Cleveland Trust Tower Part 543 - Trainstation

I know I have made quite a bit of noise about how much I believe in public transportation, especially the pattern and predictability afforded to a public by rail transit.

Which this little gem floating in the back of my noggin, combined with my need to play with the Breuer Tower's panels, I decided to try to create a RTA station out of collection of Cleveland Tower Trust Panels.

I am a strong believer that for a city to make the proper impression, the way that the general population, and also the tourists and visitors percieve a city, is mostly through the way that one can experience the city on its "ground level" and by that I mean the main conduits that one would use to reach different portions of the city.

With that in mind I have a set of criteria that important public transit nodes should fit. These are not "rules" but flexible guidelines. Most astute readers will notice that very successful transit systems have stations that do not prescribe to these guidelines, but here they are anyway.

1. - Make a statement. If tax dollars are being pumped into a major renovation/rebuild, please utilize it to showcase the transit system. I don't want to point fingers but there are some very unsophisticated light rail stations that are going up in Cleveland. They don't react well with the surrounding area, they don't interact with the context, they do nothing to mark the location as a rail-centric area and they sure as heck don't act as an active gateway to the city. That leads into point #2.

2. - Promote the city- I want imagery, I want kiosks with information, I want clean and safe and I want well thought out, clever design and systems. I want to live in a city that pays attention to nuance and detail.

3. - Convey when things are going on- I have noticed an increase in text screens that mention when trains and buses may arrive, some, such as in Tower City and Triskett even have a news ticker. Great. How about some real time? Tell me where a train is, tell me city sponsored events are going on, give me news and weather and sports, let me enjoy the 7 to 15 minutes I spend waiting for a train. Inform me of what is going on and when things are getting to the station that I am freezing my but on. Every station. I would love to see a map of the transit system with little icons of what train and bus is where in "real time". Awesome, that would be awesome.

I could add more. About bikes and cleanliness and urine-resistant flooring, but I won't. This isn't meant to be a lecture about subtle ways to improve peoples perceptions of our wonderful city, this was just me making some "purty" things and putting them online.