WCPO used Facebook Live to stream their first ride. They must have answered the "how much to ride" question a dozen times.

 

www.wcpo.com/video/watch-our-first-ride-in-the-streetcar?autoplay=false

WCPO used Facebook Live to stream their first ride. They must have answered the "how much to ride" question a dozen times.

 

www.wcpo.com/video/watch-our-first-ride-in-the-streetcar?autoplay=false

 

Oh man. Bless them for doing that video. But the forced "TV News Laugh" got old quick.

There's nothing like being in a streetcar full of TV and radio personalities and watching them all switch on their fake smiles and on-air voices simultaneously.

So...what's plan the for UOers tomorrow AM?

10:30 AM at Washington Park if you want to hear the speeches. It's expected that the ceremonies will be over and it'll be open for everyone to ride by noon.

If the council terms were 2 years, do you think the streetcar would be happening still?

 

If we would have still been on 2 year terms, I could see Flynn voting to end the streetcar in 2013. He dropped out of the running for 2017, but that's largely because he believes his time on council has been productive and he's finished most of what he set out to do. If there was an election in 2015, he probably would have lost his council seat if he had turned and voted to resume streetcar construction. He may have killed the project to enact what he thought were more important reforms in council.

 

Thoughts?

If the council terms were 2 years, do you think the streetcar would be happening still?

 

If we would have still been on 2 year terms, I could see Flynn voting to end the streetcar in 2013. He dropped out of the running for 2017, but that's largely because he believes his time on council has been productive and he's finished most of what he set out to do. If there was an election in 2015, he probably would have lost his council seat if he had turned and voted to resume streetcar construction. He may have killed the project to enact what he thought were more important reforms in council.

 

Thoughts?

 

No I think Flynn cared about the $50 million or more Cranley was going to flush down the toilet. I think Flynn cares about individual issues and doesn't think in politically of "if I do x then I might get y later."

 

If they did vote to kill the streetcar they would have been dealing with nothing but lawsuits for two years or four years. We must never let the people of Cincinnati forget Cranley's incredibly bad judgement (or is it incredibly selfish cynicism?) to burn tens of millions that had been invested up to that point for the sake of a perceived benefit to his political career.

Honestly, I believe the real reason the Flynn is dropping out is that he knows he couldn't possibly win the next time around and doesn't want to waste his time trying.

^With no candidates officially running yet for council you think he's decided he can't win? The diehards on both sides likely wouldn't vote for him, but we live in the echo chamber of the ~1% of people who follow this stuff really closely. Two council members aren't running next year. He could definitely be reelected.

 

 

If they did vote to kill the streetcar they would have been dealing with nothing but lawsuits for two years or four years. We must never let the people of Cincinnati forget Cranley's incredibly bad judgement (or is it incredibly selfish cynicism?) to burn tens of millions that had been invested up to that point for the sake of a perceived benefit to his political career.

 

Exactly, angering the citizens of the city he served in order to appease suburbanites so that they will vote for him in state or federal races.

Flynn came to several pro-streetcar events before he ran for council in 2011.  Then he panned the streetcar while running.  He continues to waffle instead of just calling out Cranley for the evil that he is.  Anybody on council with a strong personality could have gotten on talk radio every week for the past 3 years and turned Cranley into the laughingstock that he should be.  Instead he keeps getting away with his crap because Democrats are afraid to hurt their futures within the party and Cranley somehow managed to pay off Winburn, Smitherman, and the only real Republican, Amy Murray.  The whole thing is just unbelievable.  It's cats acting like dogs and dogs acting like cats, all spun into motion and then some weird Gordian knot by the almighty John Cranley. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did anyone else see the Twitter comment back forth between Rhodes and Seelbach…

 

 

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So...what's plan the for UOers tomorrow AM?

 

Breakfast at longtime streetcar supporter Jean-François Flechet's Taste of Belgium!

Less than 24 hours before opening... One. Last. Controversy.

 

One more streetcar fight for Council? Of course

 

With less than 24 hours until Cincinnati’s streetcar finally opens to the public, City Council had to have one last fight over it.

 

The problem: A sticker.

 

Yes, a sticker.

 

 

Council on Thursday was actually forced to vote on a motion whether to put a 4-by-6-inch sticker depicting the public transportation union logo on each of the city's streetcar vehicles. It seems easy. But Council didn't agree and fought about it briefly before narrowly passing the motion with a 5-4 vote.

 

Cont

Dear Lord this crew is hopeless:

 

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hear-cincinnati-podcast-medical-pot-in-ohio-streetcar-opens-and-lead-found-in-water-at-cps-schools

 

Here we have three people from The Media who in their attempt to set the record straight confuse each other, spread rumors, and invent a few on the spot.  One of these people has the idea that the old subway tunnels might be used for an extension that would "circle around" to Corryville.  Then they brought up the infamous Barry Horstman article where he claimed that he could walk faster than the streetcar and reasoned that his assertion was true back in 2011 before they chose which streetcars to buy and that the ones we have are much faster than the ones they were looking at then. 

So much false history being invented, just like with the subway. The media still frequently reports that the Uptown connection was part of the "original" streetcar route ... which it wasn't.

^In fairness, there have been so many proposals over the years that I can't find fault with them. I've been watching this board for 10 years and I still haven't figured it all out myself. As I remember, Roxanne Qualls proposed that funding for the streetcar was contingent on support for future extension uptown.

 

I guess it doesn't matter now. The extension may or may not ever happen, but the Over-the-Rhine loop is built and about to open.

The Downtown-OTR loop was the original plan. Some council members wouldn't support it without the uptown connector so that was added. Then we got federal funding for it, which Kasich yanked, so we went back to the original plan. Then we temporarily went to an ever shorter plan. The back to the original again (except that it was shortened by 1 block on each end, from 2nd to Henry instead of Freedom Way to McMicken Street).

The Downtown-OTR loop was the original plan. Some council members wouldn't support it without the uptown connector so that was added.

 

This was the biggest mistake that was made.  Say what you will about the desirability of having the uptown connector, the delay that came from extending the project allowed for consensus to break down and for so many attempts to sabotage the project.

^ The downtown loop could have been open 4 years ago if it were not for the squabbling over the uptown connector.

Absolutely. If the streetcar could've been built before COAST organized Issue 9, it could've opened in 2012 and we'd probably be building the first extension by now.

Remove one character from the equation and it would have all been different -- John Kasich.  He's the one who stole the uptown connector money and blew it on two dumb freight railroad grade crossings in two upstate towns nobody has heard of.  When he pulled the money in early 2011 that gave COAST the motivation to launch ballot issue #2, Issue 48. 

 

The thing would have opened between The Banks and Corryville, with two more streetcars, at virtually no additional cost to the city.  It would have been nearing completion during the 2013 mayoral race. 

 

All of the crap Kasich pulled was all a build-up for the pathetic presidential run we all knew he would play out.  And that campaign went absolutely nowhere. 

I haven't stopped by this thread in awhile, but I checked in this morning hoping to find a celebratory mood.

 

People! After more than 800 pages, the streetcar is here! The feeling I have today usually only comes once a year on Reds Opening Day. A big congratulations and thank you to everyone who, despite a dozen roadblocks, made this project a reality!

I think we're probably actually at closer to 900 pages unofficially.  If I'm not mistaken, sometime back in 2013 or 2014, wasn't there a big crash on this site and 90 or pages of posts were lost when the site was restored?

 

EDIT:  I found it.  Looks like all posts from 2/19/13 until 7/9/13 were lost in the data crash (look back at Page 561). 

Ah yes. The Great Data Crash of 2013. Never forget.

Hey everyone. I want to take a moment to thank everyone for being a part of this forum. Today the people of Cincinnati will be able to ride a modern light rail circulator through downtown and Over-the-Rhine. This moment was hard fought, involving thousands of supporters and volunteers throughout the span of ten years. John Schneider always says this is a marathon and not a sprint. And here we are.

 

There is no doubt how influential this forum and the people who contribute to it made a significant contribution to the project. Especially in an era before the dominance of Facebook and Twitter, and even today. Thank you to everyone.

In honor of the opening, an oldie but goodie

 

Ah yes. The Great Data Crash of 2013. Never forget.

 

It took away my precious Satanism / Devil Worship thread. 

Hey everyone. I want to take a moment to thank everyone for being a part of this forum. Today the people of Cincinnati will be able to ride a modern light rail circulator through downtown and Over-the-Rhine. This moment was hard fought, involving thousands of supporters and volunteers throughout the span of ten years. John Schneider always says this is a marathon and not a sprint. And here we are.

 

There is no doubt how influential this forum and the people who contribute to it made a significant contribution to the project. Especially in an era before the dominance of Facebook and Twitter, and even today. Thank you to everyone.

 

This project would not have happened without a strong grassroots effort behind it. There was not a single politician that was in office throughout the entire history of the project. There were no corporations or foundations pushing it until recently. It was pushed forward by people who saw that a modern light rail streetcar would benefit their city and showed up to council chambers and volunteered to defeat ballot issues over and over and over.

Does Jake Mecklenborg have a VIP ticket today? I know his work was on the Subway history, but I would think he would be influential enough to get the first ride?

Since a bunch of press and others have already been riding around on it for a week there really isn't a "first" to be had.  I assume John Schneider has already been on it multiple times. 

Big Congrats to Cincinnati!!!!  :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Saw on Twitter that only 4 of the streetcars are running today.  Anyone know if that was planned or if that is a result of that car that hit a streetcar a few weeks ago?

 

Also saw that Mark Mallory is there.  Does anyone know if Milton Dohoney came back for this event?  It's a big day for something he put a ton of work into, but I wouldn't blame him if he didn't return, after the completely unprofessional way that Cranley treated him when he took over.

Dohoney couldn't make it he was thanked by Mallory for his efforts.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

The fifth train apparently had some brake problems that have been resolved but they don't want passengers on it until they can get it out for testing.

A coworker just said he saw two empty streetcars go by that would not pick up people waiting at a stop.  Is there some reason?

^My guess is that they're trying to make it to another part of the loop to make sure passengers there get picked up.  I went down there on my lunch break and thought maybe I could ride just a few stops and then head back to work.  No chance!  Washington Park seemed the busiest, but most of the stops had a decent crowd patiently waiting for a streetcar to board.  When I realized that I'd never make it back in time, I decided just to drive around the loop once.  I was pretty amazed by how many people came out for this, especially in the downtown section.  I guess my first ride will have to wait.

 

//EDIT:  By the way, the line keeps going beyond the right edge of the image.  I just couldn't get the whole thing in frame while I was driving.

Hey everyone. I want to take a moment to thank everyone for being a part of this forum. Today the people of Cincinnati will be able to ride a modern light rail circulator through downtown and Over-the-Rhine. This moment was hard fought, involving thousands of supporters and volunteers throughout the span of ten years. John Schneider always says this is a marathon and not a sprint. And here we are.

 

There is no doubt how influential this forum and the people who contribute to it made a significant contribution to the project. Especially in an era before the dominance of Facebook and Twitter, and even today. Thank you to everyone.

 

ColDay is pleased by this.  And yes, thank you ALL for your contributions to this project.

Not sure if it's just today, or what. But I really don't like these intervals. Standing in the hot sun for 12-15 minutes is awful. An honestly I can walk to Findley market from Washington Park in less time.

 

It needs to be 5-6 minutes no more between street cars. Otherwise I can't see how it's a popular option for us, especially if the weather is less than ideal.

That is the actual interval, because on average you will wait for half the time difference between arrivals. Though I understand what you mean, and would love for that kind frequency (and larger shelters)

Basically no systems in the United States achieve those intervals outside of a handful of incredibly busy lines in New York and a handful of other key locations. But beyond peak times a range of 6-12 minutes is pretty typical with streetcars generally being in the 10-15 range in other cities.

 

Also, download the app. No excuse to wait a full cycle when you can see in real time when they'll be arriving.

Not to quibble, but I'm pretty sure the 4/5 comes every 2-3 minutes during rush hour in the UES.

Here's a handy chart which shows the headways for the MTA. Some are within the range TroyEres mentioned, but even then those are some of the busiest rail lines in the western hemisphere.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_City_Subway_services#Train_intervals

 

I'm curious if this is "as planned" or "as found in the real world" because those two things can be wildly different.

 

The point though is that 5-6 minute intervals aren't even achievable in much of the largest transit market in North America. I'd like sub 10 minute intervals, but when you pair it with an app that shows real time arrivals I don't see 12 minutes during peak times as a problem.

Several US transit lines have peak service headways of 5-6 minutes (actual and scheduled). I assumed jmicha meant service beyond rush hour. In any case, as others pointed out, real time arrival info and smart phones have made timing less frequent service extremely doable these days.

 

[Edited due to interceding posts]

Are there any plans to create a dedicated lane for a portion of the ride? I can only view the train via news sites as I no longer live in the nati. Also is bus traffic rerouted now to radiate out from the tram stops?

 

Congrats Cincinnati on getting this project up and running.

I just want to pipe in and say what a great job the speakers did at the ceremony.  It was classy that @John Schneider had Cranley sign the shovel first. The energy built to a crescendo as Yvette and Wendel whip the crowd up for the Red Bike power up - a great idea too!

 

I consider the program a huge success!

 

 

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I'm really sad I wasn't able to be there for it. I briefly watched some videos at lunch and it looked like a really nice way to introduce the streetcar to the world.

 

I saw a ton of pictures of large crowds waiting to board all over the route as well which is great news. I saw one picture along Main Street Downtown which had probably 100 people at the station. I'm curious if they'll release how many people ride today.

^I would guess on Monday morning they will release weekend stats for the free rides. I know they have automatic counters at the doors of the streetcars, so they should know how many people get on/off at each stop.

I over heard quite a few number of people complain about how slow the streetcar is and decided to get out and just walk. I sort of agree. I enjoy the convience of not having to walk, but the constant stopping and overall speed is a bit annoying. It does feel like it takes forever to get to stop to stop. Especially in traffic.