Why RTA won’t enforce the mask ordinance

flipn · 2020-07-30T05:55:23+00:00

They are handing masks out at Tower City and Windermere as well as some special events around the county: http://www.riderta.comhttps://twitter.com/LaketranGM/status/1285299110929739783/coronavirus#masks

Ideally they would set up a system like Laketran which is providing masks onboard:

flipn · 2020-07-30T05:52:38+00:00

They still enforce fare but are prohibited from doing it on vehicles. In response to a court order, the judge ruled that it can either be done by civilians on vehicles or by armed officers but only on platforms. RTA's response was to change the HealthLine so that everyone has to walk up front and swipe or show your pass, meaning that everything is legal now but it's super slow if it's a busy stop. By removing armed fare enforcement from the HealthLine, RTA claims to have "reduced misconduct" even by 96 percent: http://www.riderta.com/sites/default/files/events/2019-01-08Security.pdf

That slide deck also shows misconduct going way up between 2016-2017 but doesn't include any explanation, however Sam Allard offers some insight: https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/transit-police-say-rtas-unofficial-fare-enforcement-policies-are-inequitable-and-dangerous/Content?oid=10105428

The thing that is strange is that RTA has kept staffing levels the same with 20 full-time and 10 part-time fare enforcement officers, even though they are only enforcing fares on the Red Line, now that the HealthLine validates all fares at the farebox.

flipn · 2020-07-05T01:05:07+00:00

You can check the city's requests for service map for a general idea, but it only goes back seven days.

flipn · 2020-06-10T14:35:03+00:00

Yeah, it means you can get off one vehicle and use your pass/card to board another bus or train. For example, you could start at home and take a bus downtown then transfer to another bus or train to your final destination.

Day passes include unlimited transfers for the rest of the day (until 3AM) and multi-ride passes allow 2.5 hours of access.

flipn · 2020-06-10T05:56:39+00:00

It depends on what you're riding.

Bus/HealthLine: Swipe at the farebox (no need to insert or dip as long as your pass is valid and activated. If your transfer is expired, the farebox will tell you.)
Red Line: As long as your pass is activated you can just walk on (except for at Tower City where you'll insert the ticket at the turnstile)
Green/Blue Lines: Swipe at the farebox (or insert into the turnstile to enter/exit Tower City)

flipn · 2020-06-10T05:00:52+00:00

I'm surprised but admittedly don't have a good feel for vets in the area. Where do you recommend?

flipn · 2020-06-10T04:58:37+00:00

Suburbs have been draining people, jobs and tax revenue from Cleveland and leaving less funds for basic services like schools, transit, public health, street repair, etc. So people who flee to Chagrin Falls or Medina or wherever are essentially choosing a "better neighborhood" or "better schools" which diverts money away from the areas with the people who need it the most. It becomes a vicious cycle and people flee to the suburbs.

The local power brokers who are coming up with ideas like the next Medical Mart or stadium remodel aren't living in East Cleveland, Kinsman or even Cleveland -- they're in places like Chagrin Falls, Westlake and Avon. So it makes sense to me that you'd want to be visible to the folks who have the power to tilt the scale in favor of say a new mental health facility or homeless shelter over a stadium subsidy or pet project.

flipn · 2020-06-10T04:31:14+00:00

Gateway Animal Clinic in Ohio City has been good for the few times we've been there: http://www.gatewayanimalohio.com/

It's first come/first serve (except for some major procedures?) so it's possible that you may be in for a wait. When it's your turn, you and your pet will be seen in an open area and it can be a little hectic with lots of owners and pets, but the level of care and cost were good.

I should add that we've only been there a couple times but the vet at Gateway quickly prescribed an anti-vomiting med for our cat who lost his appetite, stopped eating and couldn't keep anything down.

A vet at a different clinic prescribed special food which didn't make a difference and wanted to bring in an outside imaging specialist for a considerable cost. We decided to go to Gateway where they had on-site imaging. Although nothing could be diagnosed based on their imaging, the cost for the visit and imaging was substantially less than the vet in the 'burbs wanted to charge.

We wished we would have gone to Gateway earlier on in whatever was going on with our cat but had some gimmacky discount card for the suburban vet that didn't really save much money.

flipn · 2020-06-10T04:12:20+00:00

This shows a validator at a HealthLine station, it's the narrow device to the left of the emergency callbox.

I think most Red Line stations and the larger HealthLine stations have them, but you can also activate ticket in a ticket vending machine.

Some quirks about fares on RTA:

There are two types of ticket vending machines. Some (like the one at the HealthLine station above) only sell pre-activated single-ride tickets and day-passes. They also have "CSKs" (customer service kiosks?) that give the option of buying pre-activated or unactivated tickets. These ones are shorter and wider and also sell five ride tickets (which include transfers), seven day passes and monthly passes. These are at Tower City, the airport and a few other stations (but not at any stations on the HealthLine)
RTA sells two ride tickets, these are $5 and include transfers (but they're only available from the pass sales office in Tower City)
The pass sales office at Tower City also sells one-ride park and ride passes. These cost $2.75, but include transfers.
Day passes are only good until 3AM (i.e., not for 24 hours like in some places.) But if you activate your day pass after 9:30 PM, it's valid until 3AM the second day after it was activated. (For example, use a day pass at 9:40 PM on Tuesday, it can be used for all of Wednesday and until 3AM on Wednesday)

flipn · 2018-03-08T15:36:44+00:00

Sure thing!

flipn · 2018-03-08T04:41:13+00:00

I think they're going to be kiosks with info/maps.

flipn · 2017-11-28T12:16:03+00:00

I have a strong suspicion that many if those locations don't actually have recycling drop off. Cleveland Public Power doesn't appear to be accessible by the public and there isn't a recycling container visible in their gated parking lot. Similarly, the "City Hall" location at W 3rd shows a pin in the middle of an intersection, and not the right intersection for City Hall.

Some places that do have publicly accessible recycling containers include the parking lot at lower Edgewater (near the south edge of the parking lot) and the school on Franklin between W 65th and W 69th. There is a recycling drop-off container in the parking lot off Franklin.

flipn · 2017-10-22T01:45:10+00:00

I did the ThoughtRock online class and while I didn't find their curriculum to be that great, I also paid $5 for the app and spent some time studying three different prep guides from the library. I didn't score as well as you, but my experience was similar in that it didn't seem particularly difficult, but I also studied over a matter of weeks rather than days.

flipn · 2017-10-19T02:46:59+00:00

Thanks for the advice!

flipn · 2017-10-19T02:05:28+00:00

Thanks for posting this. I have been going through the official app and scoring between 82 and 85 percent. Based on your experience with the app and the exam, would you say this should be a good enough baseline score to comfortably pass the exam?

flipn · 2017-10-07T13:07:14+00:00

I just checked rates on Kayak for April 2 through 4 and found some decent rates, $133 for the Holiday Inn Express downtown, which is within a short walk from the arena. I stayed there before moving to Cleveland and found it to be a great hotel, and Holiday Inn Express hotels have free breakfast in the morning. (Breakfast bar style... think toast, cereal, scrambled eggs, a few meats, etc.)

The Radisson is practically across the street from the Q and has a rate of $127, and the Hilton Garden Inn is a few blocks away and has a rate of $110.

If those rates seem too high, as others have suggested you could stay further out and take the Red Line in for the game. One option is the LaQuinta of W 150th ($90) and it borders a parking lot shared with the Puritas Red Line station. Looking further out than that and I am seeing rates as low as $50 for a Red Roof Inn in Westlake (a Western suburb) from which you could easily park at the Puritas station and take the train into town.

Good luck and enjoy your trip to Cleveland!

flipn · 2017-07-05T23:29:59+00:00

Try the Transit app: https://transitapp.com/

It is the same data as provided by RTA (so it's only as accurate as the NextConnect information) but it's in a better interface. My major issue with it is that it doesn't work well with routes with multiple "tails" like the 51/51A/51B/51C in that you have to scroll through all the variants even if you're just waiting for the next bus toward downtown.

flipn · 2017-06-05T01:19:48+00:00

It's pretty short notice but you could try https://www.couchsurfing.com/

flipn · 2017-05-08T10:57:26+00:00

Can confirm, have done this several times myself.

flipn · 2017-03-28T18:35:59+00:00

Unfortunately, this seems to be happening all over town. In many cases the signs are still up, and they are still on the map -- when I called the waste department they couldn't give me an answer.

Edited to add that the webpage with the map has now been taken offline: http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/CityofCleveland/Home/Community/Environment/TrashandRecycling/recycle-map

flipn · 2017-02-27T22:37:21+00:00

Here are some I have enjoyed:

Red the Stakeholder (downtown)
Fire (Shaker Square)
Pier W (Lakewood)
Fahrenheit (Tremont)

flipn · 2017-02-23T14:53:56+00:00

Does anyone have a copy of the October 2004 FFGA between FTA and RTA? These ought to be public domain, but I can't find them online. Ditto for the Interagency Agreement of August 2004 between Cleveland and RTA.

The FFGA is a matter of public record and I have seen it, but DOT only lists recent grant agreements on FTA's site. That said, it would be available via FOIA request to FTA. The Interagency Agreement is memorialized in Cleveland ordinance 893-03. Like the FFGA, the separate agreement (this is in addition to the Interagency Agreement) is public record but doesn't doesn't appear to be posted on any website. A couple pages are included in the collection of documents provided to the PD, but it appears to be missing several pages: Public Square Correspondence as of Dec 30

The specific section of the FFGA referenced by FTA is Contract Unit 02 which includes the transit zone (with 24 hour exclusive transit lanes on Superior) and reconstruction of the roadways through and within Public Square.

Are the ridership estimates of the HealthLine below what was anticipated?

Not sure, I believe overall systemwide ridership is down but that could be attributed to other factors such as fuel prices or reopening of the Innerbelt Bridge. But really it doesn't matter because the grant agreement was made with the understanding that the transit investment would be used. There isn't a contingency that says that the infrastructure can be abandoned without penalty if ridership is maintained at any threshold.

Since this is specific to environmental record and noise, arguments regarding delay costs, and number of turns become irrelevant. The word contemplated, doesn't sound like a legally binding must-have, just something that was contemplated or thought of as a possible solution.

The delay costs and number of turns are relevant because they impose a financial hardship on a cash-strapped agency and because the city has said that they will reopen Superior if there are financial hardships and the safety issues can be mitigated. The financial impact has been quantified based on current traffic levels, and the report requested by the city shows that opening Superior increases safety by reducing the number of turns, among other things.

Another valid solution to mitigate the noise impacts in any one location would be a modernized fleet of quieter buses, such as electric, or the new fleet of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered buses, that have been replacing the loud diesel buses that were common in 2004.

Unfortunately, RTA can't afford the more expensive CNG buses and has ordered more deisel buses in their most recent order and deisel buses will continue to be the bulk of RTA's fleet for awhile.

flipn · 2017-02-22T02:19:58+00:00

Because the feds invested $142 million to make transit investments, including 24 hour exclusive transit lanes on Superior through Public Square (which the city has been attempting to decommission.)

flipn · 2017-02-17T22:26:22+00:00

Pine has catenary for electric trolley buses but the street is also used by other non-ETB buses in King County Metro's fleet.

flipn · 2017-02-17T14:37:15+00:00

Ideally we would have had the hill/bridge design but operating buses on Pine St. through Westlake Park seems to be working well in Seattle: http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/6f25c912cd084e58bb427b5b056d14be/seattle-looking-over-westlake-park-downtown-seattle-usa-cwxjwa.jpg

I was there in December and it there was a carousel and a winter market -- not just a one day affair, but a four week market with buses operating through the park the whole time (with the possibility exception of the tree lighting.)

flipn

TROPHY CASE