The RTA Waterfront Line Loop: savior or fool's gold? (Cleveland: house, live in)

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

The station by the rock hall is kinda useless because most people visiting the rock hall are staying nearby anyway and it's easier to just walk it.

I actually find the North Coast (E. 9th Street) station very useful, not only to the Rock Hall, (where I have taken several guests to Cleveland), as well as other North Coast venues, such as the Nuevo restaurant, paddle boating and Voinovich park. It's a 1-seat direct ride on the Blue or Green Lines -- that is, when RTA was running the WFL correctly. I also think it is highly useful even for Red Line riders transferring at Tower City. Again, if the WFL is operating the way it originally was (base service every 15 minutes), it is not an oppressive transfer time, esp trains 'meet up' relatively smoothly. Plus even though the walk from Tower City to the Rock Hall is certainly doable, the train ride is much quicker -- if walkers could walk a straight line, maybe, but as we know, they must zig-zag along streets, around buildings and wait for traffic and/or traffic lights.

btw, the WFL also provides convenient and quick transport btw the North Coast venues and the bustling Flats East Bank, which is about 1 mile away and down a sturdy hillside. Back in the good old days when RTA actually had a GM (pre Calabrese) who actually cared about trains and transit, and back when Clevelanders were actually proud of the RTA Waterfront Line and used it extensively on weekend nights and other big events (in addition to Browns games), we out in Eastern burbs could easily walk or drop our car at a Blue or Green Line station, train inbound and easily move around downtown to the aforementioned sites as well as Ohio City, smoothly/comfortably without a sweat ... or wondering what to do with our car once we got there.

[Unicorn hunter]

Originally Posted by TheProf

I actually find the North Coast (E. 9th Street) station very useful, not only to the Rock Hall, (where I have taken several guests to Cleveland), as well as other North Coast venues, such as the Nuevo restaurant, paddle boating and Voinovich park. It's a 1-seat direct ride on the Blue or Green Lines -- that is, when RTA was running the WFL correctly. I also think it is highly useful even for Red Line riders transferring at Tower City. Again, if the WFL is operating the way it originally was (base service every 15 minutes), it is not an oppressive transfer time, esp trains 'meet up' relatively smoothly. Plus even though the walk from Tower City to the Rock Hall is certainly doable, the train ride is much quicker -- if walkers could walk a straight line, maybe, but as we know, they must zig-zag along streets, around buildings and wait for traffic and/or traffic lights.

btw, the WFL also provides convenient and quick transport btw the North Coast venues and the bustling Flats East Bank, which is about 1 mile away and down a sturdy hillside. Back in the good old days when RTA actually had a GM (pre Calabrese) who actually cared about trains and transit, and back when Clevelanders were actually proud of the RTA Waterfront Line and used it extensively on weekend nights and other big events (in addition to Browns games), we out in Eastern burbs could easily walk or drop our car at a Blue or Green Line station, train inbound and easily move around downtown to the aforementioned sites as well as Ohio City, smoothly/comfortably without a sweat ... or wondering what to do with our car once we got there.

Being something of a recent transplant to one of these Easternish burbs, my thinking, was if going to an event downtown, the most logical thing to do would be to drive to the Green St. Station, jump on the train and get off downtown...but not really sure how much of a hike it would be to either say the ballpark or Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Does this sound like a reasonable plan? Is it generally safe to leave a car parked at this location during evening hours? Due to the surging virus, all of my plans for this winter are probably on hold anyway, but would be good to know for future reference! Thanks!

[TBideon]

The Green Road stop (and West Green) are as safe as it gets, and while there's always the potential for an issue, I wouldn't worry. Anecdotally, I haven't heard of any problems with car break-ins at either stop. Just make sure you look online as to when the last train runs eastbound (I'm guessing midnight'ish); otherwise, you might be stuck with a 30 or 40 dollar Uber bill.

It's about a 30 minute train ride to Tower City after which the the Rocket Mortage Field House (Jesus wept, what a name) is a ten-minute walk, Indians stadium just a tad farther, and Browns might be a 20-minute walk. It's all very doable.

[Unicorn hunter]

Thanks for your quick response! So, are there bus connections to any of these venues? Not that I couldn't walk 10 minutes, but 20 might be a stretch and I would prefer to bus, rather than walk in the heat or at night.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Unicorn hunter

[/b]
but not really sure how much of a hike it would be to either say the ballpark or Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

The RTA Walkway connects the Tower City transit hub to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

https://www.rocketmortgagefieldhouse...transportation

If you take a bus to Public Square, you can walk through Tower City to the RTA Walkway.

Use the "Plan a Trip" (Google Transit) search engine on this page to find your bus options for traveling to a game.

Sports teams | Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

As implied at the above page, my understanding is that the RTA Walkway and the FieldHouse lobby also are open for games at Progressive Field, but perhaps call RTA and confirm this.

[cubsguy81]

The train is more hassle than it is worth, especially noting that it runs infrequently and not late that could end up in a costly Uber ride. Why deal with the hassle when it is painless to drive and park anywhere you want? I've never seen cheaper or more plentiful parking in any city other than Cleveland. Even the meters are free after 6pm on Friday until Monday morning.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by WRnative

The RTA Walkway connects the Tower City transit hub to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

https://www.rocketmortgagefieldhouse...transportation

If you take a bus to Public Square, you can walk through Tower City to the RTA Walkway.

Use the "Plan a Trip" (Google Transit) search engine on this page to find your bus options for traveling to a game.

Sports teams | Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

As implied at the above page, my understanding is that the RTA Walkway and the FieldHouse lobby also are open for games at Progressive Field, but perhaps call RTA and confirm this.

This is correct.

I'm not being a homer to point out Cleveland has, by far, the best pro-sports stadium arrangement of any American city. All 3 are directly served by rail stations (well, for now, 2 out of 3 given the Waterfront Line shutdown closing the W. 3rd station by the Browns stadium). My only beef with our stadiums is we need at least a retractable dome over the Browns Stadium; to hell with sitting in sub-freezing, driving snow football games; it's not manly or old school, just foolish in my view. Yeah, it was kinda fun when you're a teen/early 20-something, but ...

A few years ago, we stayed downtown at the Renaissance Hotel connected to Tower City. It was freezing and snowing heavily, but when we attended a Cavs game, we wore shirtsleeves as we walked through the beautiful Tower City complex and through the Walkway to what was then called the Q arena -- all indoors at room temp. And to think this huge complex is also our rail transit hub, as well.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by cubsguy81

The train is more hassle than it is worth, especially noting that it runs infrequently and not late that could end up in a costly Uber ride. Why deal with the hassle when it is painless to drive and park anywhere you want? I've never seen cheaper or more plentiful parking in any city other than Cleveland. Even the meters are free after 6pm on Friday until Monday morning.

This is a way over-broad blanket statement. The Rapid is quite convenient for a lot of people to a lot of events. Its 15-minute base frequency is pretty standard for all but high-density rail lines as in New York or Chicago or DC. And no, the Rapid does not end service any earlier than most cities -- 12:15a Blue/Green (LRT), between 12:30-1a, Red Line (HRT).

Parking may be cheap in some cases, but why drive through the hassle of crowds and dense traffic, esp when there's a pro sporting event downtown (sometimes 2 at one time given the season) or a weekend night in the Flats. Then there's the gas. ... and btw, while a $10 parking fee won't break the bank down in the Flats on weekends, why have to deal with it as well as deal with going from lot to lot searching after being confronted with numerous 'lot is full' signs? And, btw, these lot owners are robber barons who often jack up their rates to as high as $50-60 on Browns Sundays.

You may be cool with forking over that kind of money just to store your tin Lizzie, but I'm sure not; to each his/her own.

[Urban Peasant]

Cleveland really needs to attract more investment to Downtown. Only then can high rises replace those ginormous parking lots north and west of Public Square, drive up the cost of Downtown parking, and increase RTA ridership including Waterfront Line ridership. Only increased ridership has the potential to increase service, it's not a fair or equitable judgement but its the formula used these days. There's no more time for fooling around or disagreeing over the littlest things.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

Cleveland really needs to attract more investment to Downtown. Only then can high rises replace those ginormous parking lots north and west of Public Square, drive up the cost of Downtown parking, and increase RTA ridership including Waterfront Line ridership. Only increased ridership has the potential to increase service, it's not a fair or equitable judgement but its the formula used these days. There's no more time for fooling around or disagreeing over the littlest things.

I think you're talking about where Sherwin-Williams has just broken ground on its 36-story HQ complex.