RTA: What's good, bad, and improvable (Euclid, Green: high income, to move, trains)

[WRnative]

Cleveland in November 1968 became the first city in the Western Hemisphere to offer rail mass transit service between its major airport and downtown.

RTA Celebrates 50 years of direct Red Line service to the Airport | Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

[TBideon]

Good: The red line's linking Little Italy to downtown and the airport. Not shabby.
Bad: A lack of Rapid patronage and nominal state funding. Sooner or later, we are going to lose the green or blue line.
Improvable: More security on the trains and buses. Raise the rates as high as needed to afford it.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by TBideon

Good: The red line's linking Little Italy to downtown and the airport. Not shabby.
Bad: A lack of Rapid patronage and nominal state funding. Sooner or later, we are going to lose the green or blue line.
Improvable: More security on the trains and buses. Raise the rates as high as needed to afford it.

This is why it is imperative for people to get out and vote for Richard Cordray for governor. A vote for DeWine signals more of the same and the slow death of our transit system as we know it (along with a bunch of other creepy Trump-ian, right wing stuff like killing Obamacare period in the state)…

The transit situation, alone, makes me surprised and disappointed why Clevleanders, in particular, aren't more enthusiastic and beating the drum for Cordray. I'm sick and tired of those backwards, Stone Age down staters running a comeback, quality city like Cleveland into the ground with their myopic, narrow-minded pols.

[kpl1228]

Originally Posted by TBideon

Good: The red line's linking Little Italy to downtown and the airport. Not shabby.
Bad: A lack of Rapid patronage and nominal state funding. Sooner or later, we are going to lose the green or blue line.

So glad the Little Italy stop became a reality (finally).
I can't imagine Cleveland without a green or blue. Don't ever see that part of Cleveland history leaving anytime soon. But who knows?

[bjimmy24]

I really doubt the Green and blue lines will ever go away. If they do, I think it's likely a symptom of much larger economic difficulties.

That being said, the RTA needs more funding. In general, I am not a big advocate for public funding of much, but transit is one of the few things that I certainly think pays off greatly, if done with a modicum of sensibility.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by TheProf

This is why it is imperative for people to get out and vote for Richard Cordray for governor. A vote for DeWine signals more of the same and the slow death of our transit system as we know it (along with a bunch of other creepy Trump-ian, right wing stuff like killing Obamacare period in the state)…

Has Cordray made any specific commitments regarding transit? Has DeWine?

[j_ws]

Originally Posted by ferraris

Has Cordray made any specific commitments regarding transit? Has DeWine?

Yes.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/inde...sportatio.html

https://abc6onyourside.com/news/loca...ng-on-cota-bus

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by ferraris

Has Cordray made any specific commitments regarding transit? Has DeWine?

I haven't heard specifics, and it's our collective fault as Dems and progressives, for not pressing the issue. But I'm pretty sure he's on the record as offering more money to urban areas to address certain infrastructure aspects, and I'm 90% certain he said transit is one of them.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I really doubt the Green and blue lines will ever go away. If they do, I think it's likely a symptom of much larger economic difficulties.

That being said, the RTA needs more funding. In general, I am not a big advocate for public funding of much, but transit is one of the few things that I certainly think pays off greatly, if done with a modicum of sensibility.

I agree with you. On the one hand, the new high-density Van Aken District is just opening at the end of the Blue Line and planners are expecting increased rail traffic to serve it. And the Green Line, though very weak during many parts of the day beyond rush hour, has a unique purpose, that is to serve distant eastern suburbs with its large, free parking lot at the Green Road terminal with easy access ... Shaker Blvd beyond is a light traffic, traffic light free, roadway that feeds directly into the lot with a grade-separated ramp under Green Road.

Last year RTA tinkered with closing the Green Line early -- at 9p on non Cavs/Indians' home game nights... But that policy was reversed and trains run until midnight once again even with Ohio's transit-starving budgets and falling sales tax revenues. The service that continues to have a target on its back is the Waterfront Line even though its 2-mile downtown service runs up the least costs ... by far ... of the 5 rail branches and has great potential once Phase 3 of the Flats East Bank project gets built ... and not what Joe Calabrese is no longer RTA GM.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by j_ws

Yes.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/inde...sportatio.html

https://abc6onyourside.com/news/loca...ng-on-cota-bus

Thank you.

Cordray wants Ohio to join 25 other states in creating a dedicated source of transit funds. He also wants to promote walkable neighborhoods, carpooling and other means toward mobility. He plans to re-establish an office in Washington, D.C., to lobby for transit funds and other Ohio needs.

Transit is often seen as an urban need. Twenty-seven of Ohio's 88 counties have no public transit. But Cordray wants to extend it to rural areas, where people tend to live further from vital destinations.

I really like the idea of lobbying DC. In an ideal world, more of our money would stay in Ohio to begin with, but since so much of it is going to the federal government, and that's not something that will be changing anytime soon, we might as well put in a solid effort to get a lot of it back.

As for the 27 rural counties, I wonder if some sort of statewide dial-a-ride system would be the most efficient way to run it. Most of these counties are probably adjacent to each other. Another option would be to offer incentives to the existing transit agencies to run an express route connecting the major cities to rural county seats.