RTA's 55 Ridden By Two Of RTA's Harshest Critics

Ryan Salo, checks the RTA schedule on his smart phone, as we get coffee at Blackbird Bakery.

View Image Gallery

We have seen the increase in signs on Clifton thanks to RTA and the now infamous 55 Bus Line. The increase in signage was so bad, everyone noticed, everyone thought it was terrible. Only the smallest handful of people, thought, oh, they're just being safe, or not abusive.

One of the more outspoken people against the signs was West Clifton resident and long-time Observer, Ryan Salo. And it was Ryan Salo who called shortly before Christmas asking, “Do you want to ride the 55 with me?”

I said sure, but was a little curious as to why. Usually people ask me along if they're going to a bad neighborhood, or if we will encounter “trouble” of one kind or another. After walking Slavic Village at 2 am for a story on squatters, addressing known criminals in the back of the parks, etc., riding the 55 seemed tame.

Long-time viewers of the Deck know that Ryan and I are polar opposite on most things political, religious, lifestyles well-- nearly anything. At the same time, Ryan has brought a lot of insight to the Deck, and I have found when you talk with Ryan he has a quiet, friendly unassuming nature, that is far different from his posts. What we share is our love of Lakewood, Ohio.

We both grew up here, generations apart. Ryan's father was one of my friends in school. We have both watched Lakewood grow and change. We both know first-hand that Lakewood has ALWAYS BEEN a top-tier city in the region with great schools, a great library, great police and fire, and people - people that are just wonderful in their diversity, their beliefs, their lifestyles, economic situations. I have long maintained, there are no normal people in Lakewood, and therein lies the beauty of the city. Like a living breathing “King of Hearts.”

Still, the 55? Why on earth would I get on a bus!? Buses are nasty things filled with nasty people going nasty places. The last time I was on the bus, 8-years-ago it was 1am, I feared having too many drinks to drive and climbed on the Detroit Bus, as I made my way onto the bus, with incorrect change, paying a full $5 for a drunken one-way ride. The first thing I noticed was the litter. Oh wait, that’s a Lakewood Observer all over! Better pick that up, OH GOD what is on it?! I gathered the paper together while stumbling and rolling around, finally managed to clean up the mess, which I had indirectly caused, when suddlenly, I was at my stop. Walking the block home in the cool evening air was a great refresher which was good, as my friend had been arrested for a DUI, and I had to grab a lawyer, and head to Cleveland Police!

Anyway, I digress. Ryan, sure I’ll go, sounds like fun.

So Tuesday, December 30th we agreed to meet at Blackbird Bakery, and climb on the 55. Now while this is not really a good test of the bus shelters, it was a great way to start the morning, and you can get on a 55 right in front. So as we grabbed our coffees, and headed out to catch the bus.

As we got on the NEW BUS we were greeted by a very pleasant driver, who worked us through how to pay. It’s funny how real bus riders pass through the doors and into the bus without effort. Newbies like us fumble with bills, combinations, who would pay, who would hold coffee, etc. Through it all the bus driver waited, smiled, and helped us with math. We paid and went to the back of the bus.

If you have not been on one of the new extended buses, it is definitely weird. What is not apparent from the outside is the seating is theateresque. The farther back you go, the higher the seats. CLEAN, my god were they clean. Now they are new buses, but the bright green seats with an occasional CSU Logo, embroidered into the seats made one think, nice, CSU, comfortable, CSU, downtown, CSU, timely, CSU, lunch, CSU.

Somewhere near Highland Avenue we picked up Eric Pate, a young man with a skateboard. He got on the bus and walked to the very back, plugged in his ear phones, and relaxed. So Ryan asked him, “Do you ride the bus often?” He answered with a story about whenever his girlfriend doesn’t give him a ride he does, so once or twice a week. We asked, "Do you like it?" He smiled and said he loved it. Quick, easy to get on and off. He was headed to the kitchen where the soup for “Souper Market” is made. Ahhh food, something Ryan and I agree on. We mentioned how good the soup is at the Souper Market, and he told us about the fresh ingredients, how talented the kitchen is, and that his favorite was the corn chowder as he is a vegetarian. We asked how he gets the rest of the way to work and he said, skateboard or bus depending on weather.

We asked about signage in Lakewood and he said it did seem excessive. Then I asked him to pose asleep like a homeless person for the story and he said, “Sure!”

The bus ride was smooth and fast. Before we knew it we had cleared Lakewood and were headed downtown. It was great, here at peak rush hour, flying down a pretty empty Shoreway, with a 98% empty double bus. We counted 7 riders the entire time. In the blink of an eye, we were pulling into the Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Memorial Bus Turn-A-Round, and the end of our ride!

We stopped to talk with the bus driver, who has driven for RTA for some time, loves working for RTA, and loves driving the new buses. She stopped the bus, put it in park, and stayed in her seat as we took a selfie with her. She was the perfect driver and RTA representative. Always nice, positive, and very safe.

As we got off into a totally empty RTA station, we walked up to the only sign of life there, the RTA Transit Police. As Ryan spoke with the officer, I wandered around, amazed at just how big, and just how empty it had all been. Kind of a shame, as the ride, and the bus, were a complete pleasure.

As I walked up to the police car, the officer got out, and we had a chance to speak with him. Ryan asked, “Can you write tickets to illegally parked cars in bus lanes?” His answer was, “In Cleveland yes, Lakewood no, well until they get their county ticket books, then he can write a county parking ticket in Lakewood.”

Hmmmmmmm, so I asked the question we all want to know the answer to, “I am driving 80mph on I-90, and I see a policeman ahead and slow down, as I creep up alongside I see it is a RTA Transit, if I speed back up, can you write me a ticket?” The answer was a depressing, “YES. Well, yes if you are in Cleveland.” Damn, all those times I slowed down, I guess I am glad.

One of the things that jumped out at me during this ride was the total lack of people, at the bus stops, on the bus, and even the beautiful Stephanie Tubbs Jones Memorial Bus Turn-A-Round Station. There was one empty bus, one lonely Transit Police Officer in his car, Ryan and I, and that was about it. Seemed odd to us that the so much effort was made in getting the buses downtown, and there was no one on them.

I know RTA releases numbers on bus riders and the Mayor of Lakewood put the number at over 75% of the city that relies on RTA at some point. Well, that could be true, but on this day at prime rush hour, unless everyone left Lakewood, the numbers are much less. Still overall, it was a great experience which leads one to wonder, why more people don’t take the bus?

Well I turned to Ryan and said, “How about some breakfast?” With a smile he said, “Sure where?” I said let’s walk back to Public Square and eat some place along the way. And off we went, not realizing that we were walking into Cleveland’s desert, a.k.a. The Euclid Corridor.

The changes to Euclid Avenue since I was a kid are stark, very stark. Euclid used to be alive with mom and pop stores from Public Square to University Circle. Little places with rotting mansions every now and then left over from Cleveland’s Golden Age of the 1880s-1920's. Mammoth mansions owned by Smith, inventor of the arc lamp, Rockefeller, Case, and others whose names are still with us today. And in-between would be the bars: Imaghination, The Library, Wine and Roses, and great places to eat like Hatton’s, Hot Sauce Williams, etc. Little dinettes and restaurants in the various arcades. NOW, empty buildings, or large non-profits and strangely no place to eat - and one reason could be NO PEOPLE!

In our walk from East 23rd to Downtown at 9:30am on a Tuesday morning, we only saw 31 people. Hardly the renaissance that one can build a return to the golden age on.

So along the way, we walked into the Old Arcade to see what was there. In the old days there were at least six restaurants in there from Tea House Noodles to John the Waiter’s, both with Lakewood connections. We walked around the gorgeous but empty main floor, and finally ran into a security guard, and we asked, “Where is a good place to eat around here?” He suggested we go across the street to the Coloniel Arcade. "I think there is a place over there," he said. So we went across the street and back a block, walked through the arcade and saw nothing that would remind me of a restaurant to get breakfast at. So we continued to Public Square.

As we walked past what used to be the Cadillac Lounge, I stopped and looked around. WOW, empty and so anti-human it was shocking. How did we end up with this, a mall that attracted thousands now completely empty with the exception of people waiting for buses or to transfer to other lines.

Back in the day, House of Nuts was on the corner of the alley between May Company and May Company, and the air would be filled with the great aroma of roasting nuts from the time you got off the rapid, to the time you got past Woolworth’s.

I realize times are a changing, but this move from people-friendly to non-profit friendly was disturbing. From welcoming all to making sure indigents and others never loitered around, the area has become too controlled, to0 sterile, too uninviting. Just terrible.

Ryan is looking at me like I'm some old man reminiscing about what was, instead of focusing on the future and the now. You could tell he was desperate to say, “Are you going to start crying old man?” But he did not. Instead he said, “Have you ever been to the casino?”

I mentioned to Ryan that I have never been at Cleveland’s jewel, The Horseshoe Casino. With a smile he said, “I have a hunch that they have a buffet! Let’s go.” So with a slight change in trajectory we were walking into Higbees, err the Horseshoe Casino for fun, gambling, and breakfast.

Now I have been to many a casino buffet and found them to be an odd mix of pretty food that tasted terrible or nasty food that at least filled you up. My favorite would be the “All You Can Eat Las Vegas Shrimp Cocktail” that when it is delivered you realize that it is more like Shrimp Jam, with shrimps so small they turn into a grayish sludge topped with red sauce of some kind. For the most part, they are just close enough to food that you stop gambling, and then immediately go back to gambling. Oh well, in the desert called Downtown Cleveland, even a soda cracker is appreciated.

So we enter the big, beautiful Horseshoe casino and the first thing I notice is that there is no one in there! WOW, I mean that is probably a good thing as it was 10:30am, but at the same time, real casinos are packed around the clock.

After walking through the entire ground floor and seeing no one but dealers standing at black jack table after black jack table, we went upstairs where there were slots. Slots are generally considerd the entry level gambling device. You don’t need to know odds, math, rules or even manners, you just sit in front placing coin after coin into the machines, pulling the levers and watching again and again to see just how lucky you are. I am thinking casinos probably make more on slots than anything else. Well on the second floor in the slots area at least there were a couple grandmothers getting lucky.

We then ended up at the poker tables, many tables but only two operating, but both filled with about 16 gamblers. As I have developed a fascination for poker, you could tell the players hated people looking over their shoulders, so we moved on.

Traveling downstairs to the buffet, a massive area filled with hot table after hot table, mostly empty and with only four people sitting in the breakfast section. So we wandered over to the set up for breakfast, where they had sausage, eggs, pastries, cereal - hot and cold, fruit, and waffles, pancakes, and french toast. So I grabbed a little of everything, except the missing fruit, and sat down.

Ryan, being the pro at the table had found the omlette bar, and directed me towards it. When I got there it was right next to the cooks, and they were the most lively thing I had seen all day. Anxious to make us the perfect omlette, and they had the patter of a card dealer, sharp, insightful, funny, and dedicated to making us happy. Great guys and a great omlette. The rest of the food was inedible, but the omlette, perfect. Well, perfect considering the other food we had acquired.

As we left the casino, Uncle Ryan promised me he would bring me back for a real gambling experience. I asked if being a newbie would be a problem, and he assured me, “Jim I will make sure you are OK, we will just make sure everyone at the table knows you are a newbie, so they can go easy on you.” I love it when friends help friends.

So back out to Euclid, and it was now down to a bus every 30 minutes, so I suggested we walk towards Lakewood until we saw a buss coming. Well, we walked down Ontario, another place complete dug up with “new stuff.” Then down Lakeside, past West 3rd and nearly to my old apartment on West 9th, the scene of much craziness in the Bradley Building in 1978!

Well if we walked any further we would have been on the Shoreway, and while I was up for it, Ryan was hoping to return to his wife and children, and thought it was not a “great” idea.

So we waited, and while we waited we talked to a man waiting for the bus, and we asked him, "How do you feel about the bus and more importantly the 55 Line?" With a huge smile, he told us how he had been taking it for years to and from work, and that he was headed home. All he has noticed is cleaner buses, faster routes, and a better experience. 

As the bus approached and we climbed on it, again the driver was an absolute pleasure to deal with. Even though I was a much confused newbie, he took the time to explain four times how I put my day pass into the machine. He even called me back when I left it in there to go sit down.

Ryan and I headed to the back, as our new friend sat in the front. We reflected on the day, and just how clean and quick the 55 was. We had a great morning, but the only thing truly great were the bus rides, everything else was totally depressing. Even the ride back was empty, but smooth, quiet and quick.

We both agreed, the 55 Bus was a great addition to the Lakewood scene, but we also agreed, the sheer number of signs was troubling and destructive to the homey feel of Lakewood, totally trashing Clifton, one of the nice streets in town.