If the Media Was Actually Liberal there'd be a lot more investigation into the Cranley office.

#ISMEDIAACTUALLYLIBERAL?

If the Media Was Actually Liberal there'd be a lot more investigation into the Cranley office.

 

I don't think it is that, as much as who backs who and where the ad dollars come from. Best not to bite the hands that pay the bills (or some mixed metaphor like that).

Well, the hand that feeds as far as City Council is concerned is Cincinnati Bell. CB made recommendations about how to improve the streetcar which were ignored by the previous council. They probably aren't happy having their brand associated with a transit system that the city is constantly neglecting or using as a punching bag. So the city needs to fix the problems before Cincinnati Bell decides to bail.

Best not to bite the hands that pay the bills (or some mixed metaphor like that).

 

Incidentally I saw Bill Cunningham driving around Over-the-Rhine last Saturday.  He was by himself driving a Chevy Traverse with Joseph tags.  Take away car advertising and 700WLW collapses, just like The Enquirer. 

 

He gets those cars for free from Joseph. True story.

Perhaps UrbanCincy could post an article detailing what exactly has gone wrong with the streetcar? When I try to explain what is discussed here, people look at me like I'm a crazy conspiracy theorist and train cultist. If there were a well researched article I could point them to, it would give a lot more credibility to the argument that the administration has been sabotaging the streetcar for political gain.

 

If Cranley is the problem, and he's able to get away with it because of a complicit or ignorant media, then perhaps a spotlight is the best tool we have right now.

Cincinnati, like its media, is not liberal.

Better Bus Coalition proposes bus-only right lane for Main St...so the streetcar would still be stuck in traffic:

https://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/better-bus-coalition-proposes-bus-lane-pilot-program-for-downtown

 

I can totally see Cranley creating bus lanes in lanes parallel to the streetcar lanes. 

Unfortunately the streetcar shifts lanes on straight streets (Main and Race). It makes designating transit only lanes very difficult to impact both the streetcar and buses. Buses don't have doors on the left side of the vehicle, so they can't share a transit only lane north of Government Place on Main and south of Findlay Market on Race.

 

EDIT: It also doesn't help that the buses can't share streetcar stops since the platforms are too high.

 

It would be better to start transit only lanes on Walnut, which is always backed up much further than Main.

BBC is proposing signal priority in addition to the bus only lane. So I think the streetcar would still benefit from this. My suggestion would be to extend the concept south to Second Street so that the streetcar would have a dedicated lane from 2nd to 5th, buses would have a transit only lane from 5th to Central Parkway, and both would benefit from transit only lanes (or at least longer green lights) along the entire corridor.

Detroit seems to get it. They're blocking the right lane to traffic during major events at LCA to make the QLine run smoother. Largely in response to cars parking in the streetcar's path.

 

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/03/14/little-caesars-arena-traffic-woodward/423840002/

Hey all,

 

Quick question for you streetcar experts!

 

The opening day parade got moved to the Monday following the game, correct? Does that meant the streetcar will be running on opening day?

 

Got tickets for the first time, but wanted to think ahead about parking and logistics getting into the stadium.

 

Thank you!

Assuming that the parade will overlap the streetcar route (as usual), the streetcar will not be running during the parade, and will resume service as soon as possible after the parade is complete. I think this is mostly a liability concern, as they don't want the overhead wires powered on while the parade is happening.

I think the question is will the streetcar be running during the actual opening day, Thursday 3/29. It should be operating at full service that day. The parade is the next Monday, on the fourth game of the season, and the streetcar will be out of service then (when it's most needed).

 

Not to get off topic, but knowing the Reds, they'll probably be 0-3 and it will be 25 degrees and snow that Monday. The whole thing is a travesty, IMO. Findlay Market didn't want to have the parade on Thursday because they didn't want to hurt their Easter weekend sales. I go to the market every weekend, but I'll skip that weekend out of spite.

Rode down to the game from OTR...lots of gameday riders before and after the game.

 

Took some first-timers on the streetcar (as I always try to do). They all liked it, though their only complaint was the speed and the red lights. We must have waited at 5+ lights between Washington Park and The Banks.

 

Also, why don't they cue up 2-3 trains after a game? It was crush loads without everyone getting on the first train, so we just decided to enjoy the nice evening and take a walk back.

Rode down to the game from OTR...lots of gameday riders before and after the game.

 

Also, why don't they cue up 2-3 trains after a game?

 

That makes too little sense in a Cranley world.

 

That makes too little sense in a Cranley world.

 

The under-construction central section of Seattle's streetcar system has been halted by their mayor:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/seattle-mayor-jenny-durkan-halts-streetcar-expansion-project-as-costs-jump-to-200m/

 

Seattle built phases 2 and phases 3 before phase 1.  What was just halted is the connection through downtown.  It would be like if there was an independent streetcar line east of downtown and another west of downtown before the actual downtown section was built.  Fact is that the $200~ million cost of this section is less than the cost of a single subway station. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cincinnati Streetcar will have its 1,000,000th rider sometime this week.

 

Kansas City, the most comparable streetcar system to ours, got to a million rides in five months. It's looking like around 20 months for us.

^ is it really comparable when the KC system is free? 

Based on the City Fiscal Year 2018 Streetcar Funding request we're projecting $377,752 in fare revenue and a ridership of 609,277. However, that's gross fare revenue. Fare media and credit card fees are projected to be $50,000 and police detail to check for tickets another $84,000. Let's say you still want some police detail (25%) but won't need nearly as much and we can say net fare revenue is around $266,000.

 

With that $266,000 in fare revenue, the City Subsidy works out to be $3,320,823 or $5.45 per rider.

 

If dropping the fare to zero can quadruple ridership like in Kansas City, that would mean the City Subsidy would be $3,586,823 for 2,437,109 riders per year or $1.47 per rider. This doesn't take into account the benefit to the City that ridership itself has in terms of supporting businesses, traffic congestion, etc.

 

And, it honestly might pay for itself. Advertising is budgeted at $222,524 for 609,277 riders. If can can quadruple (or even triple or double) the ridership, you might be able to get a little over double the advertising revenue and then its a wash and the streetcar ridership problem is solved.

 

 

^Free rides or a free zone weren't part of the conversation back in 2007 because of the fear that the homeless would camp out on the streetcar.  Obviously Over-the-Rhine has changed dramatically in the eleven years since council first paid to study a streetcar, so I don't believe the same fears are warranted today.

 

 

 

 

It should have been free from the start and been funded the same way KC set theirs up.  The fact you have to pay for it has made anti streetcar people claim that it needs to make enough profits to pay for itself.  Yet no one claims the new MLK exit off 71 needs to pay for itself, because like the streetcar it was built to help spur further development.

Exactly. When you have to pay to use I-275, we can begin to question the costs of other forms of transportation. I-275 has never produced a penny in income. How can we know if it's 'paid for itself.' I'm almost sure it hasn't.

Exactly. When you have to pay to use I-275, we can begin to question the costs of other forms of transportation. I-275 has never produced a penny in income. How can we know if it's 'paid for itself.' I'm almost sure it hasn't.

 

Not the western edge near Lawrenceburg, that's for sure. 

 

Exactly. When you have to pay to use I-275, we can begin to question the costs of other forms of transportation. I-275 has never produced a penny in income. How can we know if it's 'paid for itself.' I'm almost sure it hasn't.

 

But, but, the gas tax!!! LOL

Exactly. When you have to pay to use I-275, we can begin to question the costs of other forms of transportation. I-275 has never produced a penny in income. How can we know if it's 'paid for itself.' I'm almost sure it hasn't.

 

But, but, the gas tax!!! LOL

 

Yeah, that's being diverted to bike lanes and streetcars by Agenda 21. 

 

The streetcar saw its 1 millionth rider this morning.

Interview with John Barrett, CEO of Western-Southern Insurance:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/04/20/western-southerns-john-barrett-says-he-wants-to.html

 

Where else do you see development opportunities?

 

The whole Mount Auburn hillside up to UC, that’s the next big move. It can’t miss with housing. Let’s just say we come to our senses on the streetcar and leave it alone and don’t throw good money after bad, you could have a streetcar-looking vehicle with rubber tires going up and around Clifton and around downtown, back and forth, and make Mount Auburn very commutable.

 

You’ve been a backer of Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley. How’s he doing?

 

I like the mayor. He’s in a very difficult political situation. He has a very difficult council to deal with. We have several members of council who were adamantly against the streetcar. Within a couple weeks, two guys switched their votes and we got the streetcar. Now we realize what a mistake that was. We can’t shut it down. We have to pay the feds back.

 

You know what I think will happen with that thing? There will be a Graeter’s car, a Christian Moerlein car, a bourbon car, and they will be used Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, to loop the city for entertainment, to move the people in an entertaining way. It’s too slow to be a practical form of transportation. People have talked about how it helps the values of real estate (the Courier has reported that it has). That’s all in the eye of the beholder.

 

Some of his comments on development of downtown were great to hear like on the convention center, us bank arena and Lytle Park.  But his thoughts on the streetcar are stereotypical of an old white man that lives in Indian Hill. 

^Well - at least it's clear where Cranley gets his streetcar talking points from.

^Well - at least it's clear where Cranley gets his streetcar talking points from.

 

They pretend that the streetcar had no effect on real estate values.  Fact is they opposed the streetcar because they wanted complete control of Over-the-Rhine.  The streetcar attracted a lot of money from disparate developers before they could gobble it up entirely. 

 

The fact that he brings up Mt. Auburn makes me think he planted that as a foil.  So what, exactly, are their big plans?  If they want to build a subway beneath Reading Rd. from Downtown Cincinnati to Reading, well that sounds great.  Let's get going on it.  But there would have to be service to UC and the main cluster of hospital jobs a few blocks west of Reading Rd. via another line. 

 

The years tick by but the 1998 OKI plan was still the best plan, if we only have the cash to build one line, and Reading Rd. was no part of that plan. 

 

 

 

I was riding the streetcar back from Findlay Market on Friday evening after having dinner at Pho Lang Thang and overheard an interesting conversation. Two people who appeared to be coworkers—both in their 40s, one African American woman and one white man—seemed to be riding it from some sort of happy hour event at Rhinegeist back down to the CBD.

 

M: You know, I think the problem with this thing is that they call it a streetcar. They should've called it a tram, like they do in other countries.

W: I think once people ride it, they will ride it again.

M: I always was in support of this, but I didn't get around to riding it until tonight.

W: I wasn't. I thought that it was a bad idea. But now that it's here, I get it.

 

 

So, back in the reality of people who actually spend time in the urban core and ride the streetcar and don't get chauffeured back to their Indian Hill mansion right after the business day ends, the streetcar is impressing people. Even people who used to be former skeptics.

 

If the city wants to make it successful, just make sure it runs on time, fix the handful of remaining easily-fixable problems, and maybe...you know...actually promote it? Run extra cars during big events. Make it free during Taste and Oktoberfest. It's really not that hard.

I had a similar experience on Saturday. A group of four guys got on at Washington Park - it appeared only one of them had ever ridden it as he bought the tickets for everyone and showed them how everything work. I eavesdropped for a while and they were all very impressed with how easy it was to use and how cheap it is compared to taking an Uber or something around the core, and how it would be incredibly useful on game days than trying to fight traffic for the privilege to pay $30 to park at the Banks. Getting people on the thing is such an easy way to change peoples' minds.

 

----

 

I don't understand old peoples' obsession with those stupid Southbank Shuttle style fake trolleys. If you propose an actual streetcar and they'll oppose it, and if you were to just propose more frequent bus service along that line they'd also cry foul because "normal" people don't commute to their hospital jobs by bus, or something. But apparently putting a Spaghetti Warehouse body on a bus frame will make it a huge magnet for people who turn their noses up at normal buses.

I honestly think a lot of it is generational, Millennials are much better at sniffing out authenticity than Baby Boomers. The gimmicky Hop On Trolley idea and Southbank Shuttle seem to be loved by Boomers while Millennials think it's tacky as hell.

The Shouthbank Shuttle was originally a fleet of small airport shuttle-type large vans.  Then they switched to specially painted TANK buses.  Then it switched to the current trolley-looking buses when TANK was kicked off of the suspension bridge.  They had to get the lightweight buses in order to use that bridge. 

I just rode the southbank shuttle for the first time last week.  While it serves a purpose (and helps that it's free right now) the right is extremely bumpy and not enjoyable. 

The double-standard is very evident when you consider that TANK just decided to make the Southbank Shuttle free while the Roebling Bridge is closed, and received no scrutiny for that decision. Can you imagine how much hot air Jason Williams would have exhaled if Cincinnati decided to make the streetcar free for any period of time?

^It's especially annoying since both Cleveland and Columbus have free circulators while Cincinnati does not. Even Dayton will run special free RTA buses during certain events, although not on a daily basis like the C-Bus and the Cleveland trolleys.

FWIW, concerning streetcar blockage:  https://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/streetcar-blockages-just-getting-worse-data-show

Had some more people on the streetcar the other day when in town.

 

They enjoyed it, but their biggest complaint (like always) was all of the stopping at lights. They feel like they are crawling along, whether real or perceived.

 

Also, its the first time I have had the machine not except credit cards...so it made for some stressful fumbling for cash to feed it while the streetcar was waiting on the station.

Had some more people on the streetcar the other day when in town.

 

They enjoyed it, but their biggest complaint (like always) was all of the stopping at lights. They feel like they are crawling along, whether real or perceived.

 

Also, its the first time I have had the machine not except credit cards...so it made for some stressful fumbling for cash to feed it while the streetcar was waiting on the station.

Download the app.  It stores your credit card info so it makes it much easier to get tickets quickly.  Remember though that when you buy the tickets you have to activate them.  It's nice that you can store them later but if you don't activate you're technically riding illegally for free. 

The machine prints them activated now.

 

I actually use a flip phone because I work in a tech field and don't want to walk around with my work with me...but definitely will keep the app in mind for the group as a whole for future visits.

 

I don't live in town, but visit the base for different reasons frequently. Just sharing some out-off-town perspective. The thing is, out-of-towners aren't usually downloading apps for just an occasional visit/ride...its a frustration when the machine is there but doesn't work.

 

I'd love to see the machines just one the vehicle, so you can just board and pay there.

Looking forward to my next trip to cincy, the streetcar will be my first stop!  Got to use detroit's a few months back and it was awesome! Discovered many things i would have never seen before..  youll get a fare or 2 out of my forsure... plus anyone im with!

We had our first warm weekend of the year and the streetcar system looked very busy despite the Reds being out of town.  I saw 50+ people on every streetcar, even late night on Saturday. 

News on the streetcar has been slow lately. I can only assume that means it is functioning well and ridership is up.

It seems to be functioning well, but I opted to walk this past Saturday from Central Parkway to The Banks simply because the headways were 20 minutes plus according to the sign. Apparently lots of crowding and traffic up near the Asian Food Festival.

 

During the week it's been pretty good, but because the frequency isn't great you need to rely on tracking the location to time it right.

 

You could track it on the EZRide app, but that doesn't have real time.

 

You could track it on the Transit app, but that's unreliable.

 

You can track it on the Metro website, but that doesn't work on iPhone it seems.

 

You wouldn't need to track it at all if the frequency was reliable/good.

Traffic this weekend was a total cluster[/member]#$*. Way worse than usual. I know Asian Food Fest was going on at Washington Park but there must've also been a dozen other things happening. Of course when that happens, the streetcar's headways suffer. This could be alleviated very easily if we had a few more segments of transit-only lanes, a few more green lights for the streetcar, and a few traffic cops helping to keep things flowing during crazy weekends.

I was in town again this weekend.

 

The worst spot in the system in my experience is on Walnut street when it switches lanes right here: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1009173,-84.5112943,3a,72.7y,172.15h,90.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSjgk0vv0lRB9i5tA9mTB4Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

For whatever reason, every time I ride, it waits several cycles (5+ minutes) at this light.

 

The weekend as well, after waiting for several minutes at that light, the driver pulled into the transit only lane between 2nd and 3rd and announced that she couldn't pull into the Banks for another 4 minutes to maintain headways, so we parked there for 4 minutes within sight of the stop. Why can't they just layover at the station so people can get on-and-off?

This was all after leaving behind about 7 or 8 people at I think 7th street who were struggling with the Ticket-vending machine. The driver made an announcement towards the platform letting them know that she could not wait on them because she had to maintain a schedule.