Dear Mr. Calabrese,
I would hope that your agency would attempt to prevent the future bedlam, negative impressions of public transportation and economic loss to the community in terms of late employees etc. associated with the poor public planning evidenced here.
Really--we can and should do better.
Sincerely,
Laura McShane
--- On Tue, 6/16/09,
From: GM
Subject: Re: Commendations and complaints
Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 9:00 AM
Thank you for your comments. However, RTA is not involved in planning major events or controlling traffic in the City of Cleveland. This is the responsibility of the City, and your concerns should be directed to your elected City officials. We appreciate people using our services to attend events and will share your compliments of Operator Horace with his managers.
> 06/15/09 6:23 PM >>>
Dear Mr. Calabrese,
First let me compliment your drivers, who endured inhumane bus crowding and anger today with grace and dignity. Today was FREE Monday at the Zoo, so your staff was subjected to gridlock that paralyzed the entire Pearl Rd. corridor from Broadview and Memphis north to Clark Ave.
Passengers and RTA drivers were subjected to overcrowded buses, delays, confusion and stress. I had to go downtown today and on the way back, several buses packed to capacity passed me by at Market Square in Ohio City, because they had no room to accommodate additional passengers. I finally caught a ride with a #35 driven by Horace on bus 2224 at 4:16. With the patience of Job, he navigated and negotiated the horrible traffic and unruly passengers, including wheelchair passengers at Metro.
I fault administrators, the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland Metroparks for allowing a public safety and security crisis of this magnitude to occur during Free Mondays at the Zoo. I have cc.d my council reps, because this type of gridlock should not occur, especially around a major hospital such as Metrohealth.
Your agency and the City of Cleveland needs to coordinate better traffic control and contingency plans for major events at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I would also strongly suggest that the policy of FREE days at the zoo be reconsidered or at the very least moved to Fridays to avoid the complete bedlam witnessed today.
Sincerely,
Laura McShane
Cleveland