Public transportation

[saba2r]

I ride RTA to work and sometimes my hubby and I do to events. I see quite a bit of a snob factor about it. There are negative perceptions about PT that are inflated.

[twange]

Originally Posted by saba2r

I ride RTA to work and sometimes my hubby and I do to events. I see quite a bit of a snob factor about it. There are negative perceptions about PT that are inflated.

Can you please clarify and elaborate?

Who's being snobby, the riders or people who don't ride? What negative perceptions are being inflated?

[darnold76]

Originally Posted by twange

This isn't a light rail line, it's Bus Rapid Transit(BRT), which means no rails.

[url=http://euclidtransit.org/rapid_transit_system/default.asp]Welcome to The Euclid Corridor Transportation Project[/url]

I'm still p*ssed that they bailed on the light rail for this project. Could have been a real city jewel, that line. And much faster. And cooler.

Light rail is too expensive for a system that's having money issues like GCRTA. If money permitted, I would love to see the Blue and Green lines extended (they should have extended the Waterfront Line up the lakefront through Euclid into Lake County.). But the Silver Line is merely a replacement for the 6 bus. Not really anything progressive or innovative. It's good that they finally will have some articulated buses on that run...it needed them. I have stood on that route before, no fun.

[darnold76]

Originally Posted by twange

Can you please clarify and elaborate?

Who's being snobby, the riders or people who don't ride? What negative perceptions are being inflated?

I would say people that don't ride. Sometimes people give you that "one day, you'll afford a car" look. Little do they know, I make more than them. I just choose not to spend money on a car.

I live in a densely populated (~ 10k people/sq mi) inner ring suburb so mass transit is effective and plentiful. My gf and I carpool to work but as far as local (read: in this city, which is full of them) attractions, public transit (and walking) hit them all. They also provide quick access (10-30 min) to Downtown Cleveland.

[twange]

Originally Posted by darnold76

I would say people that don't ride. Sometimes people give you that "one day, you'll afford a car" look. Little do they know, I make more than them. I just choose not to spend money on a car.

That was my point earlier. In Cleveland, there's a mentality that those who ride PT only do so because they have no other choice. I understand that some folks will NEVER be interested in PT, but I maintain that RTA has done a very poor job of attracting choice riders. There's just a very lackadaisical vibe from RTA that's been there since I was a kid riding the bus from Solon to the old Randall Mall.

Originally Posted by darnold76

I live in a densely populated (~ 10k people/sq mi) inner ring suburb so mass transit is effective and plentiful. My gf and I carpool to work but as far as local (read: in this city, which is full of them) attractions, public transit (and walking) hit them all. They also provide quick access (10-30 min) to Downtown Cleveland.

Yes, but look at GREATER CLEVELAND as a whole(five counties spread from Elyria to Geauga), which is where the regions population numbers come form(2.2 million). While these areas are technically not Cleveland, most folks in these areas consider themselves Clevelanders, and therefore should be part of the equation. They go to CSU, Case, CCC- or they work downtown or they like to go to sporting events, bars and restaurants or go to hear the orchestra...RTA isn't bad if you live in the City of Cleveland or in one of the inner ring suburbs like Lakewood or Cle Hts, but the growth patterns in NE Ohio have been suburban for decades(unfortunately) and RTA has done very little to extend their service to the outer suburbs where most people live.

I wish more people would move into the city and the inner rings, but that just hasn't happened (for many reasons). Greater Cleveland as currently constituted, is primarily a suburban commuter city with a PT infrastructure geared towards an urban core city. RTAs inability to harness suburban riders has hurt their ridership greatly. They haven't kept up with growth patterns.

Now, over the next few decades, older Great Lakes cities like Cleveland, Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee etc...will start to repopulate and you'll see different development patterns that should favor urban core and TODs.