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| - I notice that some of the reviews for the Greater Cleveland RTA (Regional Transit Authority) are more critical than they should be. If you look at the RTA in terms of how it stacks up vis a vis those of other similarly sized cities, it deserves more than just 3 stars. It easily earns its 4 stars, even though there are some deficits in the system.
There are some cool things to know about the RTA:
1) it was one of the first systems to connect an American CBD to the airport along one of its heavy rail lines
2) A day pass, valid on all its means of transportation, costs $5.50, per their website, but used to cost less than a 5 spot.
3) It has 4 rail lines, 3 old school trolley lines, 2 BRT lines, and bus lines which either run fairly consistently throughout the day or during the rush hour
4) At least one of the rail lines and some key bus lines run quite a ways past midnight
5) It has won accolades for being the best transit system in the U.S. within the last 10 or so years
Of the four rail lines, the most heavily used is the Red line. It's the workhorse and it is heavy rail, though it is powered from overhead lines rather than by a third rail as are BART and MARTA. It goes from the airport on the west side, sweeps around near Lakewood and through Ohio City, goes under Tower City - Public Square, continues east to Case Western and Little Italy, and ends it run on the east side close enough to Cleveland Heights. The Blue and Green lines begin downtown and overlap in going eastward toward Shaker Heights and Euclid, ultimately forking off to go to different terminus stations and park and ride lots. RTA's niche line is the Waterfront Line. Rather than focusing on commuters and travelers to and/from the airport, it caters to the entertainment crowd, going from underneath Tower City - Public Square to make a sweep along the side of the Cuyahoga River and then to the football stadium, the Great Lakes Science Center, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The latter has somewhat limited hours.
The center city's 3 trolley lines are FREE of charge and partly subsidized by downtown merchants. They might overlap, but they cover a decent enough area, with venues such as Playhouse Square and the city's biggest public university - Cleveland State.
The main BRT, or bus rapid transit line, is known as the Health Line. Like the BRT line in Ottawa which gets people out to the airport quickly, Cleveland's BRT line connects downtown to the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western campuses along Euclid Avenue, its most important center city thoroughfare, on dedicated bus ways.
In this sprawling east-west metro area, bus lines can be rather long but the network is fairly well laid so that no more than one train ride and/or one bus ride can get you where you need to go.
The trains are fairly clean and have comfortable, upholstered seats. There is a police presence at the main hub and, to some degree, throughout the line, as well as security features. The "full moon at any time of day" crowd is much like on any other transit system and, if panhandled, do what Nancy Reagan recommended.
Because this is an older northern city with a fairly stable and static population, it is doubtful that they will be adding onto rail service. However, where they can make improvements is in their bus service. The system only serves Cuyahoga County. That said, the RTA's bus lines do not serve the southwest suburbs out past the airport that well, do not serve the southern suburbs that well, and service toward the leafier and hillier suburbs to the east, such as Solon, Orange, and Chagrin Falls, is (practically) nonexistent.
Are there many American cities with a metro area population between 2 and 2.5 million people that have this sort of multi-modal public transit system? No. Good going, Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. Also, if a tourist and focusing on Cleveland's bread and butter locales and attractions, one can avoid renting a car and avail themselves of the RTA.
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