Cleveland Transit [[BRT) Impressions: Would it work here?

[MicrosoftFan]

Two weekends ago I had the opportunity to head down to Cleveland to watch some Tigers baseball [[lost 10-0) and visit attractions around town. I used Cleveland's RTA Rapid to get around town and rode on Light Rail, Heavy Rail, and BRT forms of transport. As the conversation around Detroit BRT is gaining steam, I decided to take the Cleveland HealthLine from Downtown to University Circle, to visit Cleveland's spectacular Art Museum. Here are a few BRT impressions:

1) Stations were nice. I boarded at E. 6th and it had a piece of public art, benches, wheelchair ramp, two TVM's, and a shelter.
2) Ticketing was a little weird. Having used tap-to-pay cards in Chicago I found it to be a little weird having to use a paper ticket to get on. But, nevertheless, it was a good $5.50 value for a day pass.
3) As soon as I boarded the bus, my experience went downhill. The bus pulled about 8-10 inches away from the platform, requiring a long step to get on. I noticed rollers along the side used to bring the bus closer to the platform, but they were not used.
4) NO AC. This was extremely uncomfortable for the majority of the trip. It was either broken or on a very low setting, because the bus was VERY hot on a humid 85 degree day.
5) We were told we had to swipe our tickets up front. I was confused, because I thought the line had proof-of-payment and all-door boarding, with no inside the bus fare collection- a key advantage of BRT. I was wrong, and this took a while to load everyone onto the bus.
6) Signal Priority was at play in a few spots and this sped up the trip. The bus was fast and got us across town in 20-25 minutes. We only stopped at 2 red lights.
7) The center bus lane ended when we got to University Circle. From then on, the buses stopped using the high platforms and ran along the side. Disappointed they didn't go full BRT the entire way.

Overall, I was a bit let down by the BRT. I was disappointed that 1) there was little to no AC 2) you still had to swipe your ticket up front and 3) level platforms did not last the whole way. If Detroit does implement BRT, we should move it to being more of a train on wheels, not just a fast bus.

I also rode the Red Line [[Heavy Rail) to Ohio City for dinner.

1) Tower City Center is a good example of what can be done with a train station. While RTA trains still run underground, the above portion has been transformed into hotels, a mall, and even a casino. I could see MCS filling a similar role in the future. Not to mention to facade at night, with the large columns and brass clock, is extremely photogenic.
2) Platforms themselves were mostly empty on a Saturday night. Smooth Jazz FM played over the speakers, as if they couldn't even get any street performers down here.
3) Trains smelled like disinfectant- though a little irritating, did go to show that RTA keeps their trains in good condition.
4) Train was pretty slow going over the Cuyahoga. Nice views of flats and industrial ruins, however.
5) We exited at the Ohio City station, which was in a very good location [[next to West Side Market) and seemed clean enough, though the rickety steps were off-putting.

Finally, I rode the Waterfront LRT line.

1) Was a Saturday afternoon at the North Harbor station, near the R-R Hall of Fame. Waited 25 minutes for a train. Very disappointing. Station was clean enough.
2) Just going three stops to Settler's Landing for lunch took a while, as the train had to curve and go over a viaduct to cross the CSX tracks before rumbling along at a leisurely pace through the flats. Trains and stations were all totally empty. I'm surprised this line wasn't more utilized.

Overall, I found it odd that the Cleveland HealthLine, lauded for being one of the best BRT systems in the US, was quite mediocre and didn't feel much better than a regular bus. In addition, the Red Line, the HRT system with the lowest ridership in the US, was clean and, most importantly, cool. Should Detroit ever get its act together I think building an HRT system similar to Cleveland along existing ROW's [[which is what Cleveland did in the 60's) would be beneficial, especially to the Airport. And if BRT is built, do it right!

[mtburb]

Only semi-related, but I also visited Cleveland back on June 16th. I only had the opportunity to ride a local bus route that went from some out-of-the-way stop on the east side of downtown, then crossed the Cuyahoga, served the Ohio City Red Line station, then winded through some pretty nice residential neighborhoods before ultimately dropping me off at a stop a block west of the Christmas Story House.

Public Square [[which is their equivalent to Campus Martius) was renovated a couple years back to expand the park space, add a pavilion and make Superior Avenue into a bus-only road. Even despite this, the Health Line still circles around the Square.

In my opinion, that $5.50 for a day pass is a bit expensive for one day, but it is pretty decent.

And another thing about Cleveland buses is that they have video monitors behind the driver compartments that show surveillance camera feeds. I haven't ever seen one of those here in Metro Detroit. They also have automated next-stop announcements quite similar to what SMART has.

[drjeff]

A bus is a bus, no matter what you call it.

[Scottathew]

A bus is a bus, no matter what you call it.

...not really...

A BRT implementation can allow buses to come close to the travel time of a car, or even be faster than a car in cases of congestion where the bus has dedicated right of way.

[Scottathew]

4) NO AC. This was extremely uncomfortable for the majority of the trip. It was either broken or on a very low setting, because the bus was VERY hot on a humid 85 degree day.

That's a bummer!

I ride the SMART FAST buses. The FAST service uses SMART's newest buses [[with bus numbers starting with 37XX). On those buses, even on 95 degree days I have a coat in my backpack because I often get too cold on the buses and need to wear it. The AC is cranking on those.

[swingline]

The Cleveland RTA decided to eliminate all-door boarding on the HealthLine BRT last fall after a court found that the utilization of law enforcement officers as fare checkers was unconstitutional. Significant boarding delays ensued which have eliminated most of the trip speed advantage of the line. I think they're still exploring options to restore all-door boarding in the future while still maintaining fare-payment integrity.

[Canadian Visitor]

I haven't been to Cleveland yet and can't comment on their variation of BRT.

I can offer a link to look at how one operates in the Greater Toronto Area, in the northern Suburb of York Region.

https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/rapidways.aspx

https://www.yrt.ca/en/about-us/vivastations.aspx

Service on these routes typically varies from every 7-15m frequency depending on route and time of day.

[rbdetsport]

A LRT system of the same features as HRT [[in some areas) could also be built at a cheaper cost and would be easier to expand in the future, again at a lower cost. I envision LRT on or near Michigan Avenue to DTW and along Woodward Avenue to Birmingham. Also possible to extend the Woodward line down Jefferson and Mack to St. Johns Detroit or St. Clair Shores/9 Mile. The other corridors would be ripe for BRT.

[casscorridor]

It might make sense to have some elements of BRT to connect to Detroit and its suburbs, but if the cost/benefit ratio starts to rise significantly, you might as well just go the extra mile and build rail. It's much more worth it in the long run.

[professorscott]

It might make sense to have some elements of BRT to connect to Detroit and its suburbs, but if the cost/benefit ratio starts to rise significantly, you might as well just go the extra mile and build rail. It's much more worth it in the long run.

I'm not a big fan of B"R"T because even though the idea is very nice, in pre-implementation planning the "value engineering" creeps in and it ends up being way more expensive and not much faster than an express bus. Take the SMART "FAST" service, add some signal prioritization and queue-jump lanes, and you have 75% of BRT at a tiny fraction of the cost.

If you're ever in metro Washington DC and you'd like to see a modern implementation of it - much more recent than Cleveland - take the Metro Blue or Yellow line to Braddock Road Station in Alexandria VA and hop on the "Metroway", a quite-expensive BRT that has, for some portion of its trip, dedicated ROW, and will fly you to the Pentagon City Station at the breathtaking speed of, on average, just under 11 miles per hour. Best you wear a neck brace.

Regional light rail [[note: QLine is not this, but check out Portland "Max" for an example) is much faster because you can't do the design compromises that have been done on every North American B"R"T line that I know of. I put the "R" in quotes because I've not seen a system that I think qualifies as truly rapid.

[stasu1213]

You would think that designated bus lanes would be installed for Fast and any other up coming BRT when the streets were and are currently being repaved. No, but bike lanes are being installed throughout Detroit even on roads that are in desperate need of repaving. Detroit is not serious about it's mass transportation improvements as residents pay high insurance rates and now higher gas prices so that the money could go into roads replaving. These legislators probably bought off to keep any form of alternative reliable transportation from happ. The Q linen and the People Mover are non threatening. Bring rapid busses with their own lanes and have the traffic lights in the designated lane timed to stay green as the busses approaches.

[Wesley Mouch]

The Cleveland RTA decided to eliminate all-door boarding on the HealthLine BRT last fall after a court found that the utilization of law enforcement officers as fare checkers was unconstitutional. Significant boarding delays ensued which have eliminated most of the trip speed advantage of the line. I think they're still exploring options to restore all-door boarding in the future while still maintaining fare-payment integrity.

Unconstitutional? Law enforcement officers checking compliance with the law that you gotta pay? State court? On what possible grounds?

[Sandhouse]

"On what possible grounds?"

I'm interested in the answer to this, too. Although my guess is that it's on grounds of misuse of the police by the transit agency for an unauthorized purpose, and not for mistreatment of the citizens.

Regarding getting "75% of the utility of a BRT line for a fraction of the cost," this highlights a failing of the aborted Lansing-East Lansing BRT proposal of a year ago. This was a laughably expensive proposition that would have reconstructed the main street of Lansing and M-43 in East Lansing for two central bus-only lanes and high-level stations. Most of the savings of 11 minutes over a 10-mile trip could be accomplished at no cost by removing every other bus stop, and some slow left turns into shopping centers and the downtown bus station. With a bit of expense, the rest of the time savings could be accomplished with signal prioritization and fare pre-payment--no construction needed, and no damage to auto and bicycle traffic.

I worry that the RTA BRT scheme will be similar, if it ever happens.

[swingline]

Unconstitutional? Law enforcement officers checking compliance with the law that you gotta pay? State court? On what possible grounds?

Can't remember the details. I recall that the main problem was a 4th Amendment one wherein the use of law enforcement officers necessitated a probable cause requirement before they could do blanket stops. Civilian employees were ok to use.

[archfan]

This is from an article about the case:

In her opinion, Judge Groves described acceptable stops by law enforcement and demonstrated that requiring every passenger to produce a fare card with no evidence [[or “articulable suspicion”) that they did not pay is unconstitutional. Mere presence on the bus cannot be considered reasonable suspicion. Her opinion said that if RTA used non law-enforcement officers, the constitutional question would be off the table.