January 26, 20223 yr Author 1 hour ago, OliverHazardPerry said: If Blink comes back in October, they could easily shatter the monthly record. They almost did it in 2019 with fares.
February 8, 20223 yr Author Three record ridership months in a row. With Blink being held this year, we could have 14 consecutive record breaking months. The only one I'm concerned about is February 2022 due to the inclement weather. Also a MLB lockout could negatively affect ridership Edited February 9, 20223 yr by thomasbw corrected year in picture
February 8, 20223 yr I'm sorry, wtf is that wrap on that streetcar? The Connector wraps are horrible enough. This is even worse. What is going on? What a waste of attractive trains.
February 11, 20223 yr Author There were only 11 fixed-route systems in the USA where ridership was higher in 2019 than in 2021 (and I think there were really only 10, the DART streetcar's data is sketchy). One of them was the Cincinnati Streetcar. Of the better performing systems 5 were streetcars, 3 buses, 2 ferries and a commuter bus
February 11, 20223 yr Tucson stands out in those numbers. Props to them! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
February 11, 20223 yr Author 5 hours ago, ColDayMan said: Tucson stands out in those numbers. Props to them! Also switched to a fare free model
February 11, 20223 yr On 2/8/2022 at 2:44 PM, thomasbw said: Three record ridership months in a row. With Blink being held this year, we could have 14 consecutive record breaking months. The only one I'm concerned about is February 2022 due to the inclement weather. Also a MLB lockout could negatively affect ridership Going to be a big weekend for ridership this weekend with Bengals-related events Thursday through Sunday spread throughout the core.
February 11, 20223 yr On 2/8/2022 at 3:12 PM, jmicha said: I'm sorry, wtf is that wrap on that streetcar? The Connector wraps are horrible enough. This is even worse. What is going on? What a waste of attractive trains. They had a contest. Local artists submitted designs and the public voted. This one somehow won.
February 15, 20223 yr Author On 2/11/2022 at 2:53 PM, DEPACincy said: Going to be a big weekend for ridership this weekend with Bengals-related events Thursday through Sunday spread throughout the core.
February 16, 20223 yr Is there any way to understand the modal type of trips that the streetcar trips are replacing? With it attracting high ridership during sporting events, I wonder if it is replacing what would otherwise be walking trips. I know when I used to go to Reds games, I would park up on 9th Street or so and walk down. Wonder if folks do the same thing but instead jump on the streetcar...
February 16, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, atlas said: Is there any way to understand the modal type of trips that the streetcar trips are replacing? With it attracting high ridership during sporting events, I wonder if it is replacing what would otherwise be walking trips. I know when I used to go to Reds games, I would park up on 9th Street or so and walk down. Wonder if folks do the same thing but instead jump on the streetcar... There's gotta be some of that. But even that is not a loss. More people who aren't willing to walk will visit more parts of the urban core and might be more willing to come downtown more often. Plus, parking gets spread more efficiently.
February 21, 20223 yr Author Compared to pre-pandemic SORTA is operating at 100.4% of service hours, ridership down -44% TANK is operating at 98.0% of service hours, ridership down -52% Streetcar is operating at 97.4% of service hours, ridership up +63%
February 21, 20223 yr On 2/8/2022 at 3:12 PM, jmicha said: I'm sorry, wtf is that wrap on that streetcar? The Connector wraps are horrible enough. This is even worse. What is going on? What a waste of attractive trains. The worst thing about the new wraps is that they cover the windows. The old CB Connector wraps were specifically designed to not block the windows so that people could see out and enjoy the architecture of OTR.
February 21, 20223 yr 20 minutes ago, taestell said: The worst thing about the new wraps is that they cover the windows. The old CB Connector wraps were specifically designed to not block the windows so that people could see out and enjoy the architecture of OTR. I thought all of the submissions were awful. None of them used the natural “flow” of a train in their designs. I didn’t place a vote for any of them.
February 23, 20223 yr Author With an entire week to spare, the streetcar broke the previous all-time record for February ridership. This will be the fourth monthly record in a row. Nationwide, transit ridership was down 52% compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2021. Locally SORTA is down 44%. Streetcar is setting records. Free fares work.
February 23, 20223 yr On 2/21/2022 at 1:50 PM, taestell said: The worst thing about the new wraps is that they cover the windows. The old CB Connector wraps were specifically designed to not block the windows so that people could see out and enjoy the architecture of OTR. The wraps are see thru from the inside, riders can see out. I rode inside one recently. Edited February 23, 20223 yr by 646empire
February 24, 20223 yr Author You can still see out, but it's not nearly as nice. Took this a few years ago to demonstrate the difference. I'll have to take some comparison picks next time I'm on the streetcar.
February 24, 20223 yr Exactly. When the streetcar was run by Metro, there was a specific effort made to not block the windows with the wrap or ads. Since the city took over, we have seen the windows blocked by those "fare free every day" squares and now the new wraps. Hopefully, since the city is now searching for a new streetcar director, we get someone who understands and prioritizes the rider experience.
February 24, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, thomasbw said: You can still see out, but it's not nearly as nice. Took this a few years ago to demonstrate the difference. I'll have to take some comparison picks next time I'm on the streetcar. I can assure you the wraps on Cincinnati streetcars are not this bad lol.
March 1, 20223 yr Author We don't actually have the last two days of ridership statistics, but it's looking like this is how the month will shake out. The only day we didn't break 1,000 riders was the ice storm.
March 1, 20223 yr Would be cool if this type of data was showing up in media to garner support for expansion via expanding ridership.
March 1, 20223 yr Author 47 minutes ago, jmicha said: Would be cool if this type of data was showing up in media to garner support for expansion via expanding ridership. working on it
March 1, 20223 yr I would love to see more positive coverage about the streetcar in the local media. Considering Cranley is gone, the makeup of our current city council along with a more actively funded FTA; I really wish there was more discussion of finally finishing the original streetcar concept of connecting to Uptown but it just seems like no one wants to have that conversation, probably out of fear of losing reelection because it's still seen as an unpopular topic. All the reason the conversation around it needs to change and be more positive.
March 2, 20223 yr Cincinnati Bell is changing is name to Altafiber. Does that mean the streetcar will be rebranded the Altafiber Connector? Altafiber Accelerator? Altafiber Articulator?
March 2, 20223 yr 1 minute ago, richNcincy said: And does that mean I'll finally be able to get fiber at my house?? Probably not. 😒 Perhaps: Quote “Fiber networks are the future,” Fox said. “Since I’ve been CEO, we’ve really been building at what I would consider an anemic pace. My predecessor [Ted Torbeck], at the end of his term, had a lot of pressure from Wall Street to slow the build down because we were spending a lot of money. [Going private] gives us the ability to go as fast as we can.”
March 2, 20223 yr 2 hours ago, taestell said: Perhaps: They have blazing 5mbps data speeds in the West End. I tried to get their service on Dayton St. It's a joke how little they've invested in their own backyard.
March 2, 20223 yr Cincinnati Bell's FiOptics service originated when they purchased Lebanon's municipal ISP which had invested in fiber, and they started expanding it south towards Cincinnati from there. There are still large parts of the area that only have their older DSL service that was previously branded as "ZoomTown". If the story their new CEO is telling is true (Wall Street didn't want them to spend more money on fiber expansion because the ROI isn't high enough, so taking the company private will allow them to continue expanding), I would expect fiber to be expanded into some of the areas that only have DSL now. Anyway, let's take additional Cincinnati Bell discussion to either the Cincinnati: General Business & Economic News or Fiber-to-the-Home Internet Service threads and keep this one streetcar-focused.
March 2, 20223 yr 4 hours ago, taestell said: Cincinnati Bell is changing is name to Altafiber. Does that mean the streetcar will be rebranded the Altafiber Connector? Altafiber Accelerator? Altafiber Articulator? One thing I noticed when they first started unveiling the new wraps is that they only say "Connector" not "Cincinnati Bell Connector". I wondered at the time whether it was a sign that Cincinnati Bell would be dropping their sponsorship, even though they have a 10 year deal. However it might have just been Cincinnati Bell not wanting to put their name on brand new wraps, which seem to hold up about 5 years, and have to pay to replace them a few months later.
March 2, 20223 yr From WVXU: Quote The streetcar, named the Cincinnati Bell Connector, just underwent new brand wrapping on its vehicles. Jackie Reau with Game Day Communications says the change doesn't affect the "connector" part of the branding. "The new name of the streetcar is in transition as the brand rolls out," she tells WVXU. "The new wraps are ArtsWave focused for now during the brand transition." So the ArtWorks wraps may indeed be temporary until a new name and permanent wrap is unveiled.
March 2, 20223 yr I have heard that CB has an out in their contract for naming rights, but I don't know the mechanisms or penalties (if any) of taking that action.
March 2, 20223 yr https://www.wvxu.org/local-news/2022-03-02/cincinnati-bell-new-name-altafiber What about the Cincinnati Bell Connector? The streetcar, named the Cincinnati Bell Connector, just underwent new brand wrapping on its vehicles. Jackie Reau with Game Day Communications says the change doesn't affect the "connector" part of the branding. "The new name of the streetcar is in transition as the brand rolls out," she tells WVXU. "The new wraps are ArtsWave focused for now during the brand transition."
March 8, 20223 yr Author How did the streetcar compare to the busiest Metro routes for 2021 overall ridership? It would have been 4th. 43-Reading 810k 33-Glenway 686k 17-Hamilton 679k Streetcar 556k 4-Montgomery 526k For 2022, it could finish as high as 2nd.
March 9, 20223 yr I went downtown for Bockfest and the FCC opener this past weekend and the streetcar was packed! We really need to start increasing service and seriously looking at expansion along with all the other improvements that have been discussed on here. Is there only one train in reserve at any one time? I have to think that they should run an extra train.
March 9, 20223 yr I think they run 4 trains during peak times fairly often now. Even without an expansion, we should be thinking about buying a sixth streetcar.
March 9, 20223 yr Author 1 hour ago, taestell said: I think they run 4 trains during peak times fairly often now. Even without an expansion, we should be thinking about buying a sixth streetcar. We haven't even fixed the signals yet.
March 10, 20223 yr Author On 3/1/2022 at 10:46 AM, thomasbw said: working on it https://www.wlwt.com/article/cincinnatis-streetcar-ridership-record/39387794?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot#
March 14, 20223 yr Author I manually timed the lights at 6th and Main (35 seconds each direction, this was a super easy one) and put together a spreadsheet modeling what light pre-emption for the streetcar would look like. Over a two hour period assuming exactly 12 minute headways, the streetcar would cause 55 seconds (out of 7200 or 0.8%) of delay for traffic on 6th street. If you drove that route to work every day, you'd get stopped by the streetcar about once every five months for an average of 11 seconds. It would slow down your commute by less than 30 seconds in an entire year. Traffic traveling with the streetcar on Main( which is disproportionately buses compared to 6th) would benefit as well.
March 25, 20223 yr Author If the streetcar can maintain its current level of ridership its experiencing in the first half of March, we'll break the all time ridership records for March, April, May, June, July and August.
March 25, 20223 yr On 3/9/2022 at 10:13 AM, JaceTheAce41 said: I went downtown for Bockfest and the FCC opener this past weekend and the streetcar was packed! We really need to start increasing service and seriously looking at expansion along with all the other improvements that have been discussed on here. Is there only one train in reserve at any one time? I have to think that they should run an extra train. Need to contact the state government reps and beg ask them nicely to start getting some funding our way for the uptown route.
March 29, 20223 yr Author As of 3/26/22, Ridership for the first 85 days of 2022 is 209% of ridership from the first 85 days of 2021.
March 29, 20223 yr Author The only thing that changed was free fares- Ridership +95% Speed +4% Service hours -8%
April 13, 20223 yr Author As of 3/31 Ridership for 2022- 151,664 Ridership for all of 2020- 148,556 (Note- the streetcar was shut down for 5 months of 2020) Edited April 13, 20223 yr by thomasbw added context
April 15, 20223 yr Author No clue what's going on in Dallas. No one in Dallas seems to have any idea either.
April 15, 20223 yr If that figure is just about the Dallas Streetcar, then that can be easily explained by all the added density/construction in Bishops Arts District and Oak Cliff along Zang Blvd. I'm assuming that figure doesn't account for the historic (free) McKinney Streetcar. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
April 16, 20223 yr Author 4 hours ago, ColDayMan said: If that figure is just about the Dallas Streetcar, then that can be easily explained by all the added density/construction in Bishops Arts District and Oak Cliff along Zang Blvd. I'm assuming that figure doesn't account for the historic (free) McKinney Streetcar. That's just the modern Dallas Streetcar, the McKinney isn't listed here (only streetcars build after Portland are on the list) What I don't understand is this- Ridership exploding exactly at the beginning of the fiscal year after three previous years of almost exactly the same ridership patterns is also strange. According to their website and the Dallas media, the fare structure didn't change either
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