I spent the last couple weeks teaching and performing in the Cleveland area, and I had the pleasure of visiting the old Cleveland Union Terminal and Tower City Center. I then had the chance to check out Cleveland’s public transportation.
My gosh, what a building. It was exactly as spectacular as I’d hoped it would be. I am a sucker for Art Deco style train stations, and this sure didn’t disappoint. I can only imagine what it would be like with its station still in tact and active.
I have been to Cleveland dozens of time, but this time was special however, as it is the first time I’ve visited since my fascination with trains and public transport began.
My impression is thus:
I have never seen a city/state with so much potential for great rail and public transport as Cleveland and Ohio. Though the cancer that is sprawling suburbia has of course spread to Cleveland, many towns (Oberlin being an example) were built before the suburban experiment, and retain walkable downtowns. ROWs still exist to those towns and greater Cleveland/Akron/canton/Elyria could be transformed so easily.
The RTA unfortunately, is infrequent, underfunded, and dirty. They run mostly two-car trains, and many of the stations are in terrible areas that oftentimes down have any people living around them. Much of the time, the stops were at inconvenient locations. It wasn’t hard to see why everyone drives.
Cleveland itself was quite walkable, especially around transit stations, and the cultural draw of Cleveland is immense (the museums, orchestras, schools, and sports teams are great!). It isn’t hard to find cultural value in Cleveland, and the aforementioned cultural institutions hit up against any city in US. The Cleveland Orchestra IS the greatest orchestra in the US.
Cleveland, based on my ride on the RTA Red line has a lot of potential for creating a really great S-Bahn type heavy rail transit system, with its heart at Tower City Center. The amount of unused rail ROW contrasted greatly with places like Boston, which has a great system comparatively speaking, but less untapped potential.
I realize this is all a pipe-dream, as Ohio is one of the most rail unfriendly states in the union, but I find it fun to imagine what a city like Cleveland could become. If Ohio ever changes, the state is ripe for becoming an example of rail excellence. If the RTA were properly funded, and expanded, I can see it being transformed fast!
My gosh, what a building. It was exactly as spectacular as I’d hoped it would be. I am a sucker for Art Deco style train stations, and this sure didn’t disappoint. I can only imagine what it would be like with its station still in tact and active.
I have been to Cleveland dozens of time, but this time was special however, as it is the first time I’ve visited since my fascination with trains and public transport began.
My impression is thus:
I have never seen a city/state with so much potential for great rail and public transport as Cleveland and Ohio. Though the cancer that is sprawling suburbia has of course spread to Cleveland, many towns (Oberlin being an example) were built before the suburban experiment, and retain walkable downtowns. ROWs still exist to those towns and greater Cleveland/Akron/canton/Elyria could be transformed so easily.
The RTA unfortunately, is infrequent, underfunded, and dirty. They run mostly two-car trains, and many of the stations are in terrible areas that oftentimes down have any people living around them. Much of the time, the stops were at inconvenient locations. It wasn’t hard to see why everyone drives.
Cleveland itself was quite walkable, especially around transit stations, and the cultural draw of Cleveland is immense (the museums, orchestras, schools, and sports teams are great!). It isn’t hard to find cultural value in Cleveland, and the aforementioned cultural institutions hit up against any city in US. The Cleveland Orchestra IS the greatest orchestra in the US.
Cleveland, based on my ride on the RTA Red line has a lot of potential for creating a really great S-Bahn type heavy rail transit system, with its heart at Tower City Center. The amount of unused rail ROW contrasted greatly with places like Boston, which has a great system comparatively speaking, but less untapped potential.
I realize this is all a pipe-dream, as Ohio is one of the most rail unfriendly states in the union, but I find it fun to imagine what a city like Cleveland could become. If Ohio ever changes, the state is ripe for becoming an example of rail excellence. If the RTA were properly funded, and expanded, I can see it being transformed fast!
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I realized today that our RTA rail here in Cleveland has a heavy rail route and 2 light rail routes. Now I understand why the overlapping stops have stations that look confusing! Why would they do this!? Why run 2 different trains in such a small system? Oh, Cleveland....you make the strangest decisions....
