Despite being named the best public transportation system in North America in 2007, RTA still remains far removed from many Greater Clevelanders who don't live within the city proper or inner-ring suburbs. A reaction I received recently, upon suggesting driving from the a western suburb and park-and-riding at one of the Red Line stations, was a candid "Cleveland has trains?" It was hard to blame that reaction. Unless ones goes along Shaker or Van Aken Blvd occasionally, or is truly interested in this field, it is plausible for suburbians here to not even know the extent of the rail system. Does anyone here know that Cleveland was the first North American city to have a direct rail line between the international airport and downtown? Speaking from experience, the journey on the Red Line from Case Western to Hopkins Airport is beyond comparison to heading to LaGuardia or JFK from Columbia University. But as population density usually dictates the usage of public transportation system, Cleveland is not New York. Rail lines are more limited, the trains less frequent, stations less crowded, seemingly reinforcing what introductory economics book would say, that public transportation is an inferior good; that is, the demand for it increases as wage decreases.
But the scene aboard that Green Line Monday night told of a different story. These people, myself included, just didn't want to deal with hassle, not to mention cost, of parking and construction. It may have meant a faster journey overall, but the 30-minute ride was reasonable, coupled with the free park-and-ride system. Every year, there would be a few events, St. Patrick's Day most notably, that cause massive inflow of people downtown, leading to overflow of passengers on the RTA, that ultimately make the newspaper headlines. But this wasn't one of those nights. It was just another Indians game, and a pretty mediocre one too, in terms of attendance: 18,264. While the Indians haven't fared well in overall attendance, it truly is capable of drawing huge crowds: just three days later, over 34,000 fans attended the Thursday game against Detroit Tigers. This was also Monday night, not the most lively day-of-the-week when it came to downtown entertainment that drew crowds, such as the casino. Furthermore, this game on Monday night was before ODOT closed the Ontario Street ramp to westbound Interstate 90 for a year, causing potential havoc for drivers coming from Indians games. All these are to say that the scene on Monday night is by far from the busiest downtown Cleveland can see.
The passengers on the Green Line that night, most of whom got off at the park-and-ride stations in Shaker Heights, illustrated that the traffic was predominantly comprised of those who had driven from their home to the stations. Few took the train to get home directly. This is crucial in understanding the usage and service of the rail lines. They do indeed appeal to, even if still to a small portion of, the suburban residents. RTA recently initiated program to provide ticket discounts to families going to the games, trying to address the issue that carpooling will reduce the costs of driving. It may take more awareness, or continued frustration of parking downtown, to convince more suburbanites to ride the train. But until then, those who do enjoy the system got a glimpse, on what but an average Monday night, of what it has to offer. This may not be New York, and people aren't out at Public Square at midnight like they are in Times Square. But nevertheless, there is indeed an urban livelihood to be experienced.
Crowded Green Line train departing Tower City immediately following Indians game on 7/23/12
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