Bus Lanes & Bike Lanes - A Picture A Day # 21

A Picture A Day 021
Bus Lanes & Bike Lanes

Public transportation has a rather nice face in Cleveland. These bus stops sit on islands down the middle of the street. The buses have their own "BUS ONLY" lanes, more lanes for regular traffic, and, along the outer edges are bike lanes. These bus stops protect riders from most precipitation but not from wind. Inside the shelters are vending machines so riders may purchase tickets prior to boarding. The 'Healthline' route, sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic runs 24/7/365 from every 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the time of day. Naturally, the more frequent runs are during business hours and the 15 minute waits are in the middle of the night. I purchased a day pass on my first day in C-land and it worked out quite well. I rode 4 times for $4.50, something that would have cost me $8.00 had I paid per individual ride.

This view, from my hotel room, shows the central bus lanes in a block without a stop. I had no worries, there were stations on each of the blocks adjacent to this one, so there was no trouble catching the buses. Oh, I just noticed that the bike lanes are absent here too, but that may be due to the fact that this is a city block rather than a sprawl block.

It's worth noting that all of this work was recently completed sometime in 2008. At the time of this post, if you look at Euclid Avenue in Google Earth or Google Maps you will see the streets dug up as construction of the new bus line was still underway. BTW, this hotel, The Wyndham, was in an area called the Theater District near something called Playhouse Square. I didn't have much time for tourism, nor was the weather cooperating with such endeavors but, I noticed what appeared to be a centralized ticketing house, which I presume permits visitors an easy way to find information about and pick up tix to any show in the district. If you're a fan of theater this place is certainly worth a long weekend, should you have one to spare. I'd love to go back, but honestly, such things aren't in my budget right now. It's going on my "hope to do" list.