Eigth and State

"Charging fares helps pay for the thing..." But charging fares also adds complexity. For a subway, fare collection is natural, because there are a limited number of entrances, passengers pay at the station, not on the vehicle, and stations can be configured so that passengers can tranfer without leaving the system. On Queen City Metro, the act of paying fares occupies the driver's time, which increases travel times for everyone. (In the old days, Cincinnati Streetcars had a two man crew: one drove the vehicle and one collected fares.) Now I understand that there is technology available that Queen City Metro doesn't use: fare cards, vending machines on the sidewalk, and so on. Still, all of that stuff adds complexity. It is especially hard to attract new passengers that are intimidated by something unfamiliar. Making it free would simplify things enormously. It is said that no transit agency in the United States actually turns a profit. To justify charging fares, one would have to present a case that charging fares will prove its worth. That is, compare two systems that are exactly the same except one charges fares and one doesn't. The one that doesn't charge will clearly cost less to operate and attract more riders, in theory leading to more property tax revenue. Can you show that charging fares will bring in more revenue to the city than not charging? "You typically pay for parking in urban areas." Good sir, the city lost that battle to the suburbs a long time ago. MOST drivers don't pay for parking in urban areas, because MOST drivers don't even go to urban areas. They live in the suburbs, work in the suburbs, and shop in the suburbs. There is a generation that has never been on a city bus. The city has not been charging them for use of the motorways, and most business owners don't charge for parking, so charging for use of the streetcar will only put the streetcar at a competitive disadvantage with automobiles.

The City of Cincinnati doesn't charge for use of the streets, so why should they charge for the streetcar? The idea of the streetcar was to promote development. If the property owners want more traffic, then they should pay for the streetcar. This is no different than a suburban shopping mall giving away "free" parking in order to attract customers. So, there is nothing stopping the property owners from forming a corporation, raising capital, and operating a streetcar themselves, except that no single property owner can afford to do it, and there is also no way ensure that all of them will work together. This is what governments are for: to provide a mechanism for people to cooperate to acheive a common goal. Adding fares hurts two ways: it drives down ridership by increasing the cost of riding, and it also drives down ridership by increasing travel times. Now a long distance passenger rail, like the proposed 3-C, or a subway / metro system, where speeds are faster and stops are fewer, makes more sense to charge a fare; but a circulator can't really function if fares are going to be a hassle. A Queen City Metro planner told me that his single biggest hassle was how to deal with riders who wanted to stop and then continue in the same direction, particularly at Findlay Market, without paying double. Automobile drivers don't incur extra costs for making more than one stop between two points. All of this supposed property tax increase was supposed to pay for the streetcar anyway. Why should it pay for the capital cost and not the operation cost? "Rotating around Findlay Market, the streetcar will be slower than the bus." Then why build it at all? Rotating around Findlay Market is just dumb. To be successful, the streetcar absolutely has to minimize operation costs. Why add 10 blocks of track including all those problematic turns without adding any more developeable area?

The four main ingredients for steelmaking include iron ore, coal, limestone, and water. Pittsburgh has all four, so naturally it became a steel making center. Yet, all four are available along the Ohio River, and although Cincinnati has neither iron ore nor coal, Cincinnati was an early iron and steel center due to access to these materials. When iron ore of higher quality was discovered in Minnesota, the whole steel picture changed, and the great lakes cities of Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, and Buffalo, along with Youngstown and Pittsburgh became the big steel centers. Coal was transported by railroad and iron ore by ship; these two resources came together at the great lakes ports.

The average farmer in Ohio today farms 3000 acres and owns a million dollars worth of equipment. The family farm is practically gone as a profitable venture, although there are a few family farms and specialty farms left.

Not sure. There's a developer interested in several acres that was formerly part of the Undercliff yard. I have no idea what kind of development is proposed or whether it's related to the 3-C. Neither do I know the exact plans for the 3-C line. But I think that the particular spot could have been a candidate for the Lunken Airport station.

"Galena" is also the name of a mineral from which lead is derived. The reason why those streets are so photogenic is because they are curved. Every street in Over-the-Rhine is straight, so you can't close a view except at T-intersections. The exception is McMicken Street, and perhaps sections of Central Parkway. Every big city in the United States seems to have some old town getaway within an hour or two drive. In Cincinnati's case I think of Metamora, Indiana, a little town that comes alive on summer weekends where you can buy your ice cream and confectionaries as well as take a horse drawn carriage ride.

There's something going on at the former PRR Undercliff Yard in Cincinnati. I doubt that it has to do with the 3-C line, but the site near the intersection of the OASIS line and Beechmont Avenue was a possible station site.

Don't forget that the Minnesota bridge was closed by default because it collapsed. Keeping the old bridge open for traffic while the new bridge is under construction adds substantial cost and schedule for the project. Also, the Minnesota bridge was rebuilt with more or less the same capacity and same traffic patterns. The proposed Brent Spence replacement comes with lots of other work. Finally, the Minnesota bridge designers had a sense of urgency and a big bankroll because of the attention. We just don't have that.

^--- When speaking of said city, I like to call it by it's real name, the "City of the Village of Indian Hill." :-D

The City of Cincinnati is advertising for a manager for the streetcar project. http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityhr/pages/-36335-/

Anyone else pay attention to the bollards? I presume they encircle the entire new Federal Building, and they are meant to deter vehicle bombs.

"I'm no fan of traffic calming...." Speed bumps and speed humps are absurd. On the other hand, automobiles have ruined many public spaces. Driving is only one of the many uses for streets. Designing streets for high speed automobile traffic and excluding all other uses is not proper urban design.

^--- The social and political aspects of the streetcar are just as important as the technical aspects.

Just so you don't get your hopes up, docking the Delta Queen at The Banks is a difficult proposition because of the need to maintain a navigatable channel. Some years ago, the Cincinnati Star caused so many complaints by riverboat pilots that a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to dock any boat or build anything at The Banks is not likely to be granted. The Kentucky side is a possibility, though.

Some notes on Mt. Airy Forest: 1. Claims to be the largest urban park in the United States. Of course, this depends on your definition of an urban park. It's about 500 acres larger than Central Park in New York City. 2. Was formerly agricultural land that was abused. Clay soil and very steep slopes were not suitable for row crops or pasture, yet early farmers did it anyway, causing severe erosion. Signs of farm roads, fences, and even some structures still exist. 3. Home to the Cave Salamander, endangered in Ohio 4. Heavily studied by geologists, because access was easy. 5. Present trails and structures built by the CCC in the New Deal days. Bridges, restrooms, trails, stone steps, etc., are of high quality. The CCC camp became a home for mentally troubled men which is still in operation on Diehl Road - which is one of Cincinnati's dirty secrets. 6. Aerial photos from the 1930's show that most of the land was cleared at that time, with a few solitary trees. Maybe these were the large ones you saw? Most of the land was re-forested by the CCC, and much of it was in pine. Pine forests are not common in Hamilton County. 7. Dams built on West Fork Creek by the CCC are impressive. 8. The big road cut for I-74 split Mt. Airy Forest in two. The road cut is impressive. 9. The owners of Putz's Ice Cream wrote a letter to President Nixon asking him not to destroy their business for construction of I-74. The proposed alignment was shifted slightly to save the ice cream place.

There are a lot of routes that serve the corridor between U.C. and downtown, though they don't all take Vine Street. In theory, replacing portions of some bus routes with the streetcar could actually result in improved service at the same cost, since operating expenses for rail are lower than for an equivalent number of buses. Of course, changing routes at all is going to leave someone unhappy. Cincinnati Metro already suffers from the gentrification issue.

^--- A route along Central Parkway to MLK Drive to U.C. was proposed in 1976; the only difference was that the subway was proposed instead of a surface route. The intersections of Central Parkway and Hopple and Central Parkway and MLK are two of the highest traffic intersections in Hamilton County, and two of the highest accident intersections. Adding rail to those intersections will only make things worse. Indeed, a Ludlow Avenue route would have a lower grade than Vine Street, but look how much farther it is! A different route between Northside and U.C. via Ludlow may be appropriate, but not a route between downtown and Cincinnati via Ludlow. Any of the present bus routes would be faster!

^--- The big money in road construction these days is in big roads, not little driveways. Often, if a batch of concrete fails the quality control test for a highway, bridge, or building, then it goes to someone's driveway instead. In that way, the big jobs are sort of subsidizing the little jobs. Some clever engineer could invent a machine to build two-track driveways, but the market for it just isn't there. Most new residential driveways these days are two lanes wide anyway.

^---- I think it's just method of construction. Wheel tracks can be formed sort of "naturally" by driving on unimproved ground until ruts start to form, and then filling the ruts with gravel. The gravel continues to rut, and more layers are added until a sufficient base gets built up. There are some residential driveways in my area that consist of two concrete tracks.

^---Ok. One of the patterns in Alexander's book is "Green Streets" in which he advocates two McAdamed wheel tracks in a grass strip. A lot of driveways in rural areas are like this. Obviously it only works in certain situations.

"Portland's downtown population appears to be a lot younger than Cincinnati's" I told you Portland is different. In my humble opinion, the percentage of foreign-born residents is the more telling statistic, but a demographic comparison reveals some striking differences. Just wanted to note that. Carry on.

^---- The Ohio Department of Transportation once had a project to study transportation improvements along the I-75 corridor between Cincinnati and Dayton. They named it the "North - South Transportation Initiative." When someone worked out the acronym and pronounced it "nasty," they decided that they needed a better name.

In good urban design, the architecture style (Tudor, Cape Cod, etc) is less important than the overall geometry including street widths, building heights, etc. Christopher Alexander recommends that no building be more than one or two stories taller than any of it's neighbors. This allows for gradual building up of density, without allowing for the skyscraper in the middle of a low-rise urban area.

"As I mentioned earlier, the suburbs will likely be among the last to run out of money for road repair..." I beg to differ, as some of the suburbs in my area are hurting for street funds, and watching the streets gradually deterioate. One can do a life-cycle analysis and determine what level of replacement is necessary to maintain the average condition; the suburb that I am thinking of is has a maintenance program well below the required replacement level, and cannot get a street levy passed. "It's rural areas that are likely to feel the real financial stress of maintaining lane-miles, since they have so many miles for so few users." Try measuring lane-miles per user and you might be surprised. The suburbs have an enormous inventory of lane-miles, and most of it is empty most of the time. Plus, it is the suburbs that have the curbs, gutters, catch basins, manholes, sidewalks, utilities, and all the appurtenances that make maintenance more expensive on a per lane-mile basis. Many rural roads have no curbs and no utilities at all except overhead wires.