Gordon Bombay

^Nevertheless, the Enquirer could adapt. It just does so at a glacier's pace and comes off disengenuine when It does.

^His post was really good until he started with the Pittsburgh bashing, in that moment he's no better than the old time Cincinnati good ole boys he claims to dislike. If anything, Cincinnati has a lot to learn from Pittsburgh. Sports aside, Pittsburgh is very comparable. I hate how people can't separate that. I'll hate on the Steelers, Buccos, and Pens all day, but city vs. city - Pittsburgh has a lot of examples of "How Cincinnati would be if it was done right." Not to mention, Pitt has a massive amount of civic pride that you don't find here.

I've never heard it called that before, but I love it! Thanks, Chris! Granted, I'm looking through it with rose colored glasses as a visitor, but just how bad have the cuts been? For what I needed on one particular day service didn't seem too bad, but it was also a weekend and I just kind of went with what was available and conformed to that. METRO/TANK combined would be awesome, but TANK has cut down a lot here in Cincy/NKY. I used to ride the #11 from Fort Thomas to NKU and Cincy all the time, but now that bus only runs till like 7 and not on weekends. True funding for the respective agencies would be a great help. As a regular Metro rider, the app has worked well for me. I didn't have any issues with the CLE version, but like Metro they just inspect visually and not with the QR code. Thanks for checking them out. I liked how all the RTA park and ride locations further out were all pretty visible and had some uniqueness to them. I love that RTA logo and seeing it on that jacket was awesome. Felt like I was in the 90's for a minute. Is that the Ohio City station? On our first day we hopped off of there with a few Indians fans, but it was pretty early in the day. Even with a sparsely populated station, those stairs were rough and the elevator was out. They had an announcement about it, but it was hard to hear. Speaking of which, that is my only complaint about the RTA experience - you can hardly understand what the operators are saying when they call out the stations on the PA. Thank you for the references. I'll check them out, it'll be good reading on today's bus ride home.

I think with the streetcar connecting directly above, it'd be a great thing to do. Much better waiting areas and would really free up some congestion.

I haven't made a photo post on UO in a long, long time, but I figured these might be enjoyed here. I have a larger update about Cleveland in general coming to my website eventually, but I had some transit specific photos I wanted to share here on UO. This wasn't my first time to Cleveland. I’d been to the Jake as a kid, a few concerts as a teenager, and went up on my own in 2009 to photograph the closed streetcar subway beneath the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge. On that trip I briefly rode the Red Line, but hadn't seen much. This time my girlfriend and I went up to visit her sister and her sister’s fiancé. On our first day we hopped the Red Line from a park and ride to Ohio City before walking into downtown and seeing some sights while the Indians/Blue Jays game got going. - Waiting for the Red Line on day 1 - Downtown CLE as seen from the Red Line That was fun, but I wanted to explore the transit system a bit more so the next day I woke up early, about 6:00 am to get started. The folks we stayed with live in Lakewood. I walked from their house to the Triskett station of the Red Line, about a mile walk. Google routed me down a busy road with no sidewalk and that cause a delay, but soon enough I made it to the Triskett station, boarding the next train after I missed the one I planned on: - Heading towards downtown/Tower City. - Crossing the bridge towards Tower City. - Arriving in a quiet Tower City subway station. - Tower City interior. I had purchased an all day pass using the CLE RTA app. It's the same app Cincinnati uses for its Metro/Streetcar system known as Cincy EZRide. Very easy to use. I rode from Triskett to Tower City, where I transferred to the Blue/Green Line. There's some sort of work going on and I got misdirected to the proper waiting area so I missed my intended train, just hanging out till the next one came. The operator on the Blue/Green was named Reggie, a super friendly employee who struck up a conversation about my camera. We talked about our respective cities, their transit systems, etc. A few other passengers joined in, many who were commuting home from shifts at the JACK Casino in Tower City. Getting to talk with people was a nice break from an otherwise quiet morning. I said goodbye to Reggie, opting to depart at Shaker Square. I walked around for an bit, saw many people walking dogs and enjoying breakfast. I grabbed a cup of coffee at Michael’s Diner within the Shaker Square station. I loved that it was open 24 hours and wasn't anywhere close to being a tourist trap. For years I'd been seeing people post about it on here and finally I had the chance to go in. Decent coffee, several regulars enjoying breakfast and talking to their servers. Love how close the trains are to the windows. - Rapid departing Shaker Square. Hopped back on and had Reggie as my driver again. We talked more before I jumped off at the 55th street station. I snapped some photos of the RTA rail yard before transferring onto the next red line train. - Reggie - 55th Street station and RTA rail yard. - Crossing back over the river and past the Veteran's Memorial Bridge. I once had the chance to photograph the closed subway/track beneath the bridge that once served Cleveland's streetcars. If I had more time before everyone else wanted to do some stuff for the day, I wanted to try and visit the Health Line as well as a standard bus, but I had to head back. Rode back through Tower City and out to Triskett. Walking through some beautiful neighborhoods, people were just starting to wake up as I crossed the Cleveland/Lakewood border. I made the 1 mile walk back and ended the day. - Back at the Triskett Station - Triskett Station from above. - Cleveland neighborhood near the Lakewood border. All in all, I love the RTA system in Cleveland and riding it gave me a nice perspective on the city. I have some more observations about the city in general that I'll share in a longer essay in my website, but all in all: I really grew from just appreciating Cleveland to loving it. If I ever ended up there, it'd have to be in a place near the RTA system.

If only we used the Transit Center for you know, transit.

Oh yes, I know. I was referring to the Courier article that ColDayMan linked to. It shows a photo of the TriHealth building in Kenwood off of I-71 with a caption that reads: "The medical center planned for Butler County's Liberty Township will likely be the same…". When you click more to see the full caption it presses you for a subscription which I don't have on this computer. I believe it was edited to, because earlier I think it said "identical." I was wondering if they planned to build the same exact building. Sorry for the confusion. I think it may have been edited

^ I can't get the full photo caption to load, but is that a photo of the one off of I-71 and is that saying it's going to be the same building?

The chartered Streetcar needs to go. This system is a serious transportation mode and should be treated as such. Proper headways, reliable service. This isn't some party bus with stripper poles that you rent to take to Mainstrasse.

The skywalk exists because it was part of the "urban renewal" fantasy to suburbanize our cities. It's anti-urban. It's not needed anymore. Tear it down. Thanks for sharing the article! It's amazing how candid that project manager was and interesting that so many similar attitudes seem to abound in this city today. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if some random donors or benefactors pledge money to help keep it.

@TheSoccerDon aka Don Garber. Cranely's taking him on a "driving tour." Having talked with several FCC supporters, I hope Cranely understands that any applause he encounters along the way is for Don Garber/MLS and not for him.

That makes entirely too much sense. I would think you could easily line up two at the 2nd street station, with a third waiting on the Walnut transit only lane above FWW.

This is a great idea. Heading to a bar to watch some soccer tonight and with OTR packed on weekend (with MidPoint Music going on as well), parking up there will be spotty. I'm planning on easily parking in that 2nd St. Garage and just riding the streetcar up. No hassle, perfectly easy.

Question regarding the tunnel/underground station idea: If something like this were to be built, would it have to be part of a much larger line up to say Xavier/71 extending into Hamilton County (thus most likely requiring County support) or could you start by building 1 or 2 stations in the uptown area and at the Northern end of the line have a turnaround/switch track to move the streetcars over to the opposite side for the return trip? I.E. You'd have uptown service and a way to return while laying the groundwork for future lines, but not while having to try and pull the County in for funds.

The streetcar most definitely helps fight that perception, but I think just having The Banks/Smale active in general helps too. 2nd Street used to be a dead zone before the streetcar, Banks, and Smale. Aside from Reds games or Bengals games, the only pedestrian activity seemed to be monthly parkers heading to the garage. All the landscaping and infrastructure was starting to look a bit grimy too. I think the biggest hurdle to the caps is who would fund them? City? County? Joint effort amongst Federal grants? Didn't the County apply for grants from the Americana Recovery and Reinvestment Act only to be denied?

Was talking to a coworker about this and I tend to agree, but if you use Smale - couldn't you see it getting trashed? If there's rain, the grass becomes mud. Even without the rain, Oktoberfest's clientele don't exactly leave the area very pristine in the morning.

Sunday afternoon at 2 PM - cars are so packed that you can barely find a spot to stand. People seem to be very positive and I'm hearing a lot of chatter on rides about where it'll go next.

Anyone see this yet... "​EXCLUSIVE: On streetcar’s first day, Flynn floats a way to get to Uptown" "It would use a dedicated lane on streets leading to Uptown and temporarily use a rubber-tire trolley. The route eventually would be converted to rail if and when the city gathers enough funding and technological challenges are overcome, Flynn said." From: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/09/09/exclusive-on-streetcar-s-first-day-flynn-floats-a.html?ana=fbk No, thanks. Build it right from the start, no more of these "compromises." Whatever happened to that rubber tired trolley nonsense system that mysteriously showed up when Cranley announced he was running, the quietly disappeared when the streetcar prevailed?

^Saw it this morning on Walnut. The Rhinegeist ad looks really, really good.

Idk what it is about streetcar projects that attracts all the need for station sponsoring. But, like Travis said, I'm happy that it's going to be in great financial position. Just don't want it to feel gimmicky. I think it all goes back to that for some reason, people feel the need for justifying public transit as a money maker rather than a public service. How many times has someone questioned the cost and revnue while never giving a new freeway expansion a second thought? Like the 3C for example, people clamored that it "would never make any money," but you never hear a peep about the current I-75 construction. To note though, State Farm does sponsor highway raodside assistance and has their corporate logo on standard government highways signs in Ohio.

That'd be clever if they did, but Cincinnati Bell hasn't offered cell phone service since 2014 and even then I don't think they had their own chime all Verizon/AT&T

Metro's offering a free circulator to complement Streetcar service on opening weekend: Sorta to Offer Metro Bus Circulator For Streetcar Grand Opening Weekend CINCINNATI – The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority will operate free Metro bus circulator service during the grand opening weekend for the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar, Sept. 9-11. The Metro circulator will be free to the public and will stop at specially marked bus stops near streetcar stations to handle overflow from the streetcar service. Large crowds are expected downtown for the weekend, and the bus circulator will allow SORTA to showcase how Metro and the streetcar work as transit partners: Full press release: http://www.go-metro.com/news/717/58/Sorta-to-Offer-Metro-Bus-Circulator-For-Streetcar-Grand-Opening-Weekend

Cincinnati Bell in particular has made a very strong effort to rebrand itself and change up its image since dropping cell phone service in 2014. This is definitely a very good move on their part to keep up on getting noticed.

Now arriving at Fountain Fioptics Square. Next stop is 6th and Main Affordable Home Phone Service corner.

Anyone still concerned about frequency? I know ideally everyone seemed to want 10 minute head ways, but I've been all around downtown since 8 this morning and I keep seeing cars come by constantly and pretty frequently. Not scientific study by any means, but it seems pretty frequent.