Quote:
Originally Posted by Cirrus
OK, sorry. The Healthline. My bad.
But seriously. 59 stations! That's 7 more than all three of Cleveland's rail lines put together. 16 more than the entire BART system! If the goal was a comparable level of service to light rail, the mark has been missed by a wide margin.
I'm not trying to be snarky. I am wondering how effective your service is. It looks like it stops on every single block, for goodness sake. That stop frequency annoys me on local bus lines (and is something we're doing away with here), but on a supposedly regional rapid line? I'm not suggesting it isn't better than a normal bus, but if it's like that for a large portion of its route then it is most certainly not "rapid". |
Just to clarify, I only mentioned it in this thread because it appears on RTA's map - I figured if I didn't explain what it was, someone would have asked "what's the Healthline"?
Your knowledge of transit info is admirable but how is it possible that you can say "well DC is doing THIS, why can't Cleveland?" - as if it were just a matter of people saying "gee folks, do we want light rail or BRT? Ahh f#ck it, let's just go the cheap route". As if that was the case.
The simple answer is funding for projects like this (or light rail) comes from the STATE level. DC isn't burdened with the kind of downstate yokels (politicians and voters) that Cleveland is. Remember, this is the land of Dennis Kucinich as well as the first heavy rail transit from a major city airport to its CBD. If it were up to
Northeast Ohio, there would be commuter rail lines, expanded light rail, etc. But unfortunately, the political clout of suburbia and downstate knuckleheads outweighs votes that might help transit in Cleveland. Cleveland has to deal with things like this (from the Ohio Public Transportation Association):
"As it stands, Ohio's per capita spending on public transit ranks down in the realm of South Dakota, New Mexico and West Virginia. Ohio underwriting for public transportation has fallen from $43.4 million in 2001 to $16 million this year, a 63 percent drop, according to the Ohio Public Transportation Association. That placed the funding at 1980 levels. The association says Pennsylvania spends $63.29 per capita on public transportation, Illinois $61.25 and Michigan $20.73. Ohio's rate is $1.58 per capita.
Read that twice, just to make sure you don't throw out the "but DC is doing away with..." line again. With figures like that, it's a miracle the Healthline project even went through. It was never marketed or planned to have a level of service *comparable* to light rail. An improvement on one of the heaviest traveled bus lines? Yes. Having some "rail-like" benefits? Yes. But not "la dee da, just as good as rail!". Some BRT lines *have* been marketed that way, but not Cleveland's - but it is a VAST improvement over the traditional line it replaced.
From my personal experience (taking Euclid Avenue from downtown to the Cleveland Clinic for appointments), instead of the 20ish to 30ish minutes it used to take - it's more like 10 or 15. Thanks to pay-before-boarding/proof-of-payment, dedicated lanes, and prioritized signals, it's much MUCH faster than standard buslines. Comparable to light rail? Obviously not, but considering it was BRT or bust - I'm glad Cleveland got BRT.