The line outside the West 117th/Madison Red Line stop, as of 7:38 a.m. Credit: Sean Flanagan
Getting into downtown today is, of course, a Herculean task no matter where you’re coming from. Most transit conversations over the past few days involved the Rapid, which is sort of the default St. Patrick’s Day option for the ‘burbs, for instance, but as of 7:30 a.m. all Rapid line parking lots were full (except for West Park, at the moment).

Lines have been growing for more than hour, turning into masses of humanity at this point. Spirits are high, seemingly, but this is no way to spend the early hours of championship parade day.

I took the 26 bus line down Detroit. It was quite comfortable, and there were open seats even as we crossed the bridge. This was at around 6:45 a.m.

Here and there on Twitter, people are reporting that bus lines are nearly empty, as of 7:30 a.m.

Take the bus. Or ride a bike. Or, if you’ve ever had the urge, hitchhike maybe?

Everyone will get there. Drop a line below or on Facebook and share your morning tale. 

Follow RTA on Twitter for the morning’s most valuable information. 

***

(Brief update, 8 a.m.: One of our readers on Facebook says this: “I am only trying to get into town to go to work. I showed up at the Triskett rapid station at 6:15 to find it was at capac[ity]. The line was extremely long so I bought an all day pass for the bus. Been waiting for the 55 for a half hour. Four have passed because they were at capacity.”)

This article appears in Jun 22-28, 2016.

Eric Sandy is an award-winning Cleveland-based journalist. For a while, he was the managing editor of Scene. He now contributes jam band features every now and then.

5 replies on “The Rapid Is Nuts Right Now. Consider the Bus”

  2. how long until the ‘we’re afraid of downtown’ suburbanites chime in saying that this completely unique and unprecedented event was ‘handled horribly’ and ‘the RTA is the worst?’

    have fun everyone!

  4. My wife and I endured the RTA Rail Zoo. Two hours each way from the Far West Side. Hyping the use of bus transit might have helped ease the pain.

    For two days, all the local TV nooze outlets and the intertubes (including the PD) stressed ONLY use of rail transit, so the distant suburbanites and out-of-county folks (who only know about the existence of the Rapid trains…and barely at that) flocked to the RTA Park-and-Ride lots. Not surprising buses were lightly patronized. Mentioning a few of the longer bus routes, as alternative modes of transport, might have helped.

    The Rapid can barely accommodate the crowds on a typical St. Patrick’s Day. Who in the hell can seriously expect the system NOT to collapse from the equivalent of FIVE of them, all at once?

    Chuckles the Clown

  5. I was all about the rapid till I had a thousand people running towards me due to shots fired on y way to it. I’d rather swim back home than take th rapid again after today.

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