Officials cite 'tremendous' urban development along streetcar route

Pat LaFleur

7:00 AM, Nov 12, 2016

CINCINNATI -- Nearly two billion.

 

That's what city officials estimate is the amount of money spent so far on development projects throughout Cincinnati's urban core since the promise of the streetcar became an actual plan.

 

It was a promise made nearly a decade ago, when the streetcar proposal was first approved in 2007. Since then -- clearing two attempts to kill the project and gaining a majority of support on City Council -- the landscape of The Banks, Downtown and Over-the-Rhine has transformed at what proponents regard as breakneck speed.

 

http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/officials-cite-tremendous-urban-development-along-streetcar-route

​Streetcar ridership will hit 250,000 today but daily average dropping

 

 

Ridership on the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar probably will hit 250,000 today after 66 days of operation, but the number of people taking rides on it has dropped sharply in the past two weeks, according to data provided by the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority.

 

The streetcar has not seen more than 3,000 rides – its goal for daily average ridership – since Oct. 29. And ridership dropped below 1,000 on three days so far in November. Even weekend ridership, which bolstered the streetcar’s numbers, has lagged over the past two weekends.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/11/14/streetcar-ridership-will-hit-250-000-today-but.html

Well the Ray Tensing trial was just wonderful for businesses downtown and over the weekend, wasn't it?  And it looks like it's going to happen again at some point in 2017. 

Well the Ray Tensing trial was just wonderful for businesses downtown and over the weekend, wasn't it?  And it looks like it's going to happen again at some point in 2017. 

 

I had numerous people text me about the various protests that were happening. Meanwhile as an actual downtown resident I didn't experience any disruption whatsoever. So there was definitely the perception that riots could've happened, which probably kept some people away.

It'll be interesting to see when and if ridership spikes during the winter.  Will the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving and that Fri and Saturday be huge nights?  New Year's?  We'll find out. 

I so wish we can quickly change the perception of downtown as a place to live. I know so many people who won't even go to otr during the winter because it's too cold for them and they would rather shop nearby in Kenwood.

 

I suspect it will continue to drop during these winter months. My biggest fear is that if this trend is prolonged that we will see people turn against the street car again and call it a waste of money and effort and furthermore hurt uptown extension chances.

 

We simply need more bodies in the urban core. Aside for a quarter of otr our downtown is still very much desolate on the weekdays and becomes a ghost town during the bitter cold days of winter... That's not good for ridership numbers these next 4-5 months.

The big weekend ridership is clearly being driven by groups visiting the city either from outer neighborhoods or from other parts of the country.  So individuals moving to new 1-bedroom apartments won't generate much ridership, but more big events will.  So development, which obviously includes residences, will be motivated by the existence of the streetcar line, but ridership will be driven more by visitors to a restaurant or shop on the ground floor than by those who live there year-round. 

 

It'll be interesting to see in time what a real break-down of ridership by residents might be.  I wouldn't be surprised to see people who live directly on the line using it, on average, as few as 1-2 times per month.  Too many people moving to Over-the-Rhine are bringing their cars with them and driving to work each morning in the suburbs.  If the city permits construction of large apartment buildings with zero or little off-street parking, then we will see more public transportation ridership generated by downtown and OTR residents. 

 

I think the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas will see an uptick in ridership. People enjoy going downtown for Christmas shopping, ice skating rink, going to the museum etc and because it offers a climate controlled ride, many will use it to get from downtown to OTR. I wish it was going all the way to the zoo for Festival of Lights, but think that ridership will go up during the holiday time regardless. January-Feburary will be the real down time I think. After this we wait for improved signal timing, Bockfest, and the return of baseball.

When our office moves downtown in a couple months I expect to use it for occasional lunch trips to places that are too long a walk to, like Findlay Market or stuff around Fountain Square, but it has to be reliable schedule-wise to make that work when you're tight on time.  I can also see doing after-work stuff, but I don't eat out for dinner or go to bars, which I assume is a big component of evening ridership. 

 

I do think overall it has nowhere to go but up.  With all the political issues getting it going, many who might want to relocate to be near it have smartly waited until it was actually in operation to pull the trigger.  There's a lot of lag in that, what with getting out of leases, finding the right home/apartment/office to move to, renovating, and other stuff like that.  Yes some people did relocate to OTR and downtown in anticipation of the streetcar opening, but the real moves are only just starting to happen.  As John Schneider has said, it's a marathon not a sprint. 

We aren't going to see more "commute" type ridership until this thing is expanded to UC and other neighborhoods where it replaces (or competes) with existing bus routes.  Obviously, there is room for thousands of people to take up residence along the line in Over-the-Rhine, but realistically that is not going to happen because the market is building relatively low-density housing.  Some multi-families have been renovated as single-families and meanwhile new single-families are going up on empty lots.   

 

Expanding to UC via a tunnel in line with Clifton Ave. has never been part of the plan but cooperating with UC to put student housing near Findlay Market (something like dorms where the market parking lots are now) would bring a different kind of resident to that area and help make that end of the line (which would no longer be the end, obviously) more of a destination for a wider variety of people. 

Here's a graph of the ridership data.

 

but it has to be reliable schedule-wise to make that work when you're tight on time. 

 

This, I feel, is the biggest issue so far. The signs at the stations aren't reliable, the transit app isn't reliable with tracking, the Cincy EZRide app lacks real-time tracking, etc. It's a toss up sometimes when you need to be on schedule. bustracker.go-metro.com usually displays the vehicles properly, but it's not at all mobile friendly.

A couple weeks ago me and some work proximity associates went up to Findlay Market for lunch on the Streetcar and waited 15 minutes on the way there, and 28 minutes on the way back. The other day we went up to Alabama Fish Bar for lunch on the Streetcar and we waited less than 5 minutes going both directions. Basically it's just really hit or miss.

 

 

It'll be interesting to see in time what a real break-down of ridership by residents might be.  I wouldn't be surprised to see people who live directly on the line using it, on average, as few as 1-2 times per month.  Too many people moving to Over-the-Rhine are bringing their cars with them and driving to work each morning in the suburbs.  If the city permits construction of large apartment buildings with zero or little off-street parking, then we will see more public transportation ridership generated by downtown and OTR residents. 

 

 

This is a problem in Columbus as well. Many of the best-paying jobs are in Dublin/Worthington/Westerville whereas Downtown has a lot of public-sector jobs with income ceilings that don't allow people to live in expensive real estate.

They need to make the existing system more reliable, more frequent and faster if they want to improve weekday ridership.

^ Only way I can see to realistically achieve all three of those things is dedicated lanes. With the streetcar crossing from one side of the street to the other in a few spots, that could be difficult to implement.

I think the Holly Jolly Trolley is being replaced by a decorated or holiday themed streetcar that will have carolers on the weekends this year.

^ Only way I can see to realistically achieve all three of those things is dedicated lanes. With the streetcar crossing from one side of the street to the other in a few spots, that could be difficult to implement.

 

The only consistent point of conflict is Walnut St. between Government Square and the Library.  The streetcar does not change lanes on Walnut.  The lane shift on Main doesn't seem to be a source of problems. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is there a law or code that says streetcar drivers have to stop while traffic signals are still green if the "do not walk" counters are counting down on cross streets? It seems they do this every time. Is it just a policy? Per Ohio law I don't think it would be illegal if the tail end of the streetcar were in the intersection when a light turns red, so long as it entered it while the light was green. This seems to add a few minutes to almost every trip I've made.

^ Only way I can see to realistically achieve all three of those things is dedicated lanes. With the streetcar crossing from one side of the street to the other in a few spots, that could be difficult to implement.

 

The only consistent point of conflict is Walnut St. between Government Square and the Library.  The streetcar does not change lanes on Walnut.  The lane shift on Main doesn't seem to be a source of problems.

 

Tracks are on right side of street along there so streetcar could share a transit only lane with buses headed to Government Square. Seems justified since so many bus routes travel down Walnut to get to Government Square. Other cities build transit only lanes for just one bus route to use.

 

If southbound traffic throughput on Walnut is the issue for dedicating the lane, change Vine Street to a two way street and watch walkability and local business sales increase along it as well.

Granted I haven't ridden it much or seen where the pinch points are and at what times of the day, but it seems like the big hang up are traffic signals rather than traffic itself.  In that scenario, signal timing and preemption would seem to be a better solution than dedicated lanes. 

Granted I haven't ridden it much or seen where the pinch points are and at what times of the day, but it seems like the big hang up are traffic signals rather than traffic itself.  In that scenario, signal timing and preemption would seem to be a better solution than dedicated lanes. 

 

That is generally my observation as well.

 

It's interesting to think about how overall service could be improved without any changes downtown but giving priority to the streetcar at every intersection in OTR.  So if something close to that can be achieved, then improving just 1-2 spots on Walnut and Main would lead to dramatic improvements to the whole system. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're actually working on signal timing, right?  Anyone know the timeline on that?

Apparently Council still needs to approve issuing the RFP for it.

but it has to be reliable schedule-wise to make that work when you're tight on time. 

 

This, I feel, is the biggest issue so far. The signs at the stations aren't reliable, the transit app isn't reliable with tracking, the Cincy EZRide app lacks real-time tracking, etc. It's a toss up sometimes when you need to be on schedule. bustracker.go-metro.com usually displays the vehicles properly, but it's not at all mobile friendly.

 

This is something I desperately tried to fix before I left, but the whole branding clusterf--- made it impossible for me to have the time to write the additional static schedules for 1-5 car operations. Basically the problem is that realtime bounces GPS locations off of static schedules to get an arrival time estimate. Whenever the streetcar short turns, gets way off schedule, or has more or less cars operating than scheduled the CAD/AVL system just freaks out and posts scheduled info.

Why don't they just turn it off?  It's been showing inaccurate data for the past 10 weeks. 

I followed a streetcar in my car tonight (Wednesday around 9pm) that only picked up one rider and got caught at maybe 3 red lights between the riverfront and Rhinegeist.  Town is totally dead, so these streetcars are traveling very fast (the arrival signs were actually accurate!) but transporting almost zero passengers.  There is definitely no reason to be running this thing past 10pm Sunday-Wednesday during the cold months when there isn't an event of some significance (a Bengals game or something big at US Bank).  It's interesting to see that the streetcar can keep pretty tight headways with just two running...if town is completely dead! 

 

 

 

 

I followed a streetcar in my car tonight (Wednesday around 9pm) that only picked up one rider and got caught at maybe 3 red lights between the riverfront and Rhinegeist.  Town is totally dead, so these streetcars are traveling very fast (the arrival signs were actually accurate!) but transporting almost zero passengers.  There is definitely no reason to be running this thing past 10pm Sunday-Wednesday during the cold months when there isn't an event of some significance (a Bengals game or something big at US Bank).  It's interesting to see that the streetcar can keep pretty tight headways with just two running...if town is completely dead! 

 

 

 

It's been slow past 10pm during the week ever since the end of daylight savings time. I wonder if you can cut the 4 streetcar-hours (two cars for two hours) at night and add another streetcar during lunch for four hours.

Obviously there is a lot more activity on weeknights during the summer, and not just when the Reds are in town.  The time changes might end up being a good time to switch operating schedules, but it looks like November-February will be pretty slow every Sunday-Wednesday night when there isn't a large event. 

Yeah, maybe having "summer hours" and "winter hours" would be smart. In the winter, shut the thing down at 10pm on weeknights and use those savings to run more service over the summer and/or save them for big events that require extra streetcars.

It's interesting to see that the streetcar can keep pretty tight headways with just two running...if town is completely dead! 

 

That's why I think that the signal prioritization is going to be a game changer, even without adding more dedicated lanes. When it doesn't get held at red lights...it flies.

Yeah, maybe having "summer hours" and "winter hours" would be smart. In the winter, shut the thing down at 10pm on weeknights and use those savings to run more service over the summer and/or save them for big events that require extra streetcars.

It would be smart to not make any adjustments to service until the system is working properly, which it is not yet. Accurate and available arrival info, and meeting headways, is affecting ridership now. That's very unfortunate, but it would be worse to overreact to that and make schedule changes now, that will be hard to undo later.

One thing that I think is sometimes missed about signal prioritization is that because it speeds up the round-trip time, the system can operate with fewer vehicles while still meeting its headway goals. Especially at times of low demand (where there aren't people getting on/off at every station), a vehicle with signal prioritization would be able to make the full loop very quickly.

 

So, I hope they proceed in the following order:

[*]Accurate real time arrival information

[*]Signal prioritization

[*]Adjust how many vehicles operate at any given hour to a) ensure proper headways and b) save money by not over-servicing low-demand times

One thing that I think is sometimes missed about signal prioritization is that because it speeds up the round-trip time, the system can operate with fewer vehicles while still meeting its headway goals. Especially at times of low demand (where there aren't people getting on/off at every station), a vehicle with signal prioritization would be able to make the full loop very quickly.

 

So, I hope they proceed in the following order:

[*]Accurate real time arrival information

[*]Signal prioritization

[*]Adjust how many vehicles operate at any given hour to a) ensure proper headways and b) save money by not over-servicing low-demand times

 

You have to go back to my headway chart though.  At most average speeds, you can't cut a vehicle without a big impact to the headway (definitely can't go from two cars to one car) (chart shows headways in minutes)

 

^What's the realistic avg speed for the streetcar, assuming signal prioritization?

 

 

^What's the realistic avg speed for the streetcar, assuming signal prioritization?

 

I don't know about after signal prioritization but the chart tells us since they agreed to 15 minute headways for two streetcars off peak they thought they could average between 7-8 miles per hour (including all lights and stops.) Similiarly for a 12 minute headway with three streetcars peak they need to average 6 miles per hour. If you could speed up the streetcar to 8-10 miles per hour (I have no idea if signal priority could accomplish that or not) you may be able to drop from three streetcars down to two in certain situations and still maintain 15 minutes or less headways.

One thing that I think is sometimes missed about signal prioritization is that because it speeds up the round-trip time, the system can operate with fewer vehicles while still meeting its headway goals. Especially at times of low demand (where there aren't people getting on/off at every station), a vehicle with signal prioritization would be able to make the full loop very quickly.

 

A rapid transit train stops at every station whereas this streetcar, like a bus, only stops where there is a request, where someone is waiting, or at red lights.  That means that the more people who ride it, the slower it is, and since more people ride when more people are in the city, there is a compounding effect with traffic congestion and being held up at intersections.  It's in those situations where the signal timing will profoundly improve performance. 

 

As I mentioned previously, giving the streetcar full signal priority in over-the-rhine will improve downtown performance in the absence of any improvements there because the streetcars will cross Central Parkway at a more reliable interval.  And creation of signal priority north of Central Parkway shouldn't stir any controversy. 

 

 

 

A rapid transit train stops at every station whereas this streetcar, like a bus, only stops where there is a request, where someone is waiting, or at red lights.  That means that the more people who ride it, the slower it is, and since more people ride when more people are in the city, there is a compounding effect with traffic congestion and being held up at intersections.  It's in those situations where the signal timing will profoundly improve performance. 

 

That's a really good point I never thought of.

Looking at a map I'm counting 14 traffic signals along the streetcar route in Over-the-Rhine, not counting Central Parkway.  There are also 9 stations north of Central Parkway. Downtown there appear to be 24 controlled intersections (including the mid-block signals) and 9 stations.  So in a worst-case run during heavy ridership and a ton of vehicular and pedestrian cross-traffic, the streetcar stops and starts 50+ times. 

 

I'll repeat that giving full signal priority to the streetcars in Over-the-Rhine won't adversely affect traffic and so shouldn't be controversial.  Just eliminating five of the 60-second stops in Over-the-Rhine will dramatically improve the performance of the whole system.  It also might be able to negotiate for the streetcar to have increased priority during off-peak hours, so nights after 7pm and on weekends the streetcar might gain signal priority across Central Parkway and at some downtown intersections. 

 

 

It appears that the streetcar is scheduled to run on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I assume that the drivers and staff are being paid 2X or more to work on these days when the streetcar will likely carry fewer than 500 riders, and possibly much lower than that.  I don't know why anyone would think running the systems on these days makes any sense, so I don't think we should hesitate to shut it down during these holidays next year. 

It appears that the streetcar is scheduled to run on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I assume that the drivers and staff are being paid 2X or more to work on these days when the streetcar will likely carry fewer than 500 riders, and possibly much lower than that.  I don't know why anyone would think running the systems on these days makes any sense, so I don't think we should hesitate to shut it down during these holidays next year. 

 

Then the streetcar becomes a novelty item, not part of a broader transportation package, in my opinion. If we want to treat the streetcar as part of an integrated transit system, then it should be operating generally when the buses run.

The interaction between the streetcar and the Thanksgiving Day Race tomorrow should be interesting.

The interaction between the streetcar and the Thanksgiving Day Race tomorrow should be interesting.

 

Let the hand-wringing commence about another potential conflict.

 

You do realize other cities with streetcars and light rail have street events like races, festivals, etc, and do just fine. In fact, we got a Muni alert here in SF for a shortened route for the T-Third and N-Judah lines due to the Thanksgiving race near AT&T park. Not the end of the world.

The interaction between the streetcar and the Thanksgiving Day Race tomorrow should be interesting.

 

Excluding whatever impact on traffic due to the crowd of people, the impact on the streetcar should be fairly limited. The Route heads straight up Vine street from the banks and only crosses the street car route at Central and Vine and at 12th and Vine. Both of those intersections are within the first approximately 3/4 of a mile from the start. The first runners would take about 3-4 minutes to get to the intersection and the last maybe 20-25 minutes (assuming a walking pace + the delay out of the gate). So there is about a 20 minute window where folks will be crossing the tracks, the majority of the time would be walkers which can easily be stopped for the streetcar to be let through if there are no clear gaps. With a 10-15 minute gap between cars, this affects really only 2 cars in each direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

11,000+ RIDES ON CINCINNATI BELL CONNECTOR DURING

 

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

 

 

 

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Bell Connector proved to be a popular choice for families during the Thanksgiving weekend with more than 11,000 trips taken between Friday, Nov. 25 and Sunday, Nov. 27. The holiday weekend boosted total passenger trips to 276,133 since the streetcar’s grand opening on Sept. 9.

 

Ridership:

 

Friday, Nov. 25:        5,843               

 

Saturday, Nov. 26:  4,487                 

 

Sunday, Nov. 27:    948                   

 

Total:                        11,278

 

• No one will ever ride the streetcar.
  
• Only thugs will ride the streetcar.
  
• Only hipsters will ride the streetcar.
  
• People will ride the streetcar opening weekend when it's free, but not when they start charging a fare.
  
• No one will be riding after the first week when the novelty wares off.
  
• No one will ride the streetcar when it starts getting cold outside.
  

• No one will ever ride the streetcar.
  
• Only hipsters will ride the streetcar.
  
• Only thugs will ride the streetcar.
  
• People will ride the streetcar opening weekend when it's free, but not when they start charging a fare.
  
• No one will be riding after the first week when the novelty wares off.
  
• No one will ride the streetcar when it starts getting cold outside.
  

 

It'll be interesting to see how many people rode on Thanksgiving.  We'll probably see the lowest ridership of the year on Thanksgiving and Christmas while we're paying the drivers and staff double (I assume). 

• No one will ever ride the streetcar.
  
• Only hipsters will ride the streetcar.
  
• Only thugs will ride the streetcar.
  
• People will ride the streetcar opening weekend when it's free, but not when they start charging a fare.
  
• No one will be riding after the first week when the novelty wares off.
  
• No one will ride the streetcar when it starts getting cold outside.
  

 

It'll be interesting to see how many people rode on Thanksgiving.  We'll probably see the lowest ridership of the year on Thanksgiving and Christmas while we're paying the drivers and staff double (I assume). 

 

There were 13 people on the first run cut of the day on Thanksgiving on the way to the Banks. Another 20+ boarded at the Banks, but during dinner time ridership was probably very low.

• No one will ever ride the streetcar.
  
• Only thugs will ride the streetcar.
  
• Only hipsters will ride the streetcar.
  
• People will ride the streetcar opening weekend when it's free, but not when they start charging a fare.
  
• No one will be riding after the first week when the novelty wares off.
  
• No one will ride the streetcar when it starts getting cold outside.
  

Point well made, Travis - although you couldn't yet cross off "No one will ride who works downtown and has a schedule to keep."

 

The streetcar has proven to be a popular transit option for people visiting downtown and OTR. Yesterday I got on at the banks ~6PM, and a couple boarded with me who had evidently parked there and were riding the streetcar up for dinner at Tafts. That's perfect, and I expect such ridership to continue to increase.

 

The uncertainty is downtown worker traffic during the weekdays. Will this become a valid transit option for downtown workers doing business or personal errands? I commute on the streetcar most days, and ridership is extremely light. I've talked to many people using the streetcar for commuting to work and downtown/OTR work related trips -- some that I don't see any longer, by the way -- and I've never had one person describe it as convenient when you've got a schedule to keep. It's an ongoing problem, and those of us who are big streetcar boosters (and want to argue for expansion funding) should continue to voice concerns to get the necessary changes in place.

 

I know there's a lot of things supposedly in the works regarding signal timing and prioritization, real-time tracking fixes for message boards and apps. According to John Schneider from a post a couple of months ago, Deatrick had said fixes for the real time tracking were to be done within days, but that's came and went. Meanwhile I'm concerned that the streetcar is solidifying its reputation that travel and arrival times are not reliable, so you better not use it when you really need to be there on time.

 

Does anyone know - do they discuss these things during the council transportation committee meetings?

• No one will ever ride the streetcar.
  
• Only thugs will ride the streetcar.
  
• Only hipsters will ride the streetcar.
  
• People will ride the streetcar opening weekend when it's free, but not when they start charging a fare.
  
• No one will be riding after the first week when the novelty wares off.
  
• No one will ride the streetcar when it starts getting cold outside.
  

Point well made, Travis - although you couldn't yet cross off "No one will ride who works downtown and has a schedule to keep."

 

The streetcar has proven to be a popular transit option for people visiting downtown and OTR. Yesterday I got on at the banks ~6PM, and a couple boarded with me who had evidently parked there and were riding the streetcar up for dinner at Tafts. That's perfect, and I expect such ridership to continue to increase.

 

The uncertainty is downtown worker traffic during the weekdays. Will this become a valid transit option for downtown workers doing business or personal errands? I commute on the streetcar most days, and ridership is extremely light. I've talked to many people using the streetcar for commuting to work and downtown/OTR work related trips -- some that I don't see any longer, by the way -- and I've never had one person describe it as convenient when you've got a schedule to keep. It's an ongoing problem, and those of us who are big streetcar boosters (and want to argue for expansion funding) should continue to voice concerns to get the necessary changes in place.

 

I know there's a lot of things supposedly in the works regarding signal timing and prioritization, real-time tracking fixes for message boards and apps. According to John Schneider from a post a couple of months ago, Deatrick had said fixes for the real time tracking were to be done within days, but that's came and went. Meanwhile I'm concerned that the streetcar is solidifying its reputation that travel and arrival times are not reliable, so you better not use it when you really need to be there on time.

 

Does anyone know - do they discuss these things during the council transportation committee meetings?

 

An update.

 

Revising the downtown and OTR traffic signals is being held up in the politics of City Hall. Now the study won't start until spring, and improvements won't happen until early summer. No one to blame but City Council and the Mayor for this. I agree it's not reliable, and that's hurting regular users.

 

The real-time notifications is a problem shared with KC, which bought the same system. Cincinnati and KC and kind of ganging up on CAF right now to get it corrected.

 

Same thing with the vendor for the credit-card readers.

 

Tickets are being validated now when you buy them, so the awkward two-step process has now gone away.

 

Fare-payment compliance is really high -- in the high 90% range. They are giving citations to people who don't have tickets now, but not to people who bought tickets but didn't validate them.