A third party person made a bus/streetcar mobile tracker for Android. I'm sure the same could be done pretty easily for iPhones if someone knows how to do it. I was talking to a streetcar operator a few weeks ago while we waited for another streetcar to get further ahead and decrease congestion, and even he was using this app.

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lobotrock.cincystreetcarmapper&hl=en

^ That's great. Having it for iOS is obviously important. And, it's even more mind-boggling now, why SORTA won't just pay this dude for the app, and figure out how to port and maintain it.

SORTA would get slammed if they spent any money on anything streetcar related. Remember, the big push of their upcoming sales tax is "100% of this will go to buses, no money from SORTA gets spent on anything streetcar related."

 

So the city would have to pay the guy for his app... which brings us back to Cranley.

^I don't think this is really an issue. Bustracker includes 45 bus routes in addition to the streetcar. That's more than enough cover for something like having a decent app for their riders. It's something they should have done a long time ago and I'd guess many of their riders would applaud it.

 

And I think the non-riders would look at it as a sign that maybe SORTA can change into the forward-thinking agency that can make good use of additional tax payer money. It's my assumption that SORTA is itself a big part of the problem, in terms of perception, for getting a levy passed.

It doesn't even need to be an app, they could just make the website mobile-friendly with proper menus and navigation.  As it is, on a mobile device it doesn't register taps/clicks, thinks you tapped on something you meant to scroll past, and pinch to zoom doesn't know whether you want to zoom the page or the map.  It's really not that hard a problem to fix. 

^ Are you talking about the Bus Tracker website? The vendor that makes that software already has a mobile-friendly version of it, but they want money for it, they won't just give it to Metro for free.

No, the app has just made the real time part of Metro's site mobile friendly.  So you can pick a route easily and see where every bus on that route is.  I'm a big fan and use it daily.

No, the app has just made the real time part of Metro's site mobile friendly.  So you can pick a route easily and see where every bus on that route is.  I'm a big fan and use it daily.

Can you please be more explicit. What is "the app" you refer to?

In google play it is called cincy streetcar and bus gps.  It was intially streetcar only but has been updated and is super valuable.

Visitors aren't going to know of the existence of this app, let alone wait around for it to download onto their phone.  What's more, real-time arrival information doesn't make the bus get to you any quicker. 

Agreed, but it is far superior than anything else that is out there.  I'm also in a unique situation in that I often walk to work but take the bus when its raining, hot or I'm feeling lazy or hungover.  I won't wait much more than 5 minutes for a bus so this app works great for me. 

^ OK so I'm assuming that's the contributed app for Android that others have talked about. jmecklenborg[/member] I think the app would be quite useful, and if there was a stable and supported app then there would be tons of ways to let visitors know about it. Unfortunately, this is only Android, and so it's stupid to even think about advertising. You'd just end up pissing off half the people trying to ride.

Agreed, but it is far superior than anything else that is out there.  I'm also in a unique situation in that I often walk to work but take the bus when its raining, hot or I'm feeling lazy or hungover.  I won't wait much more than 5 minutes for a bus so this app works great for me. 

 

work hangovers R the best

 

I remember my first store didn't open until noon and nobody came in until 1:30 anyway. The customers all knew everything already and barely even asked questions. I could be hungover to the max in there and it didn't matter.

 

I didn't make any money.

 

Anyway, streetcar.

Cincinnati streetcar at a crossroads one year after launch

 

When he became mayor in 2005, Mark Mallory wasn’t a fan of the pricey, $43 million overhaul of Fountain Square that he inherited, for which the city kicked in $4 million. As a political football, Mallory even kicked it around a few yards during that year’s mayoral campaign. Until he took office.

 

“Once I became mayor and got a clear vision of what it was going to do to help revitalize downtown, I embraced it 1,000 percent,” Mallory said. “It became a huge hit. It was because we supported the efforts that were in place.”

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/09/01/cincinnati-streetcar-at-a-crossroads-one-year.html

A photo I saw on Twitter from Sunday night after the fireworks:

 

Was anyone down there?  I saw Paul Grether write that they were only running three streetcars.  Biggest event of the year and thanks to Cranley two streetcars were sleeping in the car barn.

They were running three cars. The first car leaving riverfest was packed. The good thing is it had a police escort that told people to stay off the tracks.

 

With river fest being a million dollar event, and chartering a streetcar only costing $1,200 or so, you think they could be running all five. To say nothing of having a sponsor step up and offer free rides for a day.  Cincinnati still needs to get its act together on this.

^Yeah, rides should be free.  There are two ticket machines at that stop, but no way can 100+ people buy tickets in a crush like this. 

They were running three cars. The first car leaving riverfest was packed. The good thing is it had a police escort that told people to stay off the tracks.

 

With river fest being a million dollar event, and chartering a streetcar only costing $1,200 or so, you think they could be running all five. To say nothing of having a sponsor step up and offer free rides for a day.  Cincinnati still needs to get its act together on this.

 

Exactly. For Taste and Oktoberfest, the Chamber of Commerce should absolutely step up and pay the small incremental cost of running all five streetcars. This is common sense, people.

 

The good news is that Metro/Transdev seems to be running three streetcars on weekends to meet the demand instead of the two that the city originally asked for. This mostly seems to have gone unnoticed by the local media, but definitely helps transport the big weekend crowds and keep the wait times down.

It's a joke how poorly the streetcar is run by our local government. 

​Former streetcar executive: Why Vine Street route to Uptown could work

 

The potential route to Uptown for the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar along Vine Street has taken a beating over the last half decade, but the city’s former project executive still believes it could work.

 

Gov. John Kasich’s transportation department slashed state funding for the streetcar project in 2011, dooming the Uptown route, which would have connected the city’s two major jobs centers and the fast-growing neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine. Under the city’s original plan, the streetcar route would have made a left on Vine and traveled up to the hill to an East Corry Street stop.

 

The prospects for the extension have gotten worse in the meantime. In 2015, the Ohio Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling requiring the city to pay for the movement of utilities in the path of the streetcar, meaning the city could have to pay at least $40 million to Duke Energy to move its main trunk line before a single piece of steel was embedding into the ground. And one of the streetcar’s biggest supporters, John Schneider[/member], has come out against the route, saying narrow Vine Street would mean an uncomfortable ride and that planners should instead explore building a rapid transit route that would feature a tunnel under Mount Auburn to connect Uptown and downtown.

 

Cont

The worst thing is that my Google Alerts digest was filled with the basically the same headline that the streetcar is missing its numbers as it approaches the one-year anniversary. It looks like that is because the AP picked up the story and then local affiliates republished. This makes me want to believe that someone put together a press release, assuming they didn't pull the content from the BizCourier article (which I have not read in full).

^^I'm worried that when and if Simpson defeats Cranley, she will be under enormous pressure to not expand the system.  It will be a huge political liability for her.  COAST will be on the warpath. 

I get the impression that Simpson isn't too interested in urgently expanding the streetcar with the focus to be on current service and studying again a potential extension.

COAST will be on the warpath. 

 

You mean Wilson513?

I'm not exactly sure Simpson is going to beat Cranley with her recent Children's debacle.  If she does though we'd at least have someone in office who will actually attempt improve the current streetcar.  Next years ridership projections are so low that if they don't surpass them it's going to look horrible.  Make improvements based off the traffic study, run more cars when it's needed and work at getting the public perception of the thing improved.  There's no reason to bring up expansion until we can show as a city that we can run the current streetcar to the best of its abilities. 

I'm not exactly sure Simpson is going to beat Cranley with her recent Children's debacle.  If she does though we'd at least have someone in office who will actually attempt improve the current streetcar.  Next years ridership projections are so low that if they don't surpass them it's going to look horrible.  Make improvements based off the traffic study, run more cars when it's needed and work at getting the public perception of the thing improved.  There's no reason to bring up expansion until we can show as a city that we can run the current streetcar to the best of its abilities.

I bet that was cranley's plan all along, cripple it so much that we're happy to just settle for it working as good as it was supposed to in the first place.

I'm not exactly sure Simpson is going to beat Cranley with her recent Children's debacle.  If she does though we'd at least have someone in office who will actually attempt improve the current streetcar.  Next years ridership projections are so low that if they don't surpass them it's going to look horrible.  Make improvements based off the traffic study, run more cars when it's needed and work at getting the public perception of the thing improved.  There's no reason to bring up expansion until we can show as a city that we can run the current streetcar to the best of its abilities.

I bet that was cranley's plan all along, cripple it so much that we're happy to just settle for it working as good as it was supposed to in the first place.

Waiting might end up being a win in the long run if we do end up expanding it.  If we can find a better way to get it uptown and also have it connect to the hospitals, UC and perhaps even the zoo it would be better then the original plan.  Right now we've got some people claiming the streetcar has had no effect on development downtown and in OTR because it would have happened without it.  In another couple years we'll have even more development north of Liberty and that argument get's a lot tougher to make for that part of OTR.  It needs to go uptown to work to the fullest of it's abilities but like I said let's make sure this first phase is working properly before we decide to start laying down more tracks. 

I'm interested in getting the opinion of someone who posts here and is very close to streetcar operations.  To what extent if any might low ridership be attributed to actions or non-actions directly under the control of City administration?  Not talking about SORTA, Metro or the operator.  City Administration, period!  For example parking enforcement.  (I've read some rumors on this thread about booting or ticketing rather than towing--really, are you kidding!  That would discourage even the most die-hard supporter from riding). This type of issue has been addressed on this thread many times before, but we have a lot more data now with a full year of ops and stats almost in.

The problems with the streetcar could absolutely be solved by the city administration. They are the problem, not SORTA/Metro or Transdev.

 

Kevin Flynn's budget amendment slashed funding for the streetcar, including the money for parking enforcement along the route.

 

You should follow the Detroit Qline on social media. Every day they are posting about changes they are making to improve the system. Even though it's only been open a few months, they have already tweaked the traffic signals to improve the traffic flow, and significantly increased the fine for people who have parked on the tracks. I think their fine is something massive, like $500. Cincinnati's fine is $50.

 

This isn't rocket science. If we had an administration that gave a damn, there are many simple changes they could make to speed up the streetcar, therefore increasing ridership.

Exactly as I suspected.  BTW yes I follow your photos on Instagram. Nice work! I hope someone is keeping stats on schedule delays (mean, range etc.)  and towing response times.  It seems like at some point excessive undermining of project goals could become a Federal contract issue.

On Cincinnati streetcar's one-year anniversary, leaders thinking toward the future

 

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati's streetcar hits its one-year birthday on Saturday. While city leaders can point to a number of successes with the controversial Downtown transit system, they also have to sort out a lot of questions about its future -- most notably funding and expansion.

 

The streetcar -- launched Sept. 9, 2016 -- has had growing pains. Ticket machines initially weren't working properly. An already congested Downtown has caused delays in arrival times. And a slow winter caused many to question whether or not people are actually using the $150 million investment. There were also questions about ridership, delayed schedules and a number of technical issues that some say weren't expected.

 

While many of those issues were addressed as they arose, a big question remains: What needs to happen to keep the system running?

 

WCPO Insiders can read more about operation of the streetcar moving forward.

Metro's Oktoberfest press release says that "the streetcar will operate according to its regular schedule".  So are they running any extra streetcars or are we going to see a repeat of the Riverfest fiasco?

They will probably run 4 streetcars during Oktoberfest. It's still pretty unbelievable that the City and the Chamber of Commerce (who runs Oktoberfest and Taste) haven't stepped up to get the kinks worked out during these big events.

I just read elsewhere that "there will be no supplemental service". 

It's still not well-defined what "regular" service levels are, though. Transdev has been running 3 streetcars on weekends even though they only "need" to run 2 because the demand is there. There is also still disagreement between the City and Transdev/Metro about whether the contract requires certain headways or just requires a certain number of cars to be running. It's just more unnecessary drama and confusion from an anti-streetcar administration that got put in charge of running a streetcar.

WCPO says 4 streetcars will run during Oktoberfest.

Since it will Cranley's last big chance to club Simpson over the streetcar issue, expect some sort of "major problem" to occur some time this Oktoberfest weekend.

Just rode the streetcar to Findlay Market and back. There were good crowds on board and headways were about 12 minutes. I saw two streetcars parked at the MOF so there are only 3 out on the tracks right now. I assume they'll take out the 4th after rush hour / when the Oktoberfest crowds pick up.

I also want to point out that while the downtown loop is closed for track repairs this week, MSD is taking advantage of the closure and doing some sewer repair work at 5th & Walnut under the track. The reason I point this out is that Hamilton County was given the option in 2011 to do this work at a 50% discount during the construction of the streetcar, when the streets were already ripped up. Due to pressure from COAST and opposition to anything related to the word "streetcar", Hamilton County foolishly turned down the offer, and as a result, only the bare minimum sewer repair work was done at that time. (I think they discovered a big sewer collapse under Elm Street in front of Music Hall, and that was repaired before the track was installed.) So thanks to COAST, Hamilton County taxpayers are spending more money to do these repairs, and they're ripping up a street that just got repaved about a year ago.

 

MSD is now doing some sewer work on 12th Street in front of the Gateway Garage. Once again, this is work that they should have done while the streetcar was under construction, but due to Hamilton County's refusal to cooperate, the streets are now being torn up again to do this work.

This positive news just in:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/cincinnati-streetcar-will-run-additional-vehicles-this-weekend-for-oktoberfest

 

Right now, all it's saying is that the system can function "normally" when needed.  However, just wait.  This 2017 Oktoberfest weekend has just begun, so don't tally any scores until Monday morning.

CPD is working Walnut at 3rd, 4th, & 5th streets. It'd be nice if this year they actually discouraged blocking the box and assisted the streetcar through these busy intersections when necessary.

Streetcars seemed to be running reliably on 12 minute headways, with very little bunching, yesterday and today. Cars were comfortably full -- not the crushing loads we saw last Oktoberfest but definitely standing room only. More people actually using it as a transit system this year vs. a new "ride" last year.

Cincinnati Bell has wrapped several Metro buses in a scheme pretty similar to the streetcars.  So now it's that much easier to picture the streetcars in other areas of the city. 

Downtown traffic study is (finally!) underway, funded out of savings from streetcar budget:

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/06/study-speed-up-downtown-traffic-underway/734987001/

 

 

It's about time

Sadly, I see nothing in that article referencing potential for Signal Priority, Preemption, or precluding movements at intersection to more efficiently move the streetcar. This being said, retiming and entire grid system is an epic task. I wish them luck. I'm about to work on my own epic signal timing evaluation in another city. Sure to be a fun time.

From what Chris Wetterich told me on Twitter, the company doing the traffic study will investigate whether signal priority and similar measures would be effective, and then ultimately leave it up to the city to implement them or not. A council supermajority (6+) could pass an ordinance requiring signal priority for transit to be implemented.

Is this just wish fulfillment on the part of the Enquirer or has there really been a back-shelving on expansion of the streetcar?

 

*FIXED LINK*

 

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/31/heres-why-politicians-arent-talking-cincinnati-streetcar/806719001/

Is this just wish fulfillment on the part of the Enquirer or has there really been a back-shelving on expansion of the streetcar?

 

 

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/31/heres-why-politicians-arent-talking-cincinnati-streetcar/806719001/

 

Does anyone know why a lot of these posted links don't seem to be working?  Thanks.

Users have to manually turn URLs into links before posting now. It is no longer automatic.