John Schneider

Remember: there are passenger counters at every door. They will have reads on how many boardings they have at each stop whenever the streetcar is operating. Should be easy to adjust the schedule based on those data. I'll be shocked if there is every much ridership after Midnight, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

Prepare for a barrage of negative streetcar comments. Portland Streetcar has temporarily shut down this morning due to icing on the wires. This happens there every few years, as the PNW is susceptible to ice storms. OTOH, the entire city government in Portland has shut down, and buses and cars are sliding all over the place. Sometimes during these events, the airport closes too.

Pretty sure that OKI only does these surveys because either ODOT or the Feds require them as a condition of getting funds. Also pretty sure there is no interest in higher-level public transportation at OKI.

Yes, I think the steel is not in great shape for heavy rolling loads.

Pretty sure the engineers determined, during MetroMoves, that the Purple Bridge would need a major overhaul to carry modern rail. OTOH, exclusivity on the Purple Bridge would be terrific. Gets you further east too.

Sure, and that's the most probable scenario - one state, no bridge. Dunno about the ridership.

There was an Interlocal Agreement between SORTA and TANK executed in 2001 which governs joint management of rail assets.

I'd only build a transit bridge if Kentucky were interested in using it to reach its suburbs. KY traffic engineers have always fought the idea of putting rail on the CWB because it acts as a reliever to the BSB when it is closed because of an incident.

A long story.

Sounds about right, except Bill Butler probably won't let it anywhere near Ovation. Probably a new bridge across the Licking.

I think we ought to think in terms of a new rail bridge at the base of Elm. Would require major land acquisition in Covington, but nothing in Cincinnati. Then extend the tracks up to 12th to meet the OTR streetcar. Elm Street bridge east of PBS probably can't carry rail without a rework.

Need to quit talking in terms of ROI. it is not how these things are measured.

Kentucky may be thinking about it. I've been invited to join a panel in mid-January that's sponsored by Newport and Covington. Subject: getting the streetcar to KY.

Roebling can't handle the weight of standard buses, let alone a modern streetcar. That's why they use the funky truck trolleys now. yes Unless we close the Roebling to vehicular traffic. LOL. Good luck wth that. I think a loop on 3rd/2nd in Ohio, CWB Bridge, 4th/5th in KY, and either the Taylor Southgate or Purple People would make a lot of sense.

yes

Just guessing that because this is part of the IHS, they city has to get permission from ODOT and FHWA to change the lane markings on the bridge.

Taxes are transfer payments. They are neither benefits nor costs, so they really have no place in typical Benefit/Cost Analysis. If Cincinnati had done an Economic Impact Study of the Cincinnati Streetcar, taxes would have been measured as impacts along with wages earned on the project and enhanced by the REMI multiplier that was applicable to the type of project. I do recall in the 2007 study of the streetcar, the economists did estimate the increase in tax payments, but they did so by protest of the team, which believed it was in inappropriate as part of the B/C Analysis. A taxes-collected figure was calculated but not included in the estimate of the overall worthiness of the project. To place the 3:1 B/C ratio in context, I remember when we were studying I-71 light rail, which was found to have a B/C ratio of about 2:1. I asked the chief economist to put that in perspective. He thought for a while and said, "Well, I can't ever recall working on a highway project that had such a high (2:1) B/C ratio. But from the studies I've seen, if you were to add a third runway to Heathrow (he was a Brit), then that B/C ratio might be in the range of 2:1 because it would improve air travel all over the U.K., all over Europe and all over the world." In short, B/C ratios of 20:1, 40:1 or 60:1 do not exist in the real world. All these values are reduced to Present Value, so a 3:1 B/C ratio is sort of like we walk to Fifth Third Bank and open a savings account with an initial deposit of $1.00. Then we walk around the block and return to the bank and learn our $1.00 deposit is now valued at $3.00. Who wouldn't make such an investment?

I'm skeptical of claims that the streetcar has boosted city revenue significantly already. I know it will, and already has started to but I would like to see a quantifiable number. Gross property taxes are static, so we could invest trillions in increased property values and wouldn't see a nickel of additional revenue to the city. Pretty much the only significant source of revenue the city could see from the streetcar is income taxes from those who live along the line or those who work along the line and live outside of the city. And both of these would have to be people who otherwise wouldn't have lived in the city or had a job in the city. I haven't seen any figures for this. I know it's hard to quantify, but I don't think the streetcar has provided enormous revenue for the city yet. GE's new office will count toward it, but the streetcar obviously wasn't the only factor in their decision, so I don't know if you can claim those income taxes next year wouldn't have existed without the streetcar. But then how do you account for the streetcar being a factor in a decision and not the main factor? IDK. This is all wishy washy maths. City of Cincinnati 2015 income tax receipts for zip code 45202 are up $11,827,383.82 compared to 2011. I'd put that out there

I would love to check out the study and see what their assumptions were based on. Do you by chance have a link? I'm not surprised that this is the number. Ryan, here's the study: http://www.portlandstreetcar.org/pdf/DevelopmentStudy.pdf Something to keep in mind. Portland thinks its streetcar is responsible for 35-41% of the development along the line. I think it would be a higher percentage in Cincinnati. That's because Portland has so many things going for it, starting with its natural location, a well-developed regional transit system that crosses the streetcar loop in several places, and high supportl for public transportation, and so on. Along the streetcar route the influences are mainly 3CDC and the streetcar-- they're things that have moved the needle along the streetcar line. But from here forward, I think the streetcar will be more influential in downtown development, especially if we extend the tracks north on Walnut and Main. And here's a chart that illustrates some of the data: http://www.portlandstreetcar.org/pdf/2015DevelopmentReport.pdf Note how the Portland Streetcar developed in phases around the Willamette River. I look at this map and see -- conceptually -- streetcars linking Cincinnati with Covington and Newport together with the extension to Uptown.

Portland has completed an extensive study which concludes that its streetcars is responsible for 35% of commercial development and 41% of the residential development along its streetcar line.

Travis is right

^ One thing: [correct] with counters at every door, they can get boardings and de-boardings stop-by-stop during the entirety of a run. I imagine they might have the ability to watch this in real-time, following the streetcar along its path and watching passengers get on and off.

^ I know that when I've been on the Portland streetcars they are pretty busy throughout the afternoons.

6 No, just the opposite. I'm optimistic that Cincinnatians like what they are seeing, and elected officials who make it difficult to offer service in the best way possible, with the best frequencies, will have a tougher time making the case that no General Fund money should go toward the streetcar.

Now, after seeing it running on the streets of the CBD and OTR, we'll find out how much Cincinnatians value the streetcar.