18 minutes ago, LAW 21 said:

What happened to Ohio River Trail West?  Seems like I first heard about it 10 years ago and now it looks like it's not even in the plans for the next 10 years beyond what is already completed.  Or is it considered already in planning so it's not on the map? 

 

I randomly rode the little 1/4 mile segment in Lower Price Hill last weekend.  I forgot it was even there. 

Hard to complain about any progress on this subject here, but this isn't very progressive leadership. After 8 years of Cranley, I was really hoping for more from Aftab and this Council. Again, not complaining but really had higher hopes. Progress is slow.

On 5/25/2023 at 4:31 PM, LAW 21 said:

What happened to Ohio River Trail West?  Seems like I first heard about it 10 years ago and now it looks like it's not even in the plans for the next 10 years beyond what is already completed.  Or is it considered already in planning so it's not on the map? 

It's probably a land acquisition issue. the city, or any other stakeholder, doesn't own the land, and the owner doesn't want to sell, there isn't many options.

NKY proposed bike plan by TST is uploaded

 

The Marimont Connector has a dedicated spot on the Village's website. They are having a public meeting on Thursday June 29th from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Mariemont Elementary School to look over 3 design alternatives for the section from Pochahontas to Miami. The options are listed on the website in a large PDF: https://mariemont.org/lifestyle/living-here/mariemont-connector/
 

More should be coming along later this year along Wasson Way, as well in Bond Hill, Avondale, Evanston, and Roselawn.

They need to add some stations in the West End, Northside, and Camp Washington.

The single station in Northside makes it very unhelpful. Adding a station at the Library and near St. Boniface on the western side would make the system more useful.

 

There are huge gaps in the West End. Adding stations at TQL Stadium, York and Baymiller, Linn and Libery, and Union Terminal would fill out the neighborhood pretty good.

 

Camp Washington could use three stations or so spaced out along Colerain. Maybe at Valley Park near Mom 'n 'em and the Sign Museum, Hopple, and Marshall. Maybe Spring Grove at Township would work as well.

 

I just sucks having large gaps in the system.

On 7/6/2023 at 11:48 AM, ryanlammi said:

They need to add some stations in the West End, Northside, and Camp Washington.

The single station in Northside makes it very unhelpful. Adding a station at the Library and near St. Boniface on the western side would make the system more useful.

 

There are huge gaps in the West End. Adding stations at TQL Stadium, York and Baymiller, Linn and Libery, and Union Terminal would fill out the neighborhood pretty good.

 

Camp Washington could use three stations or so spaced out along Colerain. Maybe at Valley Park near Mom 'n 'em and the Sign Museum, Hopple, and Marshall. Maybe Spring Grove at Township would work as well.

 

I just sucks having large gaps in the system.

Yup, they are still too reliant on sponsorships to expand the network. If a large property owner doesn't want to sponsor one, it probably won't happen.

 

Hopefully the OKI grant award can continue moving forward in future years. I know for this round, the grant allowed them to expand what they were already planning with funds they got from the city. I also know that they are trying to approach developers who are building apartments to help expand the network. If we're lucky, there will be a domino effect where a couple of developers sponsor stations in front of their apartments and it will catch on with others.

 

On 7/6/2023 at 8:48 AM, ryanlammi said:

They need to add some stations in the West End, Northside, and Camp Washington.

...

 

I just sucks having large gaps in the system.

 

There are very few stations in Mt. Auburn as well.

On 7/6/2023 at 11:48 AM, ryanlammi said:

They need to add some stations in the West End, Northside, and Camp Washington.

The single station in Northside makes it very unhelpful. Adding a station at the Library and near St. Boniface on the western side would make the system more useful.

 

There are huge gaps in the West End. Adding stations at TQL Stadium, York and Baymiller, Linn and Libery, and Union Terminal would fill out the neighborhood pretty good.

 

Camp Washington could use three stations or so spaced out along Colerain. Maybe at Valley Park near Mom 'n 'em and the Sign Museum, Hopple, and Marshall. Maybe Spring Grove at Township would work as well.

 

I just sucks having large gaps in the system.

I had a conversation with Doug, their ED, recently. They are certainly aware of the gap and had been able to talk to the developer building the student apartments on Central at Marshall. The developer did not want to spend the money to sponsor a station but it's possible Red Bike got to them too late in the process. It also sounds like they are talking with the right people about the Central Parkway redesign so that they could get some more coverage along that corridor. It's cheaper the earlier in the process they ask, as it's much easier to just add in the concrete pad and electric during the design phase. To that end, it would be great if the city would throw them a bone and politely ask developers to contact Red Bike during the permit stage. PLK is installing a pad for them in front of the Ila so hopefully there's some kind of domino effect as more developers pitch in.

 

In other news, they are planning to convert the fleet to all ebikes by 2025. In bad news, UC Health has backed out of their presenting sponsorship so all those labels are being covered over with stickers.

Edited July 28, 20231 yr by Dev

Yesterday on WVXU, the red bike director said that 81% of all trips are being done with electric bikes.  So...this wasn't conceivable at the beginning of the bike share movement, but really we ought to stop calling them bicycles, because they're not.  They're basically electric mopeds. 

 

The guest was like..."regular bikes and electric bikes are basically the same...we don't judge".  No, they aren't the same thing at all.  One is cheap, relatively safe, environmentally friendly, and pedaling around = mild exercise.  The other is expensive, relatively dangerous, requires a fleet of vans to drive around and replenish its batteries, and is basically zero exercise.  

 

I was at a bike shop earlier this week and glanced at the e-bikes in the $1,500 range - I could tell without a closer look that they're cheaply made.  There is no comparison between what you get spending $1,500 on a real bike versus an e-bike.   

These don't have a throttle. They are vastly different from a moped. You typically max out around 15-20mph with the e-assist unless you're really trying to go fast.

 

I don't know this for sure, but I believe the e-assist mainly helps you get up to speed faster, it doesn't make you go at a faster top speed. And if you don't pedal you don't move.

 

How are these dangerous? Have you ever ridden one? 

2 hours ago, ryanlammi said:

These don't have a throttle. They are vastly different from a moped. You typically max out around 15-20mph with the e-assist unless you're really trying to go fast.

 

I don't know this for sure, but I believe the e-assist mainly helps you get up to speed faster, it doesn't make you go at a faster top speed. And if you don't pedal you don't move.

 

How are these dangerous? Have you ever ridden one? 

 

This is correct. They are not self-propelled. Battery only engages when you peddle and even then its not like you take off like a rocket while peddling slowly. 

 

Only time I've gone over 20mph on a RedBike E-bike was going down one of the big hills.

 

3 hours ago, Lazarus said:

...really we ought to stop calling them bicycles, because they're not.  They're basically electric mopeds. 

 

The guest was like..."regular bikes and electric bikes are basically the same...we don't judge".  No, they aren't the same thing at all.  One is cheap, relatively safe, environmentally friendly, and pedaling around = mild exercise.  The other is expensive, relatively dangerous, requires a fleet of vans to drive around and replenish its batteries, and is basically zero exercise.  

 

I was at a bike shop earlier this week and glanced at the e-bikes in the $1,500 range - I could tell without a closer look that they're cheaply made.  There is no comparison between what you get spending $1,500 on a real bike versus an e-bike.   

This is wrong on pretty much every count, except for maybe the price and the plethora of cheaply made bikes (battery being the larger concern moving forward). There are class-3 ebikes, which are more like dirt bikes or mopeds (throttle-based, not pedal assist like class 1 or 2), but as the guest on the same show discussed, those are not allowed on bike paths.

 

Red Bikes are nowhere near that category and as @ryanlammi said,pedal assist typically stops at either 30km or 20mph depending on the manufacturer. RedBikes, specifically, are so heavy that even with the pedal assist, you can't go all that fast. It does, however, make going up hills like Gilbert or into uptown much more feasible without sweating for the average person and could definitely limit car trips within the RedBike radius. It's not as environmentally friendly as traditional biking, but much moreso than driving, and exercise is the same comparison. 

 

As for the "relatively dangerous" comment, I feel absolutely safer on an e-bike riding in mixed traffic. The pedal assist helps you acclimate to the speed of traffic from a red light or slowdown much faster. My ~10 mile commute is possible on a bike, but it's reasonable with the pedal assist to the point that I do it multiple times a week. The biggest issue right now with ebikes continues to be that there is still no dedicated infrastructure in much of downtown and, similar to scooters, folks ride on sidewalks as a result of feeling most comfortable away from the real danger, cars. 

 

This exact commentary is why I was thrilled to hear dedicated bike advocates say that we don't judge between the two. 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Lazarus said:

Yesterday on WVXU, the red bike director said that 81% of all trips are being done with electric bikes.  So...this wasn't conceivable at the beginning of the bike share movement, but really we ought to stop calling them bicycles, because they're not.  They're basically electric mopeds. 

 

The guest was like..."regular bikes and electric bikes are basically the same...we don't judge".  No, they aren't the same thing at all.  One is cheap, relatively safe, environmentally friendly, and pedaling around = mild exercise.  The other is expensive, relatively dangerous, requires a fleet of vans to drive around and replenish its batteries, and is basically zero exercise.  

 

I was at a bike shop earlier this week and glanced at the e-bikes in the $1,500 range - I could tell without a closer look that they're cheaply made.  There is no comparison between what you get spending $1,500 on a real bike versus an e-bike.   

 

This ebike bashing sounds a lot like when Jake criticized the Clifton bike lanes that the Devou Foundation funded, saying the lanes weren't needed and it was up to the rider to "build up bike handling skills".  

 

Quote

It's up to you to get an appropriate and properly-fitted bike, it's up to you to wear real shoes instead of flip-flops while biking, it's up to you to build up bike handling skills. 

 

 

8 hours ago, jwulsin said:

 

 

 

 

This ebike bashing sounds a lot like when Jake criticized the Clifton bike lanes that the Devou Foundation funded, saying the lanes weren't needed and it was up to the rider to "build up bike handling skills".  

 

 

 

 

 

You don't get better at rock climbing by taking an escalator to the top of the rock face, or by listening to podcasts and aligning your online comments with whatever the "authoritative" person said. 

 

I probably bicycled more miles last month than most bike advocates have ridden in their entire life.  Yet twitter people blindly align themselves with the talkers instead of those with a robust working knowledge of the subject. 

 

Clothing and especially shoes/pedals are critical to bicycle safety.  So is...not wearing Apple ear buds. 

 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, ryanlammi said:

How are these dangerous? Have you ever ridden one? 

 

 

Injuries from e-bikes are much more severe than injuries from traditional bikes.  There has been a ton of reporting on this subject but people here don't want to hear it.   

 

The bikeshare e-bikes also suffer from the central problem that haunts traditional bikeshare - the terrible one-size-fits-all bikes. 

 

Safe and comfortable bicycling is hugely dependent on riding a correctly fitted bike.  If you're on the wrong-size bike and wearing bad shoes you're going to be sloshing around on the thing.  An improperly-sized bike's weight isn't centered where you need it to be for your dimensions. 

 

Would we tell rock climbers to not adjust their harnesses?  Does the roller rink rent you your shoe size or just throw a random pair of skates at you? 

 

 

 

 

Rock climbing is a hobby, RedBikes are for transportation. There’s no comparison to be made here. 
 

Electrification is absolutely the right idea for RedBike, we live in a city of hills and electric-assist helps make it a more viable form or transportation in our city.

7 hours ago, Lazarus said:

Injuries from e-bikes are much more severe than injuries from traditional bikes.  There has been a ton of reporting on this subject but people here don't want to hear it.   

 

How are injuries more severe? What causes this?

3 hours ago, 10albersa said:

Rock climbing is a hobby, RedBikes are for transportation. There’s no comparison to be made here. 
 

 

That's quite a dodge.

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, ryanlammi said:

 

How are injuries more severe? What causes this?

 

Physics.

 

https://fortune.com/2023/06/01/e-bike-injuries-trauma-experts-warn-numbers-health-carolyn-barber/

24 minutes ago, Lazarus said:

 

That's quite a dodge.

 

 

 

 

I just don't understand the big deal here.

 

As someone who also bikes for recreation, I'd probably never own an electric assist bike.  I also realize that Red Bike isn't for recreation. It's to help close the non-automobile transportation gap. To more effectively achieve that goal, electric-assist is absolutely a more palatable option than sweating your buns off trying to get anywhere on those things. 

 

Are there more safety issues than a traditional bike? Sure. But it's safer than e-scooters, which is Red Bike's closest comparison, not recreational biking.

Edited August 4, 20231 yr by 10albersa

48 minutes ago, Lazarus said:

 

Physics.

 

https://fortune.com/2023/06/01/e-bike-injuries-trauma-experts-warn-numbers-health-carolyn-barber/

 

The NTSB study in the link does not break down the data between Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 e-bikes. It also has no data for the increased use of these bikes.

 

Obviously you are more are risk of injury if you're going 30mph instead of 15mph. But on the Red Bikes you aren't reaching speeds over 20mph. The Red Bikes are Class 1 e-bikes. These are essentially standard bikes that are easier to get up to speed than the traditional, but don't increase top speed. The biggest issue with Red Bike (if I had to guess) is that more bicycle commuters wear helmets than bike share users. Bike share users are also less experienced, which could lead to more accidents.

 

The Dutch study mentioned has the following info for risk of serious injury:



Interestingly, the cherry-picked data in the Fortune article calls out this number, but doesn't mention that while the e-bike rate is going up, the overall rate is going down. So it appears that more novice riders might be using electric bikes. But again, the Dutch study doesn't break down e-bikes with throttles vs. those that are only e-assist.

 

"Overall, the report concludes that the main culprit in all bicycle (regular and electric) injuries was the rider’s own behavior (44 percent) — a steering error, for example — while 32 percent was road conditions. And the majority of these accidents affected only the rider. Two-thirds of the 110,000 traffic victims treated in Dutch hospitals last year were cyclists, VeiligheidNL says. The survey was conducted with hospitalized riders between July 2020 and June 2021.

 

Bicycle sales exploded globally during the pandemic, bringing new riders onto roadways for the first time, many on new electric bikes. In the Netherlands, a country with more bikes than people, electric bikes accounted for 52 percent of all bicycles sold in 2021, up from 29 percent in 2016, and just 15 percent in 2011, according to data compiled by the RAI Association. More e-bike riders at least partially explains the uptick in e-bike injuries."

On 8/4/2023 at 11:59 AM, ryanlammi said:

"Overall, the report concludes that the main culprit in all bicycle (regular and electric) injuries was the rider’s own behavior (44 percent) — a steering error, for example — while 32 percent was road conditions. And the majority of these accidents affected only the rider. Two-thirds of the 110,000 traffic victims treated in Dutch hospitals last year were cyclists, VeiligheidNL says. The survey was conducted with hospitalized riders between July 2020 and June 2021.

IIRC the biggest culprit here was that e-bikes allows seniors to bike further and more often than the would otherwise. That's true of all users of e-bikes but seniors don't have quite the balance of other riders which is easy to fix if they just switch to an e-trike.

Spun Bicycles did their annual hill ride on Sunday, Sept 17.  This year they did a few of the the big west side hills.  Look at this route:

 

Some stragglers making their way up Gest St.:

 

The big hills were:

1. Faraday

2. Knox St.

3. Lehman

4. Grand

5. Maryland

 

There were also several of the lower but very sharply sloped hills like Beekman and Gest St. 

 

 

A 1.5~ mile extension of an existing bike trail in Butler County opened earlier this year...I walked it earlier this week:

 

 

Here is the former terminus...the trail used to dead-end here at the Rt. 4 bypass...you can see how the pavement changes:

 

I don't know if they plan to pave this section or not, which would create a paved loop around the canal ice ponds:

 

 

One of the canal ice ponds:

 

 

 

Surviving remnant of the canal:

 

 

 

The tracks are very active, but trains only travel southbound:

 

 

This trail is really underrated in my opinion, since the wetlands in the various canal ponds attract all sorts of birds, insects, and plants that you really don't see anywhere else in this area.  Plus there is the train activity, farming activity, and numerous unpaved side trails that you can ride if you're on a mountain bike. 

 

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Lazarus said:

A 1.5~ mile extension of an existing bike trail in Butler County opened earlier this year...I walked it earlier this week:

 

 

Here is the former terminus...the trail used to dead-end here at the Rt. 4 bypass...you can see how the pavement changes:

 

I don't know if they plan to pave this section or not, which would create a paved loop around the canal ice ponds:

 

 

One of the canal ice ponds:

 

 

 

Surviving remnant of the canal:

 

 

 

The tracks are very active, but trains only travel southbound:

 

 

This trail is really underrated in my opinion, since the wetlands in the various canal ponds attract all sorts of birds, insects, and plants that you really don't see anywhere else in this area.  Plus there is the train activity, farming activity, and numerous unpaved side trails that you can ride if you're on a mountain bike. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing! Will check it out. Out of curiosity, what is a “canal ice pond”? I tried googling and couldn’t come up with anything. 

1 hour ago, jwulsin said:

Thanks for sharing! Will check it out. Out of curiosity, what is a “canal ice pond”? I tried googling and couldn’t come up with anything. 

 

They dug very shallow lakes alongside the canal back in the early 1800s where ice was harvested in the winter and shipped south to Cincinnati for food and alcohol refrigeration.  These lakes are still there and act like swamps: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3527501,-84.5086002,1012m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

 

 

These trails are in the Gilmore Ponds Metro Park just south of Hamilton.   They are part of the Miami 2 Miami trail plan to link the Little Miami Bike Trail in Mason with the Great Miami River trail in Hamilton.   The plan was completed about 5 years ago.   I am looking forward to using the trails.   Gilmore ponds is an interesting and scenic park that does not get as much use as you would think.   I believe the the trails will bring more park patrons.  The old canal bed does not get as much attention in SW Ohio as it does further north. 

On 9/22/2023 at 10:33 PM, GHOST TRACKS said:

Gilmore ponds is an interesting and scenic park that does not get as much use as you would think

Completely agree. It's sandwiched between some big roads and warehouses, but it is a really neat park. Great for a quiet walk.

The train wreck that is the new Central Parkway bike lane extension is a marvel to behold.  If you are biking northbound, you must get in the left turn lane at Marshall Ave. to continue into the new contraflow bike lane.  There is no way to do this smoothly if there are a lot of cars at the intersection.  It's a bad, bad, bad situation. 

 

Further north, the new bi-directional lane intersects the Monmouth Rd. overpass blindly.  Eastbound drivers will want to continuously turn southward on red onto Central Parkway at the same moment northbound bicycles will assume that they can continue northbound without having to check for turn-right-on-red people. 

 

Then the the thing terminates awkwardly at Ludlow Ave., where there is no good way to turn either left or right. 

 

So we just spent $2 million (per the posted sing) to build about a mile of so-called protected bike lane that has three absolutely terrible conflict points. 

 

New federal funding will fill in bike trail gaps on West Side, Butler County

By Chris Wetterich – Staff reporter and columnist, Cincinnati Business Courier

Oct 17, 2023

 

 

The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments has approved federal funding for a new bicycle trail that will connect two West Side neighborhoods, as well as trail connection that will allow the existing Great Miami Trail to run uninterrupted from Fairfield to Piqua.

Overall, bicycle/pedestrian and transit projects received more funding than traffic and roadway maintenance in the latest round of OKI grants, which totaled $50.4 million for 17 projects: Bicycle/pedestrian projects received $14.7 million, transit projects got $11.2 million in funding, traffic operations got $21.2 million and roadway maintenance projects received $3.3 million.

 

More:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/10/17/oki-funding-bike-trail-projects-hamilton-butler-co.html

9 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

new bicycle trail that will connect two West Side neighborhoods, as well as trail connection that will allow the existing Great Miami Trail to run uninterrupted from Fairfield to Piqua

1. Completing this piece highlights how critical it is that we build out the rest of the Mill Creek Greenway, so that this can connect to Northside and further north.  For now, it's still a trail that will connect two parks, but still dead-end into the railyard.

2. The Great Miami trail getting built out is huge for the under-invested western half of Hamilton and Butler Counties.  It obviously needs to connect into the Mill Creek Greenway or follow all the way down to the Ohio River, but there's potential to make this trail like the Little Miami and start to build tourism off of it.

On 10/16/2023 at 3:08 PM, Lazarus said:

The train wreck that is the new Central Parkway bike lane extension is a marvel to behold.  If you are biking northbound, you must get in the left turn lane at Marshall Ave. to continue into the new contraflow bike lane.  There is no way to do this smoothly if there are a lot of cars at the intersection.  It's a bad, bad, bad situation. 

 

Further north, the new bi-directional lane intersects the Monmouth Rd. overpass blindly.  Eastbound drivers will want to continuously turn southward on red onto Central Parkway at the same moment northbound bicycles will assume that they can continue northbound without having to check for turn-right-on-red people. 

 

Then the the thing terminates awkwardly at Ludlow Ave., where there is no good way to turn either left or right. 

 

So we just spent $2 million (per the posted sing) to build about a mile of so-called protected bike lane that has three absolutely terrible conflict points. 

 

They are not done yet. The work includes bike lanes to better direct cyclists to get through the Marshall and Ludlow intersections as well as a RTOR ban for Monmouth.

Red Bike adds new stations in Evanston neighborhood on Cincinnati's East Side

 

Red Bike, the region’s bike-sharing service, is adding another new neighborhood inside the city of Cincinnati.

 

Red Bike has opened two new stations in Evanston, which will be the eastern-most Cincinnati neighborhood it serves.

 

The Evanston Community Council, local businesses, residents and the city worked together to open the new stations.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/11/15/red-bike-adds-new-stations-in-evanston.html

 

The Straight St. Hill Climb race was this morning.  A dramatic fog filled the valley until the exact moment that the running race began at 9am.  The bicycle race followed at 9:30am. 

 

The fog at approximately 8:45am:

 

Spectators at the top:

 

The winner of the running race:

 

The pack:

 

Bikers getting ready:

 

About five minutes before the race:

 

The bicycling results:

A paved bike trail has been proposed for the former interurban railroad ROW through LaBoiteaux Woods:

https://www.wvxu.org/local-news/2023-11-27/cincinnati-studying-biking-walking-trail-northside-college-hill

 

You can hike or ride a mountain bike on the path right now.  I haven't hiked it in more than 10 years but I recall the abutments remaining for a bridge over a creek. The old bridge was 20-30 feet long and about 15-20 feet above the creek.  I don't know if they want to rebuild this bridge or work around it somehow with a shorter bridge. 

1 hour ago, Lazarus said:

I haven't hiked it in more than 10 years but I recall the abutments remaining for a bridge over a creek. The old bridge was 20-30 feet long and about 15-20 feet above the creek.  I don't know if they want to rebuild this bridge or work around it somehow with a shorter bridge. 

That should be discussed during the feasibility study.

7 hours ago, Dev said:

That should be discussed during the feasibility study.

 

Here is the pier:

https://www.jjakucyk.com/transit/cle/slides/0013_CincinnatiLakeErie-9.html

 

And another view, with an interesting caption:

https://www.jjakucyk.com/transit/cle/slides/0014_CincinnatiLakeErie-10.html

 

Maybe there wasn't a bridge here...but there definitely is a pier. 

 

 

 

Earlier this month, the Village of Mariemont had a public engagement session for 2 design alternatives for the construction of a a shared-use path from Miami Road to their branch library location. This will be part of the CROWN and is part of several projects connecting Wasson Way to the Little Miami Scenic Trail.  They are referring to it as the Mariemont Connector.

They went with a more winding version for the path, instead of a straight line and have completely redesigned the convoluted Miami intersection to make cars approach it perpendicularly. The only noticeable difference between the 2 options is whether or not to keep the direct connection to Miami at Lytle Woods Place. This section of Miami appears to be getting narrowed with curbs also being installed, although the lanes are still 11 feet wide. NACTO guidelines states 10 foot lanes, unless it's an active transit or shipping route. It also includes rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) on Miami for the trail's crossing. A raised crosswalk would be much more effective at getting people to slow down as they come down the hill, regardless of whether or not anyone is actively tryin to cross.

 

I'm being told that residents in the immediate area want the new intersection to be an all-way stop. This is not surprising as the previous public engagement showed that residents were very concerned about speeding traffic coming down the hill. The engineers contracted for the design did not suggest one but will be double checking speed data along the road. There are also a strong preference from some residents to disconnect Murray Avenue from Miami. I believe they are upset about the amount of cut-through traffic they currently receive on their street, which also supports other anecdotal evidence. People in Madisonville and Madison Place report that they get dangerous traffic that use these streets to bypass Mariemont Square on their way to Plainville. It sounds like the data shows that the traffic impact would be minimal.

 

On Monday night the village council voted to issue a purchase order for Choice One Engineering to create the construction documents. They hope to bid out the construction in February in time for installation next spring or summer. The village previously received a grant from the ODNR Clean Ohio Trails Fund program. The connection from behind the library to Walton Creek, near 50 West, is being undertaken by Columbia TWP, Great Parks of Hamilton County, and ODOT. Funding was secured via OKI which means construction won't start until 2026. All of those sections are referred to as the "Columbia Connector." The last section, from Miami to Plainville, is not currently funded, and could prove to be the most contentious debate.

 

Brutal
 

 

They just announced a big price increase, and then say they'll work with people "on a case by case basis" for refunds and pass extensions?! That makes it sound like if you don't specifically reach out, the downtime will count against your annual pass time.

Trouble in Paradise:

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/red-bike-stations-to-be-shuttered-unavailable-in-winter-months-amid-staff-reductions

We're going to see equity programs start to fail to find funding now that the ARP money is drying up.  Sadly there will be many more non-profit casualties in the years to come.  If they can't secure an operating funding source, this is a huge hit to affordable mobility in our city.

24 minutes ago, 10albersa said:

We're going to see equity programs start to fail to find funding now that the ARP money is drying up.  Sadly there will be many more non-profit casualties in the years to come.  If they can't secure an operating funding source, this is a huge hit to affordable mobility in our city.

 

This is such a shame. My evidence is anecdotal from living Downtown and working in OTR/The West End every day, but it's been my general impression that Red Bikes are used WAY MORE often than scooters. Especially since there's so many e-bikes available (which make riding less off a stress) and the scooters are time limited. On the weekends, there's plenty of "tourists" crashing scooters into bar patios—but every single day I see people with groceries and stuff on RedBikes. The station by Kroger is often bare cause all the bikes get grabbed.

36 minutes ago, 10albersa said:

We're going to see equity programs start to fail to find funding now that the ARP money is drying up.  Sadly there will be many more non-profit casualties in the years to come.  If they can't secure an operating funding source, this is a huge hit to affordable mobility in our city.

 

Or maybe it took 5-10 years but people are realizing that shared bikes and scooters don't really work.  My guess is that very few people actually use them in the way that idealists imagine them to, and instead their use is frivolous and/or redundant to existing bus and streetcar service.  Or they already own their own bike and are too cheap to buy a decent lock and/or are surrounded by enablers who go along with their complaints about the hills. 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, ryanlammi said:

They just announced a big price increase, and then say they'll work with people "on a case by case basis" for refunds and pass extensions?! That makes it sound like if you don't specifically reach out, the downtime will count against your annual pass time.

 

I would guess that they will extend every active annual membership by the number of months that the system is shut down, unless you contact them and ask for a refund.

 

This seems to be related to the expiration of the UC Health sponsorship, which was last renewed for 5 years in 2018. I'm surprised they haven't been able to get another company to step up.