RTA: What's good, bad, and improvable (Columbus, Cleveland: middle school, airport, train)

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by Kamms

Where seedy and great places like Fagan's and the Pirate's Cove used to be; you know, when the Flats were real.

I do miss the East Flats of the '80s and early '90s, even though it wasn't really my scene and I didn't hang out there much. I recently took a walk on the east bank and it seemed nice but kinda sterile.

[TheProf]

[cross-posted from a city-vs-city thread]

As I said, regular weekday ridership numbers are small. But I also noted, there are promising developments planned that can boost these numbers (notably FEB Phase III)... but the summer festivals, Flat Out Fridays, concerts and events in the Flats and at North Coast Harbor (Tall Ships Festival is another), prove the WFL is popular with a number of suburban visitors...

It would be nice if corporations or entities would provide bennies for the WFL -- the Trolleys are free because they are underwritten by downtown corps (and yes, I agree the trolleys are much better overall downtown circulators than the WFL)... But I do remember, in the 1990s when the WFL was brand new, and the old Flats was still hot, you paid $1 to ride on the Holy Moses Water Taxi by flashing a WFL pass... revelers were heavily using summer weekend WFL trains, to the extent 2-car trains were used and RTA (under more progressive leadership) ran summer weekend trains until 2:00/2:15a... If it worked then, why can't it work now? The WFL gets no current support and much of this ignoring came form the regressive RTA administration that left office last Sept, thankfully. Hopefully things will change at some point.

[1watertiger]

I have said it before, and I will say it again. The waterfront line should extend east and loop back south around Cleveland State/playhouse sq. , CCC and back to tower city .

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by 1watertiger

I have said it before, and I will say it again. The waterfront line should extend east and loop back south around Cleveland State/playhouse sq. , CCC and back to tower city .

That would be cool, although I would loop it back to Tower City at 17th and Euclid, stopping at the new Lumen apt tower under construction then dropping into a subway under Huron and back to Tower City. Few people realize that there are subway turnout portals turning east/NE under Huron at Ontario connecting to where the Rapid currently enters TC's eastern portals. These were built when the Terminal Tower/Union Station complex was built in the late 1920s.

[bjimmy24]

https://www.cleveland.com/datacentra...-once-was.html

Greater Cleveland RTA ridership hits record low - now less than a third of what it once was

[tribecavsbrowns]

Originally Posted by TheProf

More bikes and more peds are definitely what we need, esp in a, really, car unfriendly, tight area like the Flats (we saw how bad driving gets on a warm weekend night there; imagine if FEB Phase III could generate just some of that 7 days/week... Not quite sure at Flats East Bank, but down the tracks at Settlers Landing there's major untapped bike/ped path possibilities, esp with a well lit, safe-feeling path to Center Street its the amazing swing bridge (a real hoot to walk over btw). Don't forget the aquarium, Shooters, Music Box and other FWB entities of interest.

FWB means "friends with benefits" to the overwhelming majority of people under the age of 35. Best to just use "East Bank" and "West Bank."

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by tribecavsbrowns

FWB means "friends with benefits" to the overwhelming majority of people under the age of 35. Best to just use "East Bank" and "West Bank."

Now wondering how many people first met their "friends with benefits" while hanging out in the Flats...

[ferraris]

RTA should gradually replace rail cars at cost of $715 million, consultant says

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by ferraris

RTA should gradually replace rail cars at cost of $715 million, consultant says

A 30-year rail car replacement time-frame?

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

There is definitely an aspect of the flats that feels pretty artificial. A lot like the seaport in boston. I guess better than nothing but it is a shame that development tends to be so predictable.

A good thing about The Flats though is the fact that there's still a lot of the old buildings around, as you know the riverfront area on the East Bank along Old River Road. So at least it's not like ''The Banks'' in Cincy, a completely contrived area with a completely contrived name. Not as familiar with Seaport area in Boston but I'll take your word for it (I need to visit Boston again, been a long time).