The view from the Idea Center

Clevelanders may one day be able to zip to Chicago in 40 minutes in a pod traveling at high speeds through a vacuum tube, but for now, their mass transit options are much slower, far more boring and in great need of renewal.

Fewer and fewer people are choosing to ride the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s (RTA) buses and light rail. The RTA has been considering service changes to halt that trend. Its board heard the final recommendations of a bus route redesign yesterday.

In the last few months, the agency sought input from the public, asking, “Do you want more buses serving a smaller area, or fewer buses serving a wider area?”

Jarrett Walker, the consultant hired to act as the Oracle at Delphi in this decision-making process, told the board survey responses were inconclusive until he presented people with maps showing possible routes.

A slim majority, 52 percent, expressed support for a “high-frequency” bus network in Downtown Cleveland and reduced service to low-demand neighborhoods.

Of those who didn’t like this model, Walker said more than half were upset by its plan to shift park-and-ride bus routes to local streets instead of highways. That would lead to longer commutes.

How long? I don’t know, but it’s sure to come up in public hearings on the recommendations.

If it’s 40 minutes or more, maybe suburban Clevelanders in a not-too-distant future will leave their Downtown jobs for ones in Chicago along the Hyperloop line.

See you, bright and early tomorrow morning on the radio,
Amy Eddings

Need to KnOH

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Your ideas

Yesterday we asked if you're a Hyperloop believer or a doubter. Over in our Public Square group, Chris Dawson isn't sure it will happen, but wants to believe: "I like the idea behind it, but refer back to your own story in 2018 about failed transport problems in Cleveland. Given that progress over time has resulted in less transit options than even a century ago (when people could hop a train or interurban and get to almost any place in the country directly without car) and given the forces that would unite against a hyperloop (auto industry, rail industry, airlines) and how hard they'd lobby legislators, it seems unlikely to happen."

Today, the Cleveland Clinic announced it will offer 12 weeks of fully paid maternity leave for mothers after childbirth (and four weeks for the parent that didn’t give birth). Would more generous paid parental leave make a potential employer more attractive to you? Call us at  (216) 916-6476, comment on  our Facebook page or join the conversation in Public Square. We'll feature some of your thoughts and comments here in Noon(ish) and on Morning Edition.

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