The Observation Deck

RTA's next board meeting is on Tuesday, August 18th, at 9:00 a.m., at their offices located at 1240 West 6th Street in downown Cleveland.

I know it may not be a convenient time, but I am urging anyone concerned about this issue to attend and insist that this issue be re-examined before the circulator cuts go into effect on September 20th.

On another note, last Wednesday I was briefly on WCPN with RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese. At one point, Mr. Calabrese said that if the City of Lakewood wanted to run its own circulator system, RTA would donate the buses.

Really, Mr. Calabrese? It would be nice to learn of these options somewhere else besides on a radio show.

Take him up on the offer!

If Lakewood ran their own circulator, the schedule and routes could be tailored to our needs.

For example, I always thought the circulator should have a stop at the high school. It wouldn't have to stop all day, just during the morning start and at dismissal time, and how hard is it to swing one block over to the HS? So many students use the bus and have to walk up to Madison or down to Detroit to pick up the bus. (Yeah, I know its not THAT big of a deal for the kids to walk, but why shouldn't the bus be able to make a swing by the school a few times a day?) The bus should be easily accessible and address the needs of the ridership.

This may be a blessing in disguise.

Mayor Fitzgerald,

I was unable to attend the rally on the LPL front porch but I just happened to hear you on WCPN last week. Thank you for your efforts to save our RTA Circulator and challenge the data used to support the cuts. Averaging ridership among all Circulators throughout the region is deceiving.

What I understood from the WCPN exchange was that maintaining/servicing Circulator vehicles for just a few routes was not cost effective for RTA. If Lakewood were to accept "older model vehicles," as offered, can the city afford to operate such a service or one designed to even better meet the transportation needs of our citizens?

Meg-

That's a good question, and we are looking into the feasibility of it, as a last resort. But the reason I'm not rushing into saying that we will provide the service is:

1. Our budget position is very tenuous. We will have to cut at least another million dollars in next year's budget, even after all the cuts of the last two years;

2. At this point, my position is that RTA should not be relieved of their responsibility to provide this service. After all, this is part of why they are receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds every year.

I am convinced that RTA's decision making process will not bear public scrutiny. For instance, they continue to run a route all the way to Brunswick, which has very little ridership and isn't even in this county.

I have had some very encouraging conversations with some state and local officials, so we'll see how this develops.

Could some of the CDBG money be used for this purpose?

Ed FitzGerald wrote:I am convinced that RTA's decision making process will not bear public scrutiny. For instance, they continue to run a route all the way to Brunswick, which has very little ridership and isn't even in this county.

I have had some very encouraging conversations with some state and local officials, so we'll see how this develops.

Is RITA still operating the Waterfront Line? No one rides it.

Does RITA send buses to Lorain County? Lake County? What's up with RITA going to Brunswick?

How much revenue did the Lakewood circulator generate?

Is there any reason why the Lakewood circulators followed each other like little ducks?

I don't know about anyone else, but I would love to at least have a feasability study done on Lakewood running it's own circulator.

If we could tap into the accounting and ridership numbers from RTA, i think that we have enough industrious individuals in this city that we might just be able to come up with a self sufficient plan.

In fact, if such a panel is established, I would gladly volunteer my time.

This sounds like one of those comments that some mush-head who is filled with entitlement utters. If you think you can do a better job, go ahead.

This is unlike R.I.T.A. where the city had to pay quite a bit for a service that wasn't particularly good.

The Mayor's point about our tax dollars propping up a bad agency that won't serve the people - even on its most popular line - is completely on point.

Why should Lakewood be out of pocket twice to RTA?

Evidently RTA thinks they can do anything and are answerable to no-one.

Go get 'em, Ed.

Bill Call wrote:Is RITA still operating the Waterfront Line? No one rides it.

Does RITA send buses to Lorain County? Lake County? What's up with RITA going to Brunswick?

OOPS


I must have been thinking about my last income tax bill. Read RTA for RITA

I admit that I don't ride RTA much, but on those occasions when I have ridden them, I never saw an advantage of the circulators. I got on at the same stop, and off at the same stop as I would have without the circulators, and when I glanced at their routes, they seemed to duplicate what was there before the circulators. So what was the advantage of having them? Did they run more often? I thought it was just a situation where RTA got an infusion of federal funds and had to find something to spend them on.

But if Lakewood, which claims a lack of money, and which certainly faces a future with even less money, decides to run their own circulators, I would be deeply appreciative if they would run one up and down my driveway once a week and pick up my refuse from my back yard; I still have the containers.

In a previous post I stated my belief that a mass transit system in Cuyahoga County should be BASED on circulators. Then as demand indicated link local circulator terminus' with another which would take those few remaining riders whose destination was downtown, to that point.
But, I have an even more interesting challenge to RTA.
The essence of this debate is the clear mismatch of routes with demand.
It has been my contention that the corporate culture of RTA is about 50 years out of date.
This Observation Deck has been the community communicator for the last 5 years.
If RTA is as community responsive as it claims to be, let's hear from a designated official of RTA, right here, right now, on the Deck.
No response means no connection with the needs and demands of the 21st century.
And, it means Lakewood data is just ground into an old 20th century model

Let's have it----------RTA-------are you out there????????

Stan Austin

Oh--- before I forget--- I previously posted my dissatisfaction with getting a bus from W.117 after taking the Rapid from the airport.
I asked the clerk at the ticket counter when the next Madison 25 bus was expected.
After a good minute to consider my question, the clerk said "I don't know."
RTA general manager Joe Calabrese is great at spewing out statistics on the radio.
But, why is it faster for me to walk home with luggage than take the bus?
Stan Austin

Stan Austin wrote:But, why is it faster for me to walk home with luggage than take the bus?
Stan Austin

They cut the Circulator in Lakewood to once every 30 minutes to once an hour. And don't worry about the person with no answers at 117th, they are getting rid of people at these stations as much as possible. Then you can read the schedules, which are usually not there to read anyway.

Why don't they use the GPS units on the busses and trains to give us real time updates we can download via cell phones? Their only management seems to be to cut lines, raise fares, and trot out completely bogus "options", like the specious claim that Lakewood could take over the circulator (which they never mentioned to Lakewood, naturally).

If they opened their books so we could all view actual rider data, we'd have an eye in their management process, which is why I expect we won't be seeing that.

Hey RTA---- it's been 24 hours. The bus stop is here, the Observation Deck. Can you get anyone to visit or are you still checking the gap and dwell on those ignition points?

Jerry Ritcey wrote:If they opened their books so we could all view actual rider data, we'd have an eye in their management process, which is why I expect we won't be seeing that.

Jerry

I would expect you are right that this Regional effort has much waste, and as we do nothing but
pay in, we are not privy to those sort of facts. Seems to be the norm ask a public entity about
how much they get, and how they spend it you get pretty charts, and they go hide.

Very simple, stop RTA busses from going through Lakewood, let them drive around the city.

Then we sell for scrap the 8 garbage trucks rusting at the Kennels. Buy some highly efficient
hydrogen vans to move Lakewoodites from along Madison, Detroit and Clifton to Cleveland
stops and/or rapid stations. We get local control over our transportation, we lose noisy,
smelly falling apart buses and circulators. We make a statement on this being a clean and
green city. Which attracts like minded people and the dogs get back their run, down at
the kennels.

Regional Transit Authority, as my British friends would say, "Don't let the door hit you in
the bum on the way out."

Yeah this Regional thing really works for Lakewood.


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