Cleveland’s Healthline Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Part 3
In Part 1 I introduced you the best Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in America — Cleveland’s Heathline BRT, in Part 2 I looked at where it missed points in international rankings, scoring 76/100. Today I want to look at areas where it should’ve scored lower: pedestrian streetscape, & wheelchair access.
![Many intersections along Euclid Ave pedestrians must press a button to get a walk signal. This was not requited elsewhere. This is an unnatural extra step that most pedestrians ignore. Decidedly less pedestrian-friendly!](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland16-500x375.jpg)
![The streetscape is only 7 years old but many of the curb ramps & detectable warnings were in disrepair. On the plus side they didn't hold water like so many in St. Louis.](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland17-500x375.jpg)
![In some spots the new sidewalks were too narrow, we passed through here often meeting people trying to walk side-by-side. When meeting others only wide enough for single-file.](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland18-500x375.jpg)
![At some stations I entered via the front door via a typical low-floor bus fold out ramp](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland22-500x375.jpg)
![But it often didn't work so the operator had to lift it manually.](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland23-500x375.jpg)
![Manual ramp operation is a benefit of low-floor vs high-floor buses. There's no manual mode for a high-floor lift that doesn't work.](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland24-500x375.jpg)
![Other stations meant I had to enter/exit on the driver's side so I had to use the first left-side door. The gap is too wide, the built-in power ramp only worked once.](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland25-500x375.jpg)
![Most of the time the driver had to grab the portable ramp for me to enter/exit.](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland26-500x375.jpg)
![Another time before the ramp was in place](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland27-500x375.jpg)
![Ramp ready now](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland28-500x375.jpg)
![Exiting](http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cleveland29-500x375.jpg)
Bus Rapid Transit is supposed to deliver a light rail-like user experience. Maybe in other BRT systems around the world they’ve figured out accessibility but for me this was a standard bus experience. Maybe that’s a fair trade-off — most get a better experience.
I can still use donations to help cover the costs to visit Cleveland — click here to donate $5+ dollars.
— Steve Patterson
Steve, you have a typo in your link (http://gofindme.com/urbanreviewstl vs http://gofundme.com/urbanreviewstl)
Thanks — that’a what I get fir nor copying & pasting! Corrected.