Metro will be installing an electronic payment system on its entire fleet throughout 2011 and will complete the $4.5 million upgrade by the end of the year.

 

Details: http://urbn.cc/p23v

Also, those that are interested in the wildly successful Cincinnati Transit Map project can now download the map online and get more details here: http://cincymap.org/.

Ground has been broken on a new west side transit hub located at Glenway Crossing:

 

http://urbn.cc/p254

 

Thanks for the large, colorful, and detailed diagram of the new transit hub!  Hopefully, this protected stopover will entice more and more people to park & ride.  I just hope that the newly implemented #38X Route is a success (it is unusual in that it runs Mon-Fri /AM from Glenway Crossing to the Uptown hospitals & PM the reverse).

^Why is that unusual? It's a job connection express route.

My first impression of the transit hub for Glencrossing was: "It sure would be transformative to build some mixed-use TOD around that hub. This city doesn't even know what TOD can do for it yet, and this would be a perfect spot to test it."

^Do you utilize Metro yourself, Blue Line--at least any routes that intersect this new transit hub?

I do utilize Metro on a semi-regular basis. I'm located in Clifton, so my primary routes take me into the basin or over to the east side.

 

Are you asking whether I use the new route for a job connection? Just wondering about the reason behind your question.

^Actually I'm an old-time resident WHO CAN'T WAIT to return to the Queen City after years of self-imposed exile (once job-related). Back in the 90's I was an AVID Metro patron who heavily relied on it; now I really want such TOD ideas as yours to succeed!  Yet the term "TOD" means nothing to the majority of Cincy residents (both Metro & non-Metro riders) when it should mean a great deal!  At present, Blue Line, your trips in and out of this new hub, and your subsequent thinking will prove very helpful. (BTW, my wife and I are moving from Franklin, OH. to Norwood on Oct 1, 2011--and we are both tremendously excited about "our homecoming"!)

OKI (Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments) is hosting Open Houses for their 2040 Plan.  Some how missed the original annoucement, but the last one to appear in person is TODAY 4-7PM at:

 

Butler County Government Services

315 High St

Hamilton, OH 45011

 

If you cannot go, I encourage you writing/emailing/faxing comments to

ATTN: Regina Brock

Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments

720 Pete Rose Way, Suite 420

Cincinnati, OH 45202

T 513-621-6300

F 513-621-9325

Em: [email protected]

 

If you go or write a note, here are points I encourage you to make:

 

1. Pass a resolution and incorporate high speed rail into planning, Cincinnati-Chicago and Cincinnati-Cleveland.

 

2. Initiate a mini-CREATE project to upgrade Queensgate/Gest St./Union Terminal for more fluid freight traffic and ample space for access to the terminal for passenger train service, includes rebuilding SE Connection, adding 4th Main, etc.  For info on CREATE, see www.createprogram.org

 

3. Commuter Rail between Cincinnati-Dayton/Springfield.  This is population area is approx 70mi long and around 3-3.5million in population.  Similar length and population to Seattle-Tacoma's Sounder, Albuquerque-Santa Fe Rail Runner, and Minneapolis-St. Cloud NorthStar. Could ultimately extend to CVG and DAY.

 

4. Advocate better scheduling and DAILY service for Cardinal.

 

Your comments and feedback to OKI are important.

Metro has released information on their new fare boxes which according to the bus driver on the #17 a few days ago will be installed around Nov. 14th!

 

http://www.go-metro.com/2011fareboxes.html

That's pretty awesome that the new fareboxes will (eventually) allow you to put in a $20 on the bus and get change in the form of a stored-value card. So you do not even have to preload money onto a card before getting on the bus.  I've never seen a transit system that offers this.

Here's a helpful video that explains Metro's new fareboxes. Toward the end of the video, they go into the new fare options that will be available in early 2012:

 

 

This is great news, and provides a modern, flexible fare system that can easily be expanded to include TANK buses, the streetcar, and any future light rail and/or commuter rail system.

Articulated bus at Government Square in downtown Cincinnati:

Congratulations to Urban Ohio's own Brad Thomas (aka thomasbw) on his appointment to SORTA's Board of Trustees!!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

http://www.urbancincy.com/2012/04/new-sorta-board-member-to-focus-on-system-integration-enhanced-bus-service/

Congrats Brad!!!

Nice

That's pretty awesome that the new fareboxes will (eventually) allow you to put in a $20 on the bus and get change in the form of a stored-value card. So you do not even have to preload money onto a card before getting on the bus.  I've never seen a transit system that offers this.

 

I'm told that Metro is still testing the stored-value cards, as some custom programming was required to get this feature working with their internal software systems. Still... when this feature is available, it will make riding Metro significantly more convenient.

Metro, Uptown Consortium planning $6.9M transit project

Business Courier

Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2012, 4:49pm EDT

 

 

Metro and the Uptown Consortium are planning a new $6.9 million transit project to better serve Uptown customers.

 

Representatives of the transit agency, the consortium, downtown-based architecture firm Michael Schuster Associates and local leaders will announce details of the plan on Oct. 23, according to a media advisory issued Wednesday.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2012/10/17/metro-uptown-consortium-planning.html

Good news. SORELY needed improvements!

So...I know it's only a week away, but I'm impatient and dont' want to wait for the announcement.  Do you think they're building all five station areas in this PDF, or do you think they chose one and are moving bus rotes to go through it?  The reason I think they fight be building all five is that the press release said they'll be incorporating 10 routes into the District.  I can't imagine all 10 bus routes in Uptown going through one station.

 

 

http://www.uc.edu/cdc/corryville/renderings/METRO_uptown_2-23-12.pdf

Does anyone know the locations they're looking at for an Uptown transit hub? I'm thinking somewhere in the Avondale/Corryville area. I wish the city would take University Plaza by eminent domain and make Vine a through-street with a streetcar stop and transit hub. That space has great potential for improvement, and for giving a boost to Short Vine/Corryville, but the owners and Kroger seem to be united in opposition to any positive changes.

Check the PDF I posted Yesterday.  I'm thinking they're planning on building multiple mini hubs (which is why they're calling it a Transit District).

Can't say I am thrilled by it. It does seem like they want to do something like what I suggested, but they don't come out and say it specifically.

 

University Plaza is colored yellow, not red (indicating they have some sense that they could use it for off-street facilities), then on the site-specific slide for the Calhoun & Vine site, it says "may include future off-street development opportunity with private developer" in addition to identifying the possibility for a future off-street facility "at McMillan Street." Using a little deduction, it's clear to me they are talking about University Plaza.

 

Does anyone know who owns UP? I know it used to be owned by Marge Schott, but that's sort of impossible now. I'm afraid that space is destined to be dead weight unless the city can exert some force, but that would probably result in a political firestorm that no one wants to touch.

According to the Hamilton County Auditor, University Plaza is owned by Anchor Corporate Developments LLC, and the property is valued by the Auditor at about $4.5 million.

 

 

^ Thanks.

 

Huh, I thought it would be worth more than that. I might just buy it and make my own transit hub.

I know we're getting a little off topic, but have you had a chance to look at the planning docs out from Metro recently? In their short-range goals, they are already looking at restructuring routes to terminate at the neighborhood hubs with 'collector' and/or BRT buses connecting to DT. This has significant cost-reduction opps.

 

I have to dig those up. Doesn't make immediate sense, since the "hub" uptown is so spread out.

The only route I specifically recall from the docs is the #24, which will terminate at UC.

Route 39 and 51 are combining.  Neither will go downtown anymore.

Audio ads on Metro will help you get laid.

I know we're getting a little off topic, but have you had a chance to look at the planning docs out from Metro recently? In their short-range goals, they are already looking at restructuring routes to terminate at the neighborhood hubs with 'collector' and/or BRT buses connecting to DT. This has significant cost-reduction opps.

 

There is a pretty good blog post that goes into details about the new routings courtesy of the guy who brought you the frequent route map: http://cincymap.org/blog/the-new-transit-plan/

I know we're getting a little off topic, but have you had a chance to look at the planning docs out from Metro recently? In their short-range goals, they are already looking at restructuring routes to terminate at the neighborhood hubs with 'collector' and/or BRT buses connecting to DT. This has significant cost-reduction opps.

 

There is a pretty good blog post that goes into details about the new routings courtesy of the guy who brought you the frequent route map: http://cincymap.org/blog/the-new-transit-plan/

 

That is a great summation of the proposed changes. All of which, I'm for. This incremental step toward better/more frequent service is much needed.

Does anyone know why SORTA doesn't offer any 24 hour routes? I realize it costs money to run these routes and I'm not asking they just do it without thinking about it, but it would be useful if they could at least run a single bus up/down the Glenway, Clifton/Hamilton, Vine, Reading, Montgomery, and Madison routes.

 

I also realize it is very hard for Metro to raise funds since Cincinnati income tax accounts for almost all of their non-fare revenue. I would be much more likely to purchase a 30-day pass (after graduating this spring) if they offered this service. Any thoughts on what it would cost?

 

I'm sure they have done cost/benefit analyses to determine if the increase in ridership would justify the cost of adding these routes all night. But I don't think I will purchase a 30-day pass if they don't offer 24-hour routes, and so I will rarely ride the bus since I own a car and I can't get places (like home from Northside) after 12:30. Paying each time I ride somewhere is a huge deterrent, so without a 30-day pass I likely won't ride the bus too much.

 

Which is one reason why I strongly support tolling on bridges. People will be much more likely to ride transit if there is a user fee for roads. But that is a different argument.

 

Thougts?

Can't do it.  They would probably have to pay the drivers double. 

 

I lived in Boston when they started the owl service and it was discontinued after 4 years.  The idea was to have buses follow the subway routes on the weekends.  But people couldn't find the bus stops and people didn't know if there was another bus after they saw one driving away.  So everyone just took cabs.

 

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/07/16/reviving_the_night_owl/

Copying a post here I made on City-Data, with some ideas for how the #1 route could be improved as a tourist route. I think same ideas could be used for the Southbank Shuttle (though I think that should become a looping streetcar at some point). As it is, the route is unusable for a tourist who doesn't do their homework, making it uninviting to use.

 

Here is the post:

A few months ago I was in Mt. Adams for lunch on a Saturday, wanting to take the bus downtown. I naively stood at the bus stop for the "1 for Fun!" bus, until I asked a woman walking by about the headways. She said they were an hour or more on the weekends, which turns out to be true (they are 1 hour). So I hoofed it back downtown, almost being late for where I was going.

 

As I walked, I saw the goddamn bus pass (I didn't know the route exactly, otherwise I would have walked along it and tried to catch the passing bus). With a streetcar, I could have walked along the tracks and had a better chance of catching it. Not to say we need a streetcar in Mt. Adams (an incline would be cool, though), but pointing out an advantage of the system.

 

Anyway, that route is marketed as a useful one for visitors to the city ("#1 for Fun!"), but if I am a weekend visitor and I try to naively use the bus, I'll be in for a world of hassle. Some people might say, well, you should check the schedule! That is a good idea, but it doesn't account for the many ways people use transit. It's not user-friendly, but a bus marketed to tourists should be user-friendly. IMO, at the very minimum, such a route should have maps and schedules peppered along its route. It might also be a case where Winburn's "paint a line in the road" would be a smart idea, especially since the route is so windy and irregular.

 

Actually, the more I think of it, that would be a great idea. Paint a dual green/blue line down the center of the road along this route, using the Metro colors. It would then be easy to follow the line to the next shelter where a map and schedule can be found. Maybe on weekends these stops can be the only ones in use, so headways can be increased just by decreasing the number of stops.

Kasich declares war on Ohio transit?

 

The proposal also will impact county and transit authority sales tax rates. To ensure those taxes do not generate an additional 30-percent revenue increase as the tax base expands, Kasich is proposing to reduce those rates and guarantee a 10-percent growth rate. Locals would not be allowed to change their sales tax rates for three years.

 

The change means counties and transit authorities would get a $120 million increase over two years, instead of the $700 million if rates were left alone.

 

More Here:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/02/12/Income-tax-cut-sales-tax-expansion-debated.html

Metro is funded entirely by city taxes (no county or state), isn't it? So this would only have an effect on future funding possibilities, yeah?

Very true, and interesting to see if that represents an option for other cities to consider if this proposed sales tax change actually does take money from countywide transit agencies.

^ It's not exactly an ideal situation to emulate, since the city is stuck funding suburban service. But I guess with Kasich around, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

WATCHDOG: Warren Co. growth could cost transit system

 

A public bus system in Warren County that helps the elderly get to medical appointments and low-income residents get to work stands to lose about half of its operating budget in 2014.

 

County officials call it a glitch in the federal transportation bill that took affect in July of last year. They are looking at cuts in service and scrambling for a bailout that will help them recoup some of the anticipated $600,000 loss in federal funding from the bus system’s $1.1 million budget.

 

A decent article in the Enquirer about the bus service in Warrent County. More reason for regional cooperation.

“It’s one more example of why I’m so frustrated with government,” said Warren County Commissioner Dave Young. “This is a stupid technicality. If anybody ever drives around Warren County, you would know we are not an urban area. We don’t want to use it for capital (costs) because we don’t need that.”

 

A regional transportation expert said it’s just another example of how federal government regulations hurt people.

 

“We have a system which is broken, and Washington refuses to make any compromises in regulations that would allow people who depend on transit for jobs having better access to that,” said Mark Policinski, executive director of Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments.

 

Wow, this article is full of "get your government hands out of my medicare" quotes. The system is "broken" because their teat is running dry. Because handouts aren't being allocated as they'd like them to be.

 

Providing public transportation in sprawl is very expensive. Paratransit is insanely expensive, compared to fixed-route transit. Why should state and federal taxpayers subsidize their poor land use planning?

To salvage some of the loss, county officials are trying to negotiate a deal with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) – which runs the Metro system and provides an express route from Kings Island in Mason to downtown Cincinnati – to take in its federal grant money. SORTA would recycle the money to offset the cost of running the express route and return some to Warren County to use for operation of the bus system, Mason said.

 

I'm not familiar with the particulars of this specific situation, but is there any chance that SORTA could use this to revamp its funding structure?  It's not as if Metro is well-funded.  Maybe counties served by Metro should kick in some funding via taxes, just like the City of Cincinnati...

Why should state and federal taxpayers subsidize their poor land use planning?

 

Exactly.

To salvage some of the loss, county officials are trying to negotiate a deal with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) – which runs the Metro system and provides an express route from Kings Island in Mason to downtown Cincinnati – to take in its federal grant money. SORTA would recycle the money to offset the cost of running the express route and return some to Warren County to use for operation of the bus system, Mason said.

 

I'm not familiar with the particulars of this specific situation, but is there any chance that SORTA could use this to revamp its funding structure?  It's not as if Metro is well-funded.  Maybe counties served by Metro should kick in some funding via taxes, just like the City of Cincinnati...

 

I would love to see SORTA take over bus service in Warren and Clermont counties, if those counties were willing to cough up the money SORTA would need to run it.

 

I would love to see SORTA take over bus service in Warren and Clermont counties, if those counties were willing to cough up the money SORTA would need to run it.

 

Clermont didn't want to pony up the money for SORTA, thats why Clermont Transportation does the bus routes now. Only Metro route is to Eastgate now. CTC does routes now from Amelia into town.

Metro shows off new bus fleet for Metro*Plus service between Kenwood and The Banks

 

Metro*Plus will connect the Montgomery Road corridor from Kenwood to Xavier University with Uptown, Downtown and The Banks. Metro says it’s perfect for UC and Xavier students, Uptown hospital workers and anyone else who wants to get downtown in less time with fewer stops.

 

Plus, you can ride free during the first week of service Aug. 19-23.

 

The new weekday service will run every 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and every 30 minutes from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m

 

Hopefully this service is successful. I will definitely ride it during the free week to get an idea of the differences first hand.

^-I hope so too - I'd like to see more routes and weekend service. 

 

If its an indication of how it will do, I rode LA's rapid buses a few weeks ago when I was on vacation there, which only stop at major intersections and have signal priority and they were PACKED.  The megabus is another good example, here's a bus that cut out all the extra stops that Greyhound had and was very successful.

Yeah the LA express buses would be a lot more impressive anywhere else...the problem with LA is that the distances are so vast that transit times are still frustratingly slow.  Last year I rode the Wilshire express buss from Western to Santa Monica and it took upwards of an hour, so it only averaged about 15mph. 

^-You should have taken the Big Blue Bus if you were coming from DTLA and on off peak time as it takes the 10 and doesn't stop til your in Santa Monica - it takes about 40 mins barring bad traffic (I took on the 4th of July so that might have made it smoother than normal).  When they finish the expo line, and if I'm there again then, I'd probably just take that to where it crosses the Expo line then take the expo towards the pier.

 

I'll agree with you on that point, but coming from Chicago which is a kind of in between LA and NYC - its simultaneously dense and spread out at the same time - I have a bit different perspective.  In Chicago, when you are going between two areas that aren't connected directly by rail, it can be as bad as what you experienced in LA, except that, you are quite literally stopping every min, and saying, why the f- do they have bus stops that are only a block apart!  At least there it feels like you are making progress and getting somewhere even if the distances are insane.  Could you imagine going from DTLA to Santa Monica on a local bus there, it would be BRUTAL and not worth it even if traffic was backed up everywhere.

Most Greyhound routes run express, or almost express (one or two stops to pick up Amish people at gas stations), between cities.  The big difference is that for a time you could only get Megabus tickets online, meaning the lumpenproletariat wasn't invited to the party.  Now you can buy Greyhound tickets online, but their customer service in the stations is still atrocious and the riders can be even worse.  Ride the intercity buses, including Greyhound, in the Northeast and they never had the problem that Greyhound has in the rest of the country. 

 

LA is just way too big to expect fast transit service to ever develop.  That said, it's too late now, but the Wilshire subway should probably be four tracks.  Riding 15 miles "local" from Santa Monica to DT LA is like riding one of the locals in NYC from The Bronx to Wall St.