I told the city they are going to have to renegotiate the contract. We'll see.

Yes. My wife who is from Seoul notices the lack of that map every time

I don't think you can ever solve these problems by starting out apologizing for the way SORTA seems to be run. The best thing that will happen from all of this is a heightened set of expectations for SORTA from customers they've not often thought about.

 

It doesn't take a lot of funding to create a vision. It takes a vision

From the same writer who wrote the borderline hit piece on the streetcar last week:

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/10/self-driving-cars-are-going-to-beat-up-on-trains-too/502430/

 

It's pretty obvious at this point that Uber, Lyft, and the Koch Bros are funding a media campaign that predicts a complete collapse of trains and local public transportation in 10 years thanks to self-driving cars.  This campaign includes getting ostensibly progressive niche news outlets to publish stories along with mainstream media. 

 

Much of their argument relies on the thought that people who currently do not ride buses and trains because they don't like mixing with the lower class will suddenly agree to ride in a pooled AV car with 3 complete strangers.  Uber Pool and Lyft Line have been in operation for two years now in the bigger cities, but those who can afford it avoid it because you get stuck in cars with obnoxious people (and in LA, you might be stuck for an hour in a jam with them).  My brother said he was in an uber pool car in LA recently and the driver refused to pick a guy up because he was drunk in the middle of the day.  Will the strangers in a pooled autonomous vehicle have to agree not to pick up an additional passenger who is obviously a problem?  Will there be an app for that?

 

Without getting more than one person in an AV at rate significantly higher than exists now during commutes, there is no real change to congestion in the most acutely congested areas.  When the driver, who is a bit of an arbiter, is removed from the equation, who is in charge of what goes on in a pooled AV?  The technology will change, but people will keep being people. 

 

 

There's also this problem:

 

God these people want to keep 1-2 people per engine so badly.

Excess consumption (waste) equals excess profit (wealth transference).

Without getting more than one person in an AV at rate significantly higher than exists now during commutes, there is no real change to congestion in the most acutely congested areas.  When the driver, who is a bit of an arbiter, is removed from the equation, who is in charge of what goes on in a pooled AV?  The technology will change, but people will keep being people. 

 

I agree for the most part, but what you're not accounting for are accidents.  Rush hour traffic in a city like Cincinnati (might be different in larger cities) isn't that bad unless there's an accident.  Then it gets miserable.  Even if a lane isn't blocked, most drivers slow down to gawk at it.  Assuming that autonomous vehicles have less accidents, there's a reduction based solely on accidents being less frequent and another because an autonomous vehicle won't slow down to stare.  There are other gains to be had based on computers driving differently than humans, like cars driving tightly at high speeds in lines resembling a train with the lead car controlling the braking for the whole line, but those are probably further away.  Congestion, or at least the perception of congestion, can be somewhat relieved by reducing the amount of human error.

Much of their argument relies on the thought that people who currently do not ride buses and trains because they don't like mixing with the lower class will suddenly agree to ride in a pooled AV car with 3 complete strangers.  Uber Pool and Lyft Line have been in operation for two years now in the bigger cities, but those who can afford it avoid it because you get stuck in cars with obnoxious people (and in LA, you might be stuck for an hour in a jam with them).  My brother said he was in an uber pool car in LA recently and the driver refused to pick a guy up because he was drunk in the middle of the day.  Will the strangers in a pooled autonomous vehicle have to agree not to pick up an additional passenger who is obviously a problem?  Will there be an app for that?

 

I've used uber pool and lyft line a few times and never really had a problem with bad people.

Without getting more than one person in an AV at rate significantly higher than exists now during commutes, there is no real change to congestion in the most acutely congested areas.  When the driver, who is a bit of an arbiter, is removed from the equation, who is in charge of what goes on in a pooled AV?  The technology will change, but people will keep being people. 

 

I agree for the most part, but what you're not accounting for are accidents.  Rush hour traffic in a city like Cincinnati (might be different in larger cities) isn't that bad unless there's an accident.  Then it gets miserable.  Even if a lane isn't blocked, most drivers slow down to gawk at it.  Assuming that autonomous vehicles have less accidents, there's a reduction based solely on accidents being less frequent and another because an autonomous vehicle won't slow down to stare.  There are other gains to be had based on computers driving differently than humans, like cars driving tightly at high speeds in lines resembling a train with the lead car controlling the braking for the whole line, but those are probably further away.  Congestion, or at least the perception of congestion, can be somewhat relieved by reducing the amount of human error.

 

Highway operation is the easiest to achieve but also where the fewest gains are to be made.  Most people have commutes with short distances of non-highway driving, but the time spent on local roads might consume 50% or more of the commute time.  Remember that while some (but certainly not all) congestion will be avoided in some sort of perfect world where all vehicles are linked and talking to each other (so 100 million of something that not even one exists of yet -- and all existing vehicles must be scrapped in order to enable the full benefit of a fully automatic road network, which nobody is going to agree to), all vehicles will have to obey posted speed limits so max speed will actually go down on a Sunday morning drive and frustrate lead foots during those times during their commutes when normally they would flaunt the law. 

 

The other thing that should be feared is that car companies will set up very tricky subscription plans for Coke vs. Pepsi conglomerations of vehicle services that will be very cheap for base service but for anything you really want to do they will force you to buy services you never use.  It'll be like how cable TV forces you to buy a bunch of channels you don't watch to get the 1-2 that you do.  Or there will be a time-share type scam or "iPhone Forever" or some similar scheme that tricks the public like how leases do currently or phony 0% offers.  It's not going to be fair if soulless capitalists are given free reign. 

 

People are also ignoring the high cost of the gear on each car and a central network the permits them to communicate and somehow, magically, prevents the whole damn thing from being hacked.  Uber has not disclosed how much all of the equipment costs on their existing, street-illegal driverless cars that require a human driver to keep them from doing something ridiculous.  It is no doubt currently well over $100k per car, if not $1 million.  It will take a very long time before a fully autonomous car exists that can be sold for a profit for under $100k, since we have no idea what the equipment will cost or what the insurance situation will be. 

 

I've used uber pool and lyft line a few times and never really had a problem with bad people.

 

Do it 1,000 times and something totally bizarre will happen.  I did about 1,000 drives for Uber and quit after a male passenger kept hitting on me and despite me telling him to cut it out unbuttoned his pants on I-75.  That's the kind of crap that is going to happen out there in these carpooling autonomous cars, and people are going to go cold turkey after one bad experience.  Women aren't going to want to ride with any men, pretty much ever. 

 

I've used uber pool and lyft line a few times and never really had a problem with bad people.

 

Do it 1,000 times and something totally bizarre will happen.  I did about 1,000 drives for Uber and quit after a male passenger kept hitting on me and despite me telling him to cut it out unbuttoned his pants on I-75.  That's the kind of crap that is going to happen out there in these carpooling autonomous cars, and people are going to go cold turkey after one bad experience.  Women aren't going to want to ride with any men, pretty much ever. 

 

 

So you quit because of one bad experience?  That's like never taking a plane again because you had bad turbulence on one flight.

No one really knows what the impact of AV's will be. However its a false choice to think they can replace transit in cities where rail based transit sustains dense neighborhoods. I think there is also a deeper fiscal impact related to sustaining infrastructure that we are just beginning to talk about in suburban communities. While the AV will give small cities and suburbs false justification to maintain the sprawl growth pattern they will still have to deal with the negative fiscal, health, environmental, and societal consequences of that growth.

 

The key takeaway is that in order to build and maintain the interesting walk-friendly urban places people love, we will still need transit.

 

The streetcar is the first step towards that.

I agree with Jake in that this is getting a push from Uber and Lyft and Koch bros etc.  It makes no sense to me how autonomous cars are going to cure traffic problems.  People overall are fairly OK drivers.  I guess it is hard to wrap my head around having a robot drive me from 74 to south on 75, crossing across 3 or 4 lanes of traffic in rush hour and onto Columbia Parkway safely and efficiently.  How are they going to deal with construction and temporary lanes, etc. etc.  I just don't understand it.

 

All that said, the biggest cities need to have rail components.  Our streetcar is the first step, but we will need to upgrade it to light rail and running in it's own lanes, etc. outside of downtown, to open up denser development uptown where people don't lose their minds over the traffic.

I am always skeptical of "technology will save us" predictions. If you completely ban human drivers and allow only AVs on the road, you can get some pretty major efficiency gains and maybe even

. But that's unlikely to happen, and a road a with a mix of human drivers and AVs won't have much more capacity or efficiency that our current roads. What's even worse is that if we fool ourselves into believing that AVs are the answer, we are doubling down on our strategy of investing trillions of taxpayer dollars into highways. Meanwhile, people continue to moan about transit projects like the streetcar that are like a fraction of a percent of the city's budget.

 

We should never count on technology to change human instincts. People who drive alone downtown everyday are doing so because they want to be alone. They want to have complete control over their vehicle and their schedule. Having self-driving cars is not going to change that in a meaningful way. If the person wanted to save money, they could find someone to carpool with, or start taking the bus now.

 

Go peek your head into the Music Hall Renovation thread. The reason that Music Hall patrons don't want the skywalk torn down is because they want to drive their fancy car into the Town Center garage, park, and walk across the skywalk directly into Music Hall where they can interact with other people in high society while avoiding the peasants at ground level. Now... tell me whether any of those people would share an Uber with a stranger just because it was cheaper.

I've never understood claims that driverless cars will eliminate the need for transit.  It makes zero sense to me, unless these driverless cars are going to be free or about the same cost as a bus/train ride.  I mean, cabs have existed for decades, and Uber and Lyft have expanded these options in recent years, and no-one would say that these options have rendered transit unnecessary.  I can see driverless cars replacing regular cars for the most part, but the link to transit is tenuous, at best imo.  How is someone who currently can't afford a car for themselves or to take uber everywhere they want to go supposed to afford driverless cars for all their transportation needs? How do driverless cars reduce road congestion, other than making the system a bit more efficient by removing human error from driving? What impact do they have on parking needs? Of course there's also the issue of using transit to focus development, which doesn't happen with driverless cars. It's a real head scratcher for me. 

A lot of the self-driving car advocates keep insisting that we will create some sort of voucher program to allow low-income people to use self-driving cars, and that will be the replacement for subsidizing transit. Does anyone think that's a realistic proposal given our current political environment? I can already see the Tea Party calling them "Obamacars".

A lot of the self-driving car advocates keep insisting that we will create some sort of voucher program to allow low-income people to use self-driving cars, and that will be the replacement for subsidizing transit. Does anyone think that's a realistic proposal given our current political environment? I can already see the Tea Party calling them "Obamacars".

 

In the past, the Randal O'Toole and Wendell Cox and other Koch-funded shills did dishonest math and declared that "we could buy every new rider a car" in their anti-rail hit pieces.  Now they're advocating that very thing, but when it comes time to issue these vouchers, they'll oppose it.  The right wing wants the crisis because it fits the narrative that tricks the middle class into voting for policies that favor the landed gentry and cold-blooded capitalists. 

as broken of a public sector and miserable underclass as possible

as broken of a public sector and miserable underclass as possible

 

The "smart cities" thing is all about taking local, publically owned operations and making it automated and owned by a nebulous group of investors so that they get to collect dividends that would have instead stayed in a community.  It's a shame that Mike Allen's charity Vulcan, Inc. is behind this.  He was one of the early advocates for the streetcar in Seattle.  The Smart Cities grant looks like it's getting hijacked by or was conceived and pushed by these sorts of people.  Look at how a little army of shills appears in the comment section surrounding any Smart Cities story. 

 

Hmmm, that's why Columbus' grant money went to digital vapor in Linden instead of the hard rails in the ground we actually need.

I agree with Jake in that this is getting a push from Uber and Lyft and Koch bros etc.  It makes no sense to me how autonomous cars are going to cure traffic problems.  People overall are fairly OK drivers.  I guess it is hard to wrap my head around having a robot drive me from 74 to south on 75, crossing across 3 or 4 lanes of traffic in rush hour and onto Columbia Parkway safely and efficiently.  How are they going to deal with construction and temporary lanes, etc. etc.  I just don't understand it.

 

No... they aren't.  30,000 die on American roadways every year.  30,000!  And that's just the fatalities.  Countless others receive either minor or severe injuries.  I'm a huge proponent of transit and I love the streetcar/connector.  And I don't in any way think that driverless cars make transit obsolete.  But I see mostly negative comments directed toward the concept on this board.  Driverless cars may or may not ease congestion or encourage sprawl, but what we should really be thinking about is whether they would increase or decrease the number of accidents.  If you can cut that figure from 30k to even 20k (and I think it could go much lower), it's an option that should be considered.  Also, this would have benefits for pedestrians and cyclists as well.  Imagine being able to cross at a crosswalk without wondering if a driver is watching the road or texting. 

That's a high number for certain, about 14 out of 100,000 people who are driving, or 9.4 out of every 100,000 people in the US dies by auto accident per year.  That's about twice the murder rate

 

That said, I think government spending on mass transit is a much better expenditure to make it much more attractive for more people to use, say a goal of adding 10 million people to mass transit in 10 years, then spending all the money that would be needed for AV.

It is being reported that one of the streetcars in the maintenance facility rolled out onto the mainline tracks today.  So it's just dumb luck that one of the active streetcars didn't hit it.  I can't believe that the maintenance facility tracks were built on a slope that makes this possible and then that they didn't have the wheels chocked. 

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/10/04/streetcar-service-halted-otr-due-interruption/91541578/

 

 

This is one of the big reasons why light rail usually is not permitted to mix with freight rail.  Cars are kept on sidings and if one rolls out onto the mainline tracks the transit car will sustain serious damage. 

I've used uber pool and lyft line a few times and never really had a problem with bad people.

 

Do it 1,000 times and something totally bizarre will happen.  I did about 1,000 drives for Uber and quit after a male passenger kept hitting on me and despite me telling him to cut it out unbuttoned his pants on I-75.  That's the kind of crap that is going to happen out there in these carpooling autonomous cars, and people are going to go cold turkey after one bad experience.  Women aren't going to want to ride with any men, pretty much ever. 

 

 

So you quit because of one bad experience?  That's like never taking a plane again because you had bad turbulence on one flight.

 

Think about hitchhiking, it used to be really common and then there were some relatively small number of murders (edit: which may never have actually happened) and now no one ever does it.

Um, what goes on in your car as an Uber driver far outstrips turbulence or a disgruntled passenger on a commercial flight.  For those of you out there who read real books, think back to the passage in Malcom X's autobiography where he describes his time as a personal driver for wealthy white people.  All that stuff is still going on, I can attest.  It is the frat crowd and the mid-50s coked-up businessmen and their ex-wives who are the worst passengers, not regular bus riders. 

 

Back on topic: it appears that the local media simply didn't grasp the severity of today's incident with the runaway streetcar.  We easily could have had a collision between the runaway streetcar and one stopped at the Rhinegeist station. 

 

Several years ago a freight car broke loose in New York and coasted undetected into Canada:

 

That said, I think government spending on mass transit is a much better expenditure to make it much more attractive for more people to use, say a goal of adding 10 million people to mass transit in 10 years, then spending all the money that would be needed for AV.

 

Yeah, but that's spending by a different entity, so you're comparing apples to oranges.  The government isn't pursuing AVs; companies are.  But we've probably taken this conversation as far as it should go in a streetcar thread.

It is being reported that one of the streetcars in the maintenance facility rolled out onto the mainline tracks today.  So it's just dumb luck that one of the active streetcars didn't hit it.  I can't believe that the maintenance facility tracks were built on a slope that makes this possible and then that they didn't have the wheels chocked. 

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/10/04/streetcar-service-halted-otr-due-interruption/91541578/

 

 

This is one of the big reasons why light rail usually is not permitted to mix with freight rail.  Cars are kept on sidings and if one rolls out onto the mainline tracks the transit car will sustain serious damage. 

...it appears that the local media simply didn't grasp the severity of today's incident with the runaway streetcar.  We easily could have had a collision between the runaway streetcar and one stopped at the Rhinegeist station. 

 

Several years ago a freight car broke loose in New York and coasted undetected into Canada:

Yes, very much so. Unfortunately, my wife and I were on the receiving end of this mishap yesterday morning, as were many others awaiting the streetcar at the Findlay Market/Race St. stop.  It never came.  Instead, a Metro shuttle bus pulled up and the driver told everyone that the entire system was down and to board the bus. After working through our collective WTF surprise, everyone standing there did just that. Needless to say, all our validated tickets were now worthless.

 

Later, it was learned that information first obtained from the Enquirer was sketchy at best and they claimed that they were unable to get answers from SORTA.  This was the same resistance to such questions my wife and I encountered when we went up to the Metro Customer Service office @ 602 Main St, 11th floor to recover the losses for our tickets.  The woman at the desk was either uninformed herself or extremely evasive; it took considerable time and effort to be compensated.

 

The lack of transparency as to what actually happened to the streetcar yesterday makes the incident all the more suspicious.  If it was due to neglect or carelessness, measures need to be taken to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.  As Jmecklenborg pointed out, this mishap could have caused extensive damage and possibly personal injury.  The public needs reassurance now, not later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait, if a substitute bus came to run the streetcar route, then you got use out of your tickets, so why do you feel you were entitled to a refund?

Metro did the right thing in that situation, sending a shuttle bus to cover the closed part of the loop while keeping the streetcars running downtown. Jake's right, this could've been a lot worse, but I don't think there's a big controversy here. They were working on the brakes of one of the streetcars and failed to put the necessary safety precautions into place. I'm sure they won't make the same mistake again.

I think the concern is more about sloppiness and lack of following procedures.  Kind of a big deal in a system that you want to run smoothly.

Wait, if a substitute bus came to run the streetcar route, then you got use out of your tickets, so why do you feel you were entitled to a refund?

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. If you were able to complete your trip, then you are not entitled to any refund. This is a transportation mode, not a ride at a theme park.

Wait, if a substitute bus came to run the streetcar route, then you got use out of your tickets, so why do you feel you were entitled to a refund?

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. If you were able to complete your trip, then you are not entitled to any refund. This is a transportation mode, not a ride at a theme park.

 

Sorry, but I have to agree. It's pretty sad to get upset over $1, when the service was ultimately completed.  It's a freaking dollar.

That mindset it what's wrong with this country.

Rant over.

Even if it were a $2 pass, I don't understand the need for a refund. I understand the frustration and concern about operation of the system, however.

Wait, if a substitute bus came to run the streetcar route, then you got use out of your tickets, so why do you feel you were entitled to a refund?

Let me make this very clear - a bus is not a streetcar.  The sole purpose my wife and I came downtown yesterday was for her to ride a streetcar for the first time.  We purchased two all-day tickets planning to ride streetcars at will while visiting various destinations along the route.  The fact that both of us had wasted even more money riding Metro*Plus from Norwood to Findlay Market to enjoy the day only added to our disappointment.

^ Bummer, but...

This is a transportation mode, not a ride at a theme park.

^ Bummer, but...

This is a transportation mode, not a ride at a theme park.

 

There are probably elements of both at this stage.  Given the amount of ground it covers, this is not exactly a commuter line.  If making people happy isn't a high-level goal then it needs to be.

Wait, if a substitute bus came to run the streetcar route, then you got use out of your tickets, so why do you feel you were entitled to a refund?

Let me make this very clear - a bus is not a streetcar.  The sole purpose my wife and I came downtown yesterday was for her to ride a streetcar for the first time.  We purchased two all-day tickets planning to ride streetcars at will while visiting various destinations along the route.  The fact that both of us had wasted even more money riding Metro*Plus from Norwood to Findlay Market to enjoy the day only added to our disappointment.

 

The downtown portion of the streetcar route continued to operate while the OTR loop was temporarily closed. And the whole thing was re-opened by 11:30 or so, in time for the lunch rush.

Of course it's not a commuter line, but it's still a transit line that is operated by the same agency that operates the bus system.  There was an unforeseen incident that occurred, causing part of the line to be shut down for 3 hours, and a replacement bus was issued to cover the part of the down route while the situation was taken care of.  These things happen with transit.  Hell, even roller coasters go down at amusement parks, too! Imagine going to Kings Island, learning that the Beast was down that day, and demanding a refund for park admission. Would never happen. I agree that we have to take user experience issues seriously, but this was a freak accident, and SORTA did the best they could by quickly getting a bus to cover the 3 hour window that the streetcar wasn't running. Hardly something to freak out about or demand a refund over.  Hell, yesterday was a beautiful day. If the bus wasn't appealing, why not take a walk up to Findlay Market? Idk, just seems like a lot of complaining over a really trivial matter, especially given that SORTA did all they could to fix the situation.

In New Orleans the St. Charles Ave. streetcar often gets totally overcrowded with tourists meaning locals can't ride it, even though they still have 24~ of the antique streetcars still running.  So they still have to run a city bus on that street.  The streetcar operator often tells people who can't get on to ride the bus instead, but nobody wants to. 

In New Orleans the St. Charles Ave. streetcar often gets totally overcrowded with tourists meaning locals can't ride it, even though they still have 24~ of the antique streetcars still running.  So they still have to run a city bus on that street.  The streetcar operator often tells people who can't get on to ride the bus instead, but nobody wants to. 

 

Same happens in SF for the F-Market/Wharves and E-Embarcadero lines, which run vintage streetcars. Often times, they are so crowded that SFMTA will run buses to provide additional capacity.

 

But people don't ask for a refund when they get a bus instead of a streetcar. They ride it and catch a streetcar later. I've certainly been bummed when I choose to ride the F and get a bus instead, but I also understand that that's the nature of transit. Sometimes situations require alterations in service/vehicle. I was still able to complete my trip, even if I didn't get to experience the novelty of riding a vintage streetcar while doing so.

Imagine going to Kings Island, learning that the Beast was down that day, and demanding a refund for park admission. Would never happen.

 

I bet that happens all the time.

From today's Enquirer article covering the departure of John Deatrick on Dec. 31:

 

The Cincinnati Bell Connector began carrying passengers Sept. 9. It's been popular with riders, but plagued with problems -- pay kiosks that don't always work and slower-than-promised service.

 

 

Plagued with problems?  Seriously? 

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2016/10/05/city-streetcar-czar-thanks-but-youre-done-dec-31/91622844/

Of course that's the Enquirer's angle. I didn't click through but I'm assuming it was written by Jason Williams.

 

I noticed that the city installed white diagonal lines (a la "don't block the box") at the intersection of 12th & Main. Glad to see that they are continuing to make small improvements to improve the system. The next thing we need are LED signs that flash a train symbol whenever a streetcar has priority to go through a special intersection.

 

Chris Wetterich asked Cranley about transit-only lanes downtown.  He responded, “Absolutely not.”

 

This quote is great news, though; I hope it gets implemented:

 

Meanwhile, a council majority has signed a motion instructing the city administration to give streetcars and certain Metro buses signal priority when the city overhauls the downtown traffic signals later this year or in early 2017.

 

Traffic signal prioritization allows traffic lights to stay green as a bus or streetcar approaches instead of turning red. The motion – introduced by Councilman Chris Seelbach and Vice Mayor David Mann and signed by his fellow Democrats Simpson, P.G. Sittenfeld and Wendell Young – calls for MetroPlus buses, which follow a limited-stop route from downtown to Kenwood, also to receive signal prioritization.

 

That motion is expected to be heard in the City Council’s transportation committee at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at City Hall.

Here's the "don't block the box" paint on Central Parkway at Walnut:

 

Full speed ahead: Streetcar operator will run more streetcars

 

After a week of battling over streetcar delays, Transdev, the company that operates the Cincinnati Bell Connector, announced Thursday night it would run enough streetcars on weekends to meet demand.

 

"Transdev welcomes the ... calls to operate more streetcars," said Ruth Otte, a Transdev spokeswoman. "We will add extra service to meet weekend demand and continue to work closely with (the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority) to make the Cincinnati Streetcar a great success for the city and the people of Cincinnati."

 

Otte said ridership levels on weekends have been from 300 percent to more than 500 percent of what SORTA projected before the start of the service.

 

"The streetcar has proven to be a huge hit and the voice of the people has been heard loud and clear," said Derek Bauman[/member] , a streetcar supporter who has been helping educate riders about protocols. "We have asked for more and quicker service and it's encouraging to see officials working collaboratively to achieve that goal."

 

Cont

Here's the "don't block the box" paint on Central Parkway at Walnut:

 

 

Similar markings appeared this week at 12th & Main.

I just had the thought that because ridership has been sharply higher on weekends, that opponents might try to distort statistics by taking advantage of months that have fewer weekend days from year to year.  For example, October 2016 has four Fridays and five Saturdays whereas October 2017 has only four of each.  So In 2017, opponents might claim that ridership is "down sharply from 2016" simply because Oct 1, 2016 was a Saturday but will be a Sunday in 2017.  Conversely, proponents might get fooled by bolstered statistics on the two or three months in 2017 when more Fridays and Saturdays fall in a month than did in 2016. 

 

Don't give them any ideas!