The history of why tower city is so over built is interesting. The Van Sweringen brothers built the terminal tower as a plan to use it as the hub for all of Cleveland. They are the ones that built the blue and green lines to shaker heights as they owned shaker heights and used it as a development scheme. The plan was to use build more street car / light rail suburbs like shaker heights and connect them to the tower, run all long distance trains there as well (they owned a railroad as well the Nickel Plate Road), and the local street cars. It was the tallest building outside of New York when it was completed. It all came crashing down after the stock market crashed in 1929. Only New York Central signed on to use the complex as well.
Another issue was that steam trains were prohibited from entering the station, so some of the railroads to continue using the lakefront route so they did not have to swap out equipment
NPR and Big 4, Erie and B&O all ran to CUT. They have flyovers junctions to connect to the RRs rows on the east and west sides on the city and it was electrified since no steam locomotives could run into the CUT.
@@tonywalters7298 the Lakefront was only used PRR and connected with PRR at crestline. It was a big diversion for the PRR but they wanted the Cleveland market money instead of giving it to the NYC and NPR
8:23 To be fair, the full name of the station is West 3rd-Stadium, and the station's signs are labeled West Third Street FirstEnergy Stadium (with the actual stadium logo). Since you wondered about the Waterfront Line bridge, basically back in 2018 they did an extensive inspection of the bridge. This inspection found stress cracks, so they tried to limit stress in 2019 by restricting traffic to one car crossing at a time. The line was first suspended in October 2020 for the Tower City track rehabilitation project. Service would've been restored in Spring 2021, but they did a second inspection of the bridge that concluded that the suspension should continue, and it was better to fix it than to risk opening it. Temporarily they added four support towers to stabilize until permanent repairs are made (like at 7:05).
Once corp sponsors come in, you can’t change station names all the time, like the « Frankfurt Main Stadion » in Frankfurt and the nearby « Deutsche Bank Park », which used to be « Commerzbankarena » and the « Waldstadion »…
I'm from Cleveland. I love seeing people exploring a part of the world I know so well for the first time. Really enjoyed your Cleveland videos! Thanks!
Let’s fund there next trip. I was thinking about August around Feast of Assumption, Browns preseason game and Indians/ Guardians game. See how the mass transit works when there’s a crowd. Don’t forget Cavs parade where the little system manage to haul 1 million people.
I agree a city the size it is deserves a better scheduled arrival and departure time. Maybe if Pennsylvania starts another train to Pittsburgh Ohio could see if it would be able to subsidize extending it to Cleveland if it could arrive and depart at more reasonable times than the Lake Shore Ltd. Ohio has the same problem with Cincinnati. Bad arrival and departure times and less than daily service. My last trip to Ohio was to Columbus and Dayton so I took the train to Pittsburgh and stayed overnight there and then rented a car to drive to Ohio. Needless to say I don’t plan to do that again anytime soon.
This may become something in the next few years. Amtrak has plans to run a state line rail between Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Something like the Carolinian in North Carolina, That runs from Charlotte to Greensboro to Raleigh. It's an Amtrak train that is operated by the State on State owned rails. I hope they call the Ohio rail the Heartland, because "Ohio is the Heart of it All".
Can’t. You have to rebuilt the row from E55st - all the way W25st junctions. They rip the tracks up and put a parking garage where the RR trains would stop and deplatform . Plus the viaduct over the river there’s spots for infill station with development on the way for mix use and a metro park
@@johnchambers8528 just extended the Pennsylvania from Pitts to Detroit with philly being a terminus instead of NYC. You get Ohio and Michigan to fund there portions and make it a day train
Biden said he was going to have "22 stops per day (total) for Cleveland". If they would only switch The One-per-day stop for the Capitol LTD, it would be rabid success
Regarding that airline, the airline's called Ultimate Air Shuttle and they started flights from Cleveland to Cincinnati in 2015 but have since suspended all of their flights in 2021 due to declining ridership related to the pandemic. Now the airport has just two cargo airlines, AirNet Express (to Columbus), and Central Air Southwest (to Dayton and Hamilton in Ohio and Kalamazoo and Ypsilanti in Michigan). The airport used to host the Grand Prix of Cleveland which was held from 1982 to 2007. And it still hosts the Cleveland National Air Show. So South Harbor is more useful than you think. There is no train service to Cincinnati from Cleveland, so you're either stuck driving or taking a bus so I get the appeal of taking a flight.
As a Uber/ Lyft Lux driver and I drop off passengers there. It’s a private airport. Have to wait at the gate then press a call button for they can open the gates
Ultimate also was flying into Atlanta's Peachtree-Dekalb Airport for awhile too, and did some corporate shuttle work for companies like GM. These days they are doing a lot of casino charters especially to Atlantic City... and were in the news not long ago for being the charter of choice for Governor Abbott of Texas to relocate some migrants to Martha's Vineyard.
The stadium station was quite useful to goto Browns home games. It saw quite a few riders during the games I have been there. RTA would line up a number of trains post game to take the crowds away in a reasonably efficient manner. Also from the Tower City station there is a fully indoors walkway to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and a short walk from there to Progressive field, so all of the major sports venues were well connected with transit in Cleveland when the waterfront line was operational. The end of the Waterfront was a park and ride station even though the ride was only 2 miles
It is quite tragic to see such a modern transit system having such difficulty. The bridge certainly looked in a bad way. For it to require a supplementary bridge pier so early in its career is more than a little disturbing. Let's hope that it will be restored to use at the date that the authority has committed itself to. Thank you for bringing us this very interesting and informative video presentation and it was great to see our friend, 'Miles in Transit'.
Very few American cities can say they have overbuilt transit. I think it's a great problem to have. From the videos at least, it seems like Cleveland is what urbanism enthusiasts mean when they say that a city "has good bones"
Exactly. I found the critiques they have of this system very odd. Being overbuilt is an asset, and makes the system be better poised. It shouldn't be a detriment or something to poke fun at. Also saying that Cleveland should "just build transit oriented development..." (It's not a wealthy city like NYC - you can't just ask for development to happen out of nowhere). Also regarding Settlers Landing - when I visit a city, I like to see it's waterfront first to judge it. You don't need attractions on the waterfront - the landscaping and water itself is usually the best attraction there is. I had planned to visit Cleveland a couple years ago and the Settlers Landing stop was the one I was most excited to see. IDK I just found a lot of the critiques on both this video and Mile's very weird and coming from a bit of lack of interest in understanding of the local area.
The early 90s architecture and design on the RTA system is actually quite well preserved and is almost becoming retro (or kitsch maybe) now, and its actually kinda rare now as lot of public buildings from this era have been renovated. The whole thing has a liminal space feel, seeing how deserted it is. The distorted Madonna playing on the PA system at Tower City certainly helps. It feels like the system exists entirely within the cover art of a vapourwave album. And the "Track 13" sign at 2:43 is a hint that this used to be a much bigger station.
Behind the east tracks there’s tracks with platforms too. When they had track reconstruction on the main tracks, they move westbound service beyond the wall and you had to walk down 3 flights of stairs to get to the platform
The Muny lot is a weird thing. It's mostly there for Browns game tailgating, which usually starts at like 7am on the day of the game regardless of the actual start time. The whole area was done up like this for the Gold Coast Redevelopment project in the early 90s, which is where the Rock Hall, Science Center, USS Cod museum ship, and the Browns stadium are.
Back when this line opened, the RTA had a couple of cars and the "OX" from Trolleyville. I had a ride on a C&AE car down here. The part missing here is the fact that this line was dark territory. No signals. The cars would leave tower city and exit the main line, run to the end. On the return trip the cars would stop at the bottom of the ramp and the operator would go to the left side cab window and insert thier cab key in a box and alert the signal system that they were ready to enter the main line. When the signal changed, away they would go. In the summer most left the window open and had an extra key on the remains of a hockey stick so they would not have to leave thier seat.
As a rust belt native from that other state slightly north, I’m both crying and laughing at the idea that those cracks are concerning damage and not just how bridges usually look
Having taken Amtrak out of Cleveland many times: You mentioned the trains running late. No worries, they do, all the friggin' time. Which is quite annoying when you had to stay up until 2:30 AM to show up when it was supposed to come through, only to finally get on at 6:30.
That "minor damage" looks like cracks formed when there is a lack of steel reinforcements that are needed. Looks like they'll have to replace the bridge!
haha, well done: you gave me a transit down memory lane(s).. i was born/raised/lived in Lakewood, North Olmsted, & Ohio City until i made the decision to transplant myself to Philadelphia (PA) in ‘05.. those were good times as well as interesting (& ultimately tragic) memories of my life’s relationship to RTA.. now that i see all these “new”/strange “modernizations”/changes, i barely recognize my decades-old stomping grounds.. but you guys did (well, to put it in Cleveland terms) the best w/what you had available to you - ha! i gotta say, Philadelphia is an insanely eye opening “next level” experience in terms of the SEPTA multi-transit system! maybe you’ve visited it in the past, but if not, i highly recommend for transit enthusiasts such as yourselves! thank you!
FUN TIMES IN CLEVELAND TODAY ITS CLEVELAND COME ON DOWN TO CLEVELAND TOWN EVERYONE LIGHT RAIL SINCE 1996 SEE OUR SUBWAY THAT CARRIES 10 PEOPLE ITS SO EXPENSIVE WE COULDN'T BUILD MORE LINES
The Amtrak station was serve when the Pennsylvanian was a day time train. Muni lot station is to serve tailgaters on game day. I took it a couple of times in 2002
I live in Cleveland Ohio and the rapid stations you see right there is not abandoned it's just closed because of the gcrta waterfront line is suspended indefinitely. They're still working on the bridge they said so hopefully the GCRTA waterfront line will be back in service this year.
That’s parking lot has been there before the waterfront line because you would park then get the old 9/12 trolley to downtown(Discontinued with RTA NEXT GEN)
@@williamerazo3921 Exactly. It's more like National City Lines, the consortium created by GM, General Tire, and some big oil company (Union of California?) to carry out their conspiracy to destroy public transit in the US, and they succeeded! 😠😡🤬👿
@@edwardmiessner6502 no. In 2000 we had a top notch transit. Flyers, express buses, coach bus, neighborhood circulators, transit every 5-8 minutes during RH but the last manager of 18 years blew it on the BRT and dismantling of service system wide. Then went honor system and revenues collaspe
There's more tracks at Tower City also behind the Westbound wall. They used it temporarily while they were putting new tracks down on the normal station. The entrance is upstairs (2nd floor) on the west side of Tower City behind a double closed door almost by the Public Square entrance next to the old Victoria Secrets. That's why there are so many tracks still coming in to Tower City from the east side and many have grass growing on them. And the middle track on the Red Line side is used for rush hour trips that end at Tower City coming from The Airport or trips starting at Tower City going to the Airport. The end of the Waterfront Line is Muny Lot which is a huge Parking Lot which is used for Tailgating for the Browns games.
Native Clevelander here. Thanks for this trip down memory lane. I used to ride the Red Line to the Waterfront line to go to the lakefront for the airshow and things like that. I find it highly funny that First Energy Stadium is named after the company that participated in the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio political history. Just about sums up Ohio.
I'm glad you made this video, I paid a visit to CLE last summer and I walked from my hotel to the Flats East development which has some cool eateries, hotels and clubs in that area. I foolishly thought we could take the light rail home but the station was shuttered and there was no signage why that was.
Cleveland was the nation's seventh largest city in 1950 and is now the 54th largest. In the interim it has lost about 2/3 of its population. The entire city thus appears overbuilt, with wide, empty streets, a hollowed out downtown (shopping has relocated to malls, some in the nearby flats, but not easily accessible by public transportation), and miles of empty land, now reverting to its natural, forested, state. The rapid transit system was built for a much larger, and more vibrant city. The heavy rail line (red line) to the airport from Tower City (downtown) is a nice amenity, but there is little reason to go to downtown in the 21st century, and I have never seen more than a handful of people riding it, regardless of the time of day. The green line means that the lovely, walkable, Shaker Square neighborhood on the east side is accessible by rapid transit (the green line), but that transit is hardly used. The views you show out of the windows of the red line accurately show the miles of lightly used, or abandoned, industrial buildings, surrounded by vacant land. Amidst the near-desolation is some great ethnic food, fascinating clusters of antique shops, America's finest symphony orchestra, playing in America's most beautiful concert hall, and one of America's finest art museum (both accessible by the BRT Health Line), vestiges of when this was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the United States.
They want to built a dome with skyscrapers development over the tracks like the millennium station Chicago / Grand Central Terminal to connect the waterfront front with the mall/ city hall/ and downtown
Crazy thing too, it's always Madonna jk, Clevelander and we've been working on walkability and wanted transportation options that make more sense for a very long time. The 96' footage looked overdone but at the time, things were happening. The flats were huge destinations for business travelers, tourists and locals. Tower city had already been an established depot generations before. It was a popular mall before mall culture died. We love the idea someone else mentioned about circuits through Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati or even the ideas to connect to Pittsburgh, New York and Michigan. I really hope we figure it, there are plenty of planners trying to make it happen. We defend our city just about as fiercely as some dawgpound Browns fans defend, well the Browns, lol. Cleveland is great, I'd love to grab a scooter and see it from another perspective. Really enjoyed your video!
This failed in my option mostly because this was built before much of development was even thought out. When this was completed the only the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center were open. The Browns were on a hiatus so no stadium at W. 3rd, the east bank of the Flats was still 17 years from completing the first phase of development and Amtrak service to Cleveland was already bare bones. This is a case of a good idea with half ass execution. The water front line dead ends into a prime lake front real estate taken up by airport that is primarily used by sports teams looking to leave as quickly as possible, one weekend an annual air show on one side. On the other side a massive parking lot used for tailgating 8-12 weeks a year and the occasional park and walk city hall trip. Build some kind of neighborhood or attraction at the end of the waterfront line. Increase development near the settlers landings station (there are way to many parking lots). Maybe encourage some cross river trips to the West Bank by adding a loop or branch to the waterfront line.
They are working on redevelopment of lake front. That last train stop would be huge for tailgating for the muni lot. Also, most people hate that air port. Its for rich people
Typical transit system failures. They failed to serve the attractions in the area especially if there was no late night service. The bridge issue is also a problem with newer constructed transit lines. Not over engineered bridges but the least cost items that deteriorate too fast or were not built correctly in the first place. But good enough to get the service started and defects showed up too late to hold building contractors responsible for the failure. Then there are no funds to repair the problems due to ongoing budget problems. Since this is a little used branch line other than for Browns games it will not get a high priority to get fixed.
Honestly this is the first time I've ever seen Cleveland portrayed as kind of interesting The stations are actually very nice looking. It's a shame that they did such a nice job on a kind of pointless line that doesn't operate the way it would even need to in order to be useful I've been to many cities that just had a "Stadium" station so they could have just done that
The waterfront like should have been extended east into the neighborhoods. Cleveland has this history of having grand visions and then half-assing them. I can walk from Tower City to the lakefront in 10 minutes, there is no need for a train. However, if it was extended into the neighborhoods, more people would ride it.
Seeing some discussion about the Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland. Not sure where I stand on its usefulness because it is taking up quite a lot of lakefront land near downtown, which is frustrating, but on the other hand, it was built on a repurposed landfill, so while it may not be the best use for existing lakefront land, I find it to be much more excusable since it was a landfill to begin with. Also, I've heard that Burke Lakefront has been somewhat crucial to the Cleveland Clinic in developing a world-class transplant program, and the Clinic adds a ton of value to Cleveland in terms of quality of life for northeast Ohioans as well as folks coming in and contributing to the local economy when they receive medical care.
I thought Baltimore's Metro Subway and Light Rail lines were poorly used-not even an attendant to monitor and collect fares, not worth his salary for so few paying passengers-students ride for free and seniors only pay $1, but Cleveland's abandoned looking cold and wind-swept river and lakefront is even more depressing.
8:22 I used to think "Sox - 35th" was a funny name for a Chicago rail station but yeah, you knew what was there. It would have made sense to call this stop "Browns." Or sell the naming rights.
Very entertaining transit content as usual! However, I do want to stick up for the RTA and Cleveland a bit though. I am sure they would love it if developers built some T.O.D. around their stations but a lot of people in the Midwest are still so car brained that I doubt developers are even proposing them right now. It's not like the city can (or should) just build stuff itself. It is a shame that line was not currently running, but they seem to have some great infrastructure (well once they finish repairing that bridge lol I just mean stations and alignments) that I am sure Cleveland will have a great transit system soon when the U.S. gets serious about climate change.
ohhh i have some thoughts 1:53 - calling the flats the "premier nightlife district" is... generous 3:00 - Miles is right. the red line runs roughly 24/7, but some time at night (unsure when) it stops crossing town and there is a west-of-downtown and east-of-downtown red line train. So if you have reason to cross town on the red line at night, like if you live on the east side but your flight landed late... go f*ck yourself, I guess 5:06 - right across the river from you two in that big white tent was Jacob's Pavilion, a decently-sized concert venue that hosts some honestly pretty big acts in the warmer months. What I think is a massively missed opportunity is that even though the station is physically near the venue, they are - and I wish I was joking - a 25 minute walk from each other. Building a bridge Right There would be difficult due to the freight boats that pass through that area, but there has to be a better solution than that, right??? right??????? Also apparently the settlers landing station is closed. like more closed than the other waterfront line stops. it won't even show up on google maps for me anymore. 8:03 - one time on an unseasonably warm day in November a few years back, I took the waterfront line to that stop so I could go to the Rock Hall. It was warm but incredibly dreary, I was literally the only person on the train, and when I got off the stop I was appalled at how abandoned the stop looked. It had the exact same energy as a dead mall, except it was (theoretically) a fully functional, operational stop. I was convinced I had entered another dimension on accident. 10:28 - not anymore! that airline stopped doing scheduled service during covid, they're charter-only now. anyway, glad y'all survived
Also, because it is so close to the lake on the east side of the city , and with winter Storms throwing up spray it probably freezes over. Just like I-90 tends to freeze over when a storm comes across the lake.
I think it’s stupid they didn’t build a pedestrian tunnel under the railway tracks to the other side because if they did, South Harbour station could actually be serving something.
@@williamerazo3921 those old orange pedestrian bridges over the tracks at the west end of the Amtrak platform that connect to the back side of the courthouse have been closed for over 12 years. There are ADA compliance issues with tons of stairs only along the pathways of those pedestrian bridges. Also they required of too many police officers to manage pedestrian traffic to / from the stadium on game days to cross the highway ramps at the crosswalks. This eventually necessitated the closure of the W 3rd exit & entrance ramps on the Shoreway on game days due to the insane unsafe near blind pedestrian crosswalks under the shore way and across the highway entrance / exit ramps. Also there is no sidewalk / path to those bridges from the North Coast (E 9th street) station or South Harbor (Muni lot). The North Coast station has a pedestrian walkway bridge that connects up to the sidewalk on the E 9th St overpass between the railroad tracks and OH 2 (the Shoreway). Additionally there is no direct path to those old orange bridges from the West 3rd station [the stadium station] likely because RTA wanted people to take the Waterfront line to Tower City. Today the police put up big unscalable fences to funnel all pedestrian traffic to use the sidewalks on either E 9th or W 3rd to get over the Shoreway and railroad tracks.
Yup. I remember the traffic james at Ontario Huron and Prospect with people trying to get to the inter belt . Game day on Indians game the coach buses would have service to the suburbs after the game but they got sued for that as well
Guys, I have a genius idea! So, we have a rail line that's struggling. But, it has great potential! We should... *Remove the rails and make it a Rail-Trail* (Don't actually, please no)
Some transit systems use classical music, I've been to stations in Minneapolis and Pittsburgh that have. Some places do it supposedly to reduce loitering by teenagers, not sure how scientific that is. But Cleveland uses... 80s music? Uh oh is it so old that it chases away the youths lol
The giant parking lots serve Browns' games. So , this is all basically for a 10-12 annual event build up .And everybody with brain function knew it would fall into disrepair and failure in 2 decades. It's just "OPiuM" (other people's moneY)
You guys are so sick! Thanks for showing us the unfortunately closed line! My channel talks all about transit oriented development and i would be honored if y’all could check it out!
Great Video!! Sadly, This Looks Like A Lots Of Waste. Something Republicans Love To Shout About. I hope that Amtrak will expand in the Buckeye State. But I Will Not Count On It. Thanks Guys.
Sometimes there is an odd platform 7 in use at tower city, the entrance is like you're heading to a mall toilets. this video shows how to walk to it ua-cam.com/video/oVk7lQPS5tI/v-deo.html
That line is not abandoned please do your dam research before uploading UA-cam videos it closed do to bridge infrastructure damage and will be reopened by the start of the browns season this year its name is the waterfront line
The history of why tower city is so over built is interesting. The Van Sweringen brothers built the terminal tower as a plan to use it as the hub for all of Cleveland. They are the ones that built the blue and green lines to shaker heights as they owned shaker heights and used it as a development scheme. The plan was to use build more street car / light rail suburbs like shaker heights and connect them to the tower, run all long distance trains there as well (they owned a railroad as well the Nickel Plate Road), and the local street cars. It was the tallest building outside of New York when it was completed. It all came crashing down after the stock market crashed in 1929. Only New York Central signed on to use the complex as well.
Yo - that would make a great jumping off point for an alternate history! Thanks for the info
Another issue was that steam trains were prohibited from entering the station, so some of the railroads to continue using the lakefront route so they did not have to swap out equipment
NPR and Big 4, Erie and B&O all ran to CUT. They have flyovers junctions to connect to the RRs rows on the east and west sides on the city and it was electrified since no steam locomotives could run into the CUT.
@@tonywalters7298 the Lakefront was only used PRR and connected with PRR at crestline. It was a big diversion for the PRR but they wanted the Cleveland market money instead of giving it to the NYC and NPR
That would be convenient
8:23 To be fair, the full name of the station is West 3rd-Stadium, and the station's signs are labeled West Third Street FirstEnergy Stadium (with the actual stadium logo). Since you wondered about the Waterfront Line bridge, basically back in 2018 they did an extensive inspection of the bridge. This inspection found stress cracks, so they tried to limit stress in 2019 by restricting traffic to one car crossing at a time. The line was first suspended in October 2020 for the Tower City track rehabilitation project. Service would've been restored in Spring 2021, but they did a second inspection of the bridge that concluded that the suspension should continue, and it was better to fix it than to risk opening it. Temporarily they added four support towers to stabilize until permanent repairs are made (like at 7:05).
Once corp sponsors come in, you can’t change station names all the time, like the « Frankfurt Main Stadion » in Frankfurt and the nearby « Deutsche Bank Park », which used to be « Commerzbankarena » and the « Waldstadion »…
I'm from Cleveland. I love seeing people exploring a part of the world I know so well for the first time. Really enjoyed your Cleveland videos! Thanks!
Let’s fund there next trip. I was thinking about August around Feast of Assumption, Browns preseason game and Indians/ Guardians game. See how the mass transit works when there’s a crowd. Don’t forget Cavs parade where the little system manage to haul 1 million people.
It's too bad Amtrak can't stop at Tower City (and during the day, please). It's a perfect location for an intercity train.
I agree a city the size it is deserves a better scheduled arrival and departure time. Maybe if Pennsylvania starts another train to Pittsburgh Ohio could see if it would be able to subsidize extending it to Cleveland if it could arrive and depart at more reasonable times than the Lake Shore Ltd. Ohio has the same problem with Cincinnati. Bad arrival and departure times and less than daily service. My last trip to Ohio was to Columbus and Dayton so I took the train to Pittsburgh and stayed overnight there and then rented a car to drive to Ohio. Needless to say I don’t plan to do that again anytime soon.
This may become something in the next few years. Amtrak has plans to run a state line rail between Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Something like the Carolinian in North Carolina, That runs from Charlotte to Greensboro to Raleigh. It's an Amtrak train that is operated by the State on State owned rails. I hope they call the Ohio rail the Heartland, because "Ohio is the Heart of it All".
Can’t. You have to rebuilt the row from E55st - all the way W25st junctions. They rip the tracks up and put a parking garage where the RR trains would stop and deplatform . Plus the viaduct over the river there’s spots for infill station with development on the way for mix use and a metro park
@@johnchambers8528 just extended the Pennsylvania from Pitts to Detroit with philly being a terminus instead of NYC. You get Ohio and Michigan to fund there portions and make it a day train
Biden said he was going to have "22 stops per day (total) for Cleveland". If they would only switch The One-per-day stop for the Capitol LTD, it would be rabid success
Regarding that airline, the airline's called Ultimate Air Shuttle and they started flights from Cleveland to Cincinnati in 2015 but have since suspended all of their flights in 2021 due to declining ridership related to the pandemic. Now the airport has just two cargo airlines, AirNet Express (to Columbus), and Central Air Southwest (to Dayton and Hamilton in Ohio and Kalamazoo and Ypsilanti in Michigan). The airport used to host the Grand Prix of Cleveland which was held from 1982 to 2007. And it still hosts the Cleveland National Air Show. So South Harbor is more useful than you think. There is no train service to Cincinnati from Cleveland, so you're either stuck driving or taking a bus so I get the appeal of taking a flight.
As a Uber/ Lyft Lux driver and I drop off passengers there. It’s a private airport. Have to wait at the gate then press a call button for they can open the gates
Ultimate also was flying into Atlanta's Peachtree-Dekalb Airport for awhile too, and did some corporate shuttle work for companies like GM. These days they are doing a lot of casino charters especially to Atlantic City... and were in the news not long ago for being the charter of choice for Governor Abbott of Texas to relocate some migrants to Martha's Vineyard.
10:17 - Is there a current plan to create a Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati trains service?
The stadium station was quite useful to goto Browns home games. It saw quite a few riders during the games I have been there. RTA would line up a number of trains post game to take the crowds away in a reasonably efficient manner.
Also from the Tower City station there is a fully indoors walkway to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and a short walk from there to Progressive field, so all of the major sports venues were well connected with transit in Cleveland when the waterfront line was operational.
The end of the Waterfront was a park and ride station even though the ride was only 2 miles
Pick up riders that park and tailgate at the Muni to the game.
It is quite tragic to see such a modern transit system having such difficulty. The bridge certainly looked in a bad way. For it to require a supplementary bridge pier so early in its career is more than a little disturbing. Let's hope that it will be restored to use at the date that the authority has committed itself to. Thank you for bringing us this very interesting and informative video presentation and it was great to see our friend, 'Miles in Transit'.
Very few American cities can say they have overbuilt transit. I think it's a great problem to have. From the videos at least, it seems like Cleveland is what urbanism enthusiasts mean when they say that a city "has good bones"
Exactly. I found the critiques they have of this system very odd. Being overbuilt is an asset, and makes the system be better poised. It shouldn't be a detriment or something to poke fun at. Also saying that Cleveland should "just build transit oriented development..." (It's not a wealthy city like NYC - you can't just ask for development to happen out of nowhere). Also regarding Settlers Landing - when I visit a city, I like to see it's waterfront first to judge it. You don't need attractions on the waterfront - the landscaping and water itself is usually the best attraction there is. I had planned to visit Cleveland a couple years ago and the Settlers Landing stop was the one I was most excited to see. IDK I just found a lot of the critiques on both this video and Mile's very weird and coming from a bit of lack of interest in understanding of the local area.
The early 90s architecture and design on the RTA system is actually quite well preserved and is almost becoming retro (or kitsch maybe) now, and its actually kinda rare now as lot of public buildings from this era have been renovated. The whole thing has a liminal space feel, seeing how deserted it is. The distorted Madonna playing on the PA system at Tower City certainly helps. It feels like the system exists entirely within the cover art of a vapourwave album.
And the "Track 13" sign at 2:43 is a hint that this used to be a much bigger station.
Behind the east tracks there’s tracks with platforms too. When they had track reconstruction on the main tracks, they move westbound service beyond the wall and you had to walk down 3 flights of stairs to get to the platform
The Muny lot is a weird thing. It's mostly there for Browns game tailgating, which usually starts at like 7am on the day of the game regardless of the actual start time. The whole area was done up like this for the Gold Coast Redevelopment project in the early 90s, which is where the Rock Hall, Science Center, USS Cod museum ship, and the Browns stadium are.
Cleveland is always in a renaissance and on the comeback trail lol.
Back when this line opened, the RTA had a couple of cars and the "OX" from Trolleyville.
I had a ride on a C&AE car down here.
The part missing here is the fact that this line was dark territory. No signals. The cars would leave tower city and exit the main line, run to the end.
On the return trip the cars would stop at the bottom of the ramp and the operator would go to the left side cab window and insert thier cab key in a box and alert the signal system that they were ready to enter the main line. When the signal changed, away they would go.
In the summer most left the window open and had an extra key on the remains of a hockey stick so they would not have to leave thier seat.
As a rust belt native from that other state slightly north, I’m both crying and laughing at the idea that those cracks are concerning damage and not just how bridges usually look
Please be safe...
They build the whole line without state or federal dollars so skimp on a lot regulation and environmental analysis
Having taken Amtrak out of Cleveland many times: You mentioned the trains running late. No worries, they do, all the friggin' time. Which is quite annoying when you had to stay up until 2:30 AM to show up when it was supposed to come through, only to finally get on at 6:30.
That "minor damage" looks like cracks formed when there is a lack of steel reinforcements that are needed. Looks like they'll have to replace the bridge!
haha, well done: you gave me a transit down memory lane(s).. i was born/raised/lived in Lakewood, North Olmsted, & Ohio City until i made the decision to transplant myself to Philadelphia (PA) in ‘05.. those were good times as well as interesting (& ultimately tragic) memories of my life’s relationship to RTA.. now that i see all these “new”/strange “modernizations”/changes, i barely recognize my decades-old stomping grounds.. but you guys did (well, to put it in Cleveland terms) the best w/what you had available to you - ha! i gotta say, Philadelphia is an insanely eye opening “next level” experience in terms of the SEPTA multi-transit system! maybe you’ve visited it in the past, but if not, i highly recommend for transit enthusiasts such as yourselves! thank you!
Check out @milesintransit channel. He went to college in Philly so he has many videos about it
FUN TIMES IN CLEVELAND TODAY ITS CLEVELAND
COME ON DOWN TO CLEVELAND TOWN EVERYONE
LIGHT RAIL SINCE 1996
SEE OUR SUBWAY THAT CARRIES 10 PEOPLE
ITS SO EXPENSIVE WE COULDN'T BUILD MORE LINES
I wonder what the cost of fixing the bridges is compared to the cost of the opportunity corridor
The Amtrak station was serve when the Pennsylvanian was a day time train. Muni lot station is to serve tailgaters on game day. I took it a couple of times in 2002
The Amtrak Pennsylvanian never came to Cleveland.
@@thedoeguy lol yes it did. What train was the daytime service to Chicago?
@@williamerazo3921 When was that? To the best of my knowledge there never was a daytime Amtrak train through Cleveland.
@@thedoeguy 98-2004 the PA train was extended to Chicago but cut back Philadelphia
@@thedoeguy I use to take from CLE at 5/6p to get to Elyria
I live in Cleveland Ohio and the rapid stations you see right there is not abandoned it's just closed because of the gcrta waterfront line is suspended indefinitely. They're still working on the bridge they said so hopefully the GCRTA waterfront line will be back in service this year.
That’s parking lot has been there before the waterfront line because you would park then get the old 9/12 trolley to downtown(Discontinued with RTA NEXT GEN)
NEXT GEN my ass. Sorry I feel they destroyed transit in this city
@@williamerazo3921 Exactly. It's more like National City Lines, the consortium created by GM, General Tire, and some big oil company (Union of California?) to carry out their conspiracy to destroy public transit in the US, and they succeeded! 😠😡🤬👿
@@edwardmiessner6502 no. In 2000 we had a top notch transit. Flyers, express buses, coach bus, neighborhood circulators, transit every 5-8 minutes during RH but the last manager of 18 years blew it on the BRT and dismantling of service system wide. Then went honor system and revenues collaspe
I HEAR YOU CALL MY NAME
AND IT FEELS LIKE HOME
There's more tracks at Tower City also behind the Westbound wall. They used it temporarily while they were putting new tracks down on the normal station. The entrance is upstairs (2nd floor) on the west side of Tower City behind a double closed door almost by the Public Square entrance next to the old Victoria Secrets.
That's why there are so many tracks still coming in to Tower City from the east side and many have grass growing on them. And the middle track on the Red Line side is used for rush hour trips that end at Tower City coming from The Airport or trips starting at Tower City going to the Airport.
The end of the Waterfront Line is Muny Lot which is a huge Parking Lot which is used for Tailgating for the Browns games.
Native Clevelander here. Thanks for this trip down memory lane. I used to ride the Red Line to the Waterfront line to go to the lakefront for the airshow and things like that. I find it highly funny that First Energy Stadium is named after the company that participated in the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio political history. Just about sums up Ohio.
I'm glad you made this video, I paid a visit to CLE last summer and I walked from my hotel to the Flats East development which has some cool eateries, hotels and clubs in that area. I foolishly thought we could take the light rail home but the station was shuttered and there was no signage why that was.
Cleveland's Amtrak station was built anticipation of the Lakeshore Limited being restored via Cleveland. (it had originally went NY-CHI via Detroit).
I live here and catch it pretty much every day for work. You can kinda tell things aren’t used as well as they could be
Cleveland was the nation's seventh largest city in 1950 and is now the 54th largest. In the interim it has lost about 2/3 of its population. The entire city thus appears overbuilt, with wide, empty streets, a hollowed out downtown (shopping has relocated to malls, some in the nearby flats, but not easily accessible by public transportation), and miles of empty land, now reverting to its natural, forested, state. The rapid transit system was built for a much larger, and more vibrant city. The heavy rail line (red line) to the airport from Tower City (downtown) is a nice amenity, but there is little reason to go to downtown in the 21st century, and I have never seen more than a handful of people riding it, regardless of the time of day. The green line means that the lovely, walkable, Shaker Square neighborhood on the east side is accessible by rapid transit (the green line), but that transit is hardly used. The views you show out of the windows of the red line accurately show the miles of lightly used, or abandoned, industrial buildings, surrounded by vacant land. Amidst the near-desolation is some great ethnic food, fascinating clusters of antique shops, America's finest symphony orchestra, playing in America's most beautiful concert hall, and one of America's finest art museum (both accessible by the BRT Health Line), vestiges of when this was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the United States.
Local/ County and State politicians failed Cleveland. GOP are happy about it.
I think settler's landing is the case of 2 things, 1) hoping to spur development, and 2) there was more there 25 years ago
“What if we built a transit line to serve a parking lot and a stadium that hosts *checks notes* 10 games a year?”
They want to built a dome with skyscrapers development over the tracks like the millennium station Chicago / Grand Central Terminal to connect the waterfront front with the mall/ city hall/ and downtown
i love that there’s just music playing in tower city central, even on the platforms, that’s hilarious
Crazy thing too, it's always Madonna
jk, Clevelander and we've been working on walkability and wanted transportation options that make more sense for a very long time.
The 96' footage looked overdone but at the time, things were happening. The flats were huge destinations for business travelers, tourists and locals. Tower city had already been an established depot generations before. It was a popular mall before mall culture died. We love the idea someone else mentioned about circuits through Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati or even the ideas to connect to Pittsburgh, New York and Michigan.
I really hope we figure it, there are plenty of planners trying to make it happen. We defend our city just about as fiercely as some dawgpound Browns fans defend, well the Browns, lol.
Cleveland is great, I'd love to grab a scooter and see it from another perspective. Really enjoyed your video!
This failed in my option mostly because this was built before much of development was even thought out. When this was completed the only the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center were open. The Browns were on a hiatus so no stadium at W. 3rd, the east bank of the Flats was still 17 years from completing the first phase of development and Amtrak service to Cleveland was already bare bones. This is a case of a good idea with half ass execution. The water front line dead ends into a prime lake front real estate taken up by airport that is primarily used by sports teams looking to leave as quickly as possible, one weekend an annual air show on one side. On the other side a massive parking lot used for tailgating 8-12 weeks a year and the occasional park and walk city hall trip. Build some kind of neighborhood or attraction at the end of the waterfront line. Increase development near the settlers landings station (there are way to many parking lots). Maybe encourage some cross river trips to the West Bank by adding a loop or branch to the waterfront line.
They are working on redevelopment of lake front. That last train stop would be huge for tailgating for the muni lot. Also, most people hate that air port. Its for rich people
Typical transit system failures. They failed to serve the attractions in the area especially if there was no late night service. The bridge issue is also a problem with newer constructed transit lines. Not over engineered bridges but the least cost items that deteriorate too fast or were not built correctly in the first place. But good enough to get the service started and defects showed up too late to hold building contractors responsible for the failure. Then there are no funds to repair the problems due to ongoing budget problems. Since this is a little used branch line other than for Browns games it will not get a high priority to get fixed.
For browns games, we ride red line into tower city and conneced waterfront line.
Much faste to walk from tower city to the stadiun
I made an Amtrak to light rail transfer in Cleveland. Lake Shore from Chicago, rode train to airport.
That’s rarest of mode changes here In Cleveland since 2004 Pennsylvanian day time train in Ohio
Omg the song parody at the end was so on point!
The terminating rail is the light rail line. Before the waterfront they would stop there.. the driver would switch sides and it would go back
Honestly this is the first time I've ever seen Cleveland portrayed as kind of interesting
The stations are actually very nice looking. It's a shame that they did such a nice job on a kind of pointless line that doesn't operate the way it would even need to in order to be useful
I've been to many cities that just had a "Stadium" station so they could have just done that
Come vist Cleveland in the summer weekdays . It’s a great city
I believe it's returning again and I hope to ride it
The waterfront like should have been extended east into the neighborhoods. Cleveland has this history of having grand visions and then half-assing them. I can walk from Tower City to the lakefront in 10 minutes, there is no need for a train. However, if it was extended into the neighborhoods, more people would ride it.
Pre-cast , segmented bridge. I don't like driving my car over those!
8:24 - Is this SEPTA t-shirt sold at 1234 Market Street ?
Could you flag down trains at the Amtrak request stop to board?
Is the lighting in the underground station always so depressing?
A nice lil scooter powered adventure
Jefferson is also in the basement of a mall (but weren't they built in tandem?)
Seeing some discussion about the Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland. Not sure where I stand on its usefulness because it is taking up quite a lot of lakefront land near downtown, which is frustrating, but on the other hand, it was built on a repurposed landfill, so while it may not be the best use for existing lakefront land, I find it to be much more excusable since it was a landfill to begin with. Also, I've heard that Burke Lakefront has been somewhat crucial to the Cleveland Clinic in developing a world-class transplant program, and the Clinic adds a ton of value to Cleveland in terms of quality of life for northeast Ohioans as well as folks coming in and contributing to the local economy when they receive medical care.
Ooh I didnt know any of this, thanks for the context!
You're welcome; thanks for the video!@@ClassyWhale
I thought Baltimore's Metro Subway and Light Rail lines were poorly used-not even an attendant to monitor and collect fares, not worth his salary for so few paying passengers-students ride for free and seniors only pay $1, but Cleveland's abandoned looking cold and wind-swept river and lakefront is even more depressing.
8:22 I used to think "Sox - 35th" was a funny name for a Chicago rail station but yeah, you knew what was there. It would have made sense to call this stop "Browns." Or sell the naming rights.
The Two-Set of transit.
4:18 That made me laugh a little too hard lol
10:27
That would be Ultimate Air Shuttle, which has since suspended all public passenger flights, and is only doing charter flights
Doesn’t the line to the Rock and.Roll Hall of Fame only see 400 riders a day?
Heavy and light rail use different tracks that's why they are in different parts of tower city
Miles is adorable! Better hang on to that one. Have you had the pleasure of the NFTA? Right down the road from Cleveland.
He's a good friend, but we do both have girlfriends!
Very entertaining transit content as usual! However, I do want to stick up for the RTA and Cleveland a bit though. I am sure they would love it if developers built some T.O.D. around their stations but a lot of people in the Midwest are still so car brained that I doubt developers are even proposing them right now. It's not like the city can (or should) just build stuff itself.
It is a shame that line was not currently running, but they seem to have some great infrastructure (well once they finish repairing that bridge lol I just mean stations and alignments) that I am sure Cleveland will have a great transit system soon when the U.S. gets serious about climate change.
I haven't rode the public transit since I moved to Cleveland maybe I will soon..
"At least we're not Detroit"
I would assume the catenary is turned off.
We should have poked it with a stick to make sure
ohhh i have some thoughts
1:53 - calling the flats the "premier nightlife district" is... generous
3:00 - Miles is right. the red line runs roughly 24/7, but some time at night (unsure when) it stops crossing town and there is a west-of-downtown and east-of-downtown red line train. So if you have reason to cross town on the red line at night, like if you live on the east side but your flight landed late... go f*ck yourself, I guess
5:06 - right across the river from you two in that big white tent was Jacob's Pavilion, a decently-sized concert venue that hosts some honestly pretty big acts in the warmer months. What I think is a massively missed opportunity is that even though the station is physically near the venue, they are - and I wish I was joking - a 25 minute walk from each other. Building a bridge Right There would be difficult due to the freight boats that pass through that area, but there has to be a better solution than that, right??? right??????? Also apparently the settlers landing station is closed. like more closed than the other waterfront line stops. it won't even show up on google maps for me anymore.
8:03 - one time on an unseasonably warm day in November a few years back, I took the waterfront line to that stop so I could go to the Rock Hall. It was warm but incredibly dreary, I was literally the only person on the train, and when I got off the stop I was appalled at how abandoned the stop looked. It had the exact same energy as a dead mall, except it was (theoretically) a fully functional, operational stop. I was convinced I had entered another dimension on accident.
10:28 - not anymore! that airline stopped doing scheduled service during covid, they're charter-only now.
anyway, glad y'all survived
The Flats was the nightlife district in the 1980's. But by the time the waterfront line was built in the 90's The Flats was already in decline.
There’s a water taxi/ ferry to pavilion
@@stuartm6069 man you haven’t been in CLE then. Right now East flats is party city
@@williamerazo3921 I moved away from Ohio in 2003. So, it's been a while since I was in Cleveland.
Background assist from Madonna!
I rode it as a kid and was like "what's the point"
i always hate that i get the song bit
It's because the weird bendy shape of the bridge, causing weird forces from thermal expansion.
Also, because it is so close to the lake on the east side of the city , and with winter Storms throwing up spray it probably freezes over. Just like I-90 tends to freeze over when a storm comes across the lake.
Luxury airline to Cinci because no trains connect the two cities
I think it’s stupid they didn’t build a pedestrian tunnel under the railway tracks to the other side because if they did, South Harbour station could actually be serving something.
They do. The orange bridge from city courts get you over the tracks
@@williamerazo3921 those old orange pedestrian bridges over the tracks at the west end of the Amtrak platform that connect to the back side of the courthouse have been closed for over 12 years.
There are ADA compliance issues with tons of stairs only along the pathways of those pedestrian bridges. Also they required of too many police officers to manage pedestrian traffic to / from the stadium on game days to cross the highway ramps at the crosswalks. This eventually necessitated the closure of the W 3rd exit & entrance ramps on the Shoreway on game days due to the insane unsafe near blind pedestrian crosswalks under the shore way and across the highway entrance / exit ramps. Also there is no sidewalk / path to those bridges from the North Coast (E 9th street) station or South Harbor (Muni lot). The North Coast station has a pedestrian walkway bridge that connects up to the sidewalk on the E 9th St overpass between the railroad tracks and OH 2 (the Shoreway). Additionally there is no direct path to those old orange bridges from the West 3rd station [the stadium station] likely because RTA wanted people to take the Waterfront line to Tower City. Today the police put up big unscalable fences to funnel all pedestrian traffic to use the sidewalks on either E 9th or W 3rd to get over the Shoreway and railroad tracks.
The muni lot for the games, big tail gating place
After this video can you do another SEPTA trolley video with Miles
Awesome guys
You passed my brother's apartment building
Sad to watch is closed...
keep in mind the population of Cleveland has been in full collapse for decades. So it looks overbuilt because there used to be a lot more people.
Yup. I remember the traffic james at Ontario Huron and Prospect with people trying to get to the inter belt . Game day on Indians game the coach buses would have service to the suburbs after the game but they got sued for that as well
Y'all was having too much fun lol
good way to support a bridge.
Guys, I have a genius idea!
So, we have a rail line that's struggling. But, it has great potential!
We should...
*Remove the rails and make it a Rail-Trail*
(Don't actually, please no)
It's semi baaaaack
I'm gonna try and ride it later in the fall!
where are your helmets?
Foe me the weirdest part of all of this was the piped in music on the platform.
Some transit systems use classical music, I've been to stations in Minneapolis and Pittsburgh that have. Some places do it supposedly to reduce loitering by teenagers, not sure how scientific that is.
But Cleveland uses... 80s music? Uh oh is it so old that it chases away the youths lol
The giant parking lots serve Browns' games. So , this is all basically for a 10-12 annual event build up .And everybody with brain function knew it would fall into disrepair and failure in 2 decades. It's just "OPiuM" (other people's moneY)
“Temporarily” Suspended.
Why does the USA have such a problem with public transport?
Do they seriously need so many years to replace a bridge?
You guys are so sick! Thanks for showing us the unfortunately closed line! My channel talks all about transit oriented development and i would be honored if y’all could check it out!
Hellvetica conspiracy.....
Can't even take the light rail in Ohio. 💀
It could be worse you could be in DETROIT!
ITS STILL NOT DETROIT
this is a ridiculous system given how overbuilt and underused it is...also rta makes septa look....dare i say good
ua-cam.com/video/P5OValU96Pw/v-deo.html for next time 😊
Let’s goooo
Don’t eat oranges like thaf
2023
Cleveland reminds me of Baltimore... lots of potential and terrible follow-through.
✌🏾
Great Video!! Sadly, This Looks Like A Lots Of Waste. Something Republicans Love To Shout About. I hope that Amtrak will expand in the Buckeye State. But I Will Not Count On It. Thanks Guys.
Same GOP that won’t expand Amtrak in this state
Cleveland is sad. At least it's not Detroit
So sad to see good transit so horribly decrepit.
Sometimes there is an odd platform 7 in use at tower city, the entrance is like you're heading to a mall toilets.
this video shows how to walk to it ua-cam.com/video/oVk7lQPS5tI/v-deo.html
That line is not abandoned please do your dam research before uploading UA-cam videos it closed do to bridge infrastructure damage and will be reopened by the start of the browns season this year its name is the waterfront line
Did you watch the video?
Did you make it to even the 2nd minute? They say that.