when you bought it and thus the clock has started ticking on how long you can use it. Usually an activated day pass is active until 3 a.m. the next day.

 

If you bought an non-activated pass, you can activate it by feeding it in a ticket vending or card-activator machine at a train station or into a bus' fare machine.

 

Things like this are why POP sucks.

That's incredibly confusing. I'm glad the Cincinnati Streetcar got rid of the "activation" requirement as that seriously confused the end-user and likely led to a decline in ridership (among other issues).