John Schneider

Average grades don't matter. The ruling grade does. And it's not just the slopes, it's the curves too, and the combination of them that matters. And some of the examples above use much lighter vintage-type equipment. I dunno if it's because of the grade or for safety reasons, but the Portland Red Line's eastbound climb up onto the Steel Bridge ramp is very slow, nothing you'd be willing to put up with for a mile of travel.

The Enquirer used to have a motto: "The Paper with the Power to Get Things Done" Perhaps it's been now changed to: "The Paper with the Power to Get Things Undone"

Look at the display ads and inserts in the Saturday and Sunday print edtions. The Enquirer is selling cars and sprawl, and repopulating our city runs counter to its economic interests. I think it's as simple as that.

^ To me, he seems like a bitter has-been who misses the spotlight.

Umm...John, Details please! How did no one else ask about this post yet? Because John doesn't like to elaborate on such things. :-P Just think it's best not to talk about these things until they're signed, sealed and delivered. By mid-May ...

^ Terrific

Hearing the streetcar may be getting a slug of unexpected money in a couple of weeks.

Best new idea of the year so far.

^ Best thing I've read in a long time. Ought to appear as an Op-Ed somewhere. I could maybe help you get it placed.

From what I hear, it's about the only issue they could hang on Strickland, and so they are riding it for whatever it's worth. Not much, if fuel prices continue rising this summer and other states start moving on their plans.

Someone, I can't remember who, told me Tom Luken has two goals he still wants to achieve in his life: 1. End capital punishment in Ohio. 2. End any chance that rail will ever be built in Cincinnati. The latter probably explains his leadership of the Pro-Issue 9 campaign.

^ I sent this to Dan. He could use the feedback.

^ We're OK. We'll be there when we need to be there.

Do people always mostly their mode of transportation based on what's cheapest? I really doubt they do. I suspect there's not much correlation between income, total spending and what or whether one drives or travels by any other mode -- except maybe for leisure air travel.

^ I'd rather not get into this right now.

Council may vote to approve $64 Million for the Cincinnati Streetcar on Monday Here's the Enquirer story - just out: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100416/NEWS0108/4170350/City+to+spend++64M+on+streetcar?

Two city blocks

^ I think so. Main to Twelfth to Elm, turning east at Henry Street and south on Race for an unknown distance. Not sure how you get to Vine. Streetcar might come off 12th Street and have both directions on Central Parkway for all the wrong reasons. Stops are moving around. The alignment pretty much set at this point.

^ Every path between Ravine and Gilbert. Some, like Ravine, were even less feasible than Vine.

Vine Street, it is. The City has decided on Vine Street as the route to Uptown and will no longer study any of the other seven alternatives for getting there. While no one likes it or will say that it will be trouble-free, Vine Street narrowly fulfills the City Council mandate to "get to Uptown." Other, better alternatives would cost as much as $80 million more, and the City just doesn't have the money. This is what economists and management experts call "satisficing." Decide for yourself if the following describes the process at work here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisficing

Good question! I know we are early in the game, but is Skoda the ONLY one being looked at? Nope. They are looking at several manufacturers. I was with them on one trip when they did so.

All of that. Plus ride comfort and they carry a lot more passengers spread over the cost of the driver. Labor is 70% of the cost of running a typical transit operation.

... and Vine Street is, in my view, too steep for rail. You can build it, and modern streetcars can probably climb it with moderate loads in good weather, but over time, there will be a lot of operational problems with two directions of travel on a steep, winding street. Time will tell.

^ It might be possbible to get a modern streetcar up into Price Hill, I dunno. The streetcars you see pictures of were much lighter, much more nimble. Really a different vehicle. I doubt you could ever get multi-car trains there. Hence, the use of I-74 for LRT.

From time-to-time, I read where MetroMoves didn't have a viable plan of serving the West Side with light rail. That's untrue. It's was a suburban-oriented plan, and a lot of people objected to that, but it would have performed very well. It would have been third in line to be built after I-71 and I-75. It would have used the tunnels and then followed Central Parkway to the edge of Northside and then out in the median of I-74 to Dent. It was by far the fastest of all the five light rail lines in the MetroMoves plan, and the ridership was decent. I can't remember the numbers anymore, but the travel speeds in I-74 were projected to decline a lot over this decade. Be interesting to compare the projections made in 2000 with where we are now. I digress. It would have been a fast train, more along the lines of a rapid metro than Portland-style light rail. I didn't like the idea that it failed to serve the traditional West Side. But there's never been a realistic plan that would get LRT to Price Hill and Westwood. You have density there, but the topography is too tough. It would be great if the Western Line served Camp Washington; might really change the dymamic there. In his heart of hearts, Bill Seitz is a rail supporter.