The Enquirer's top story is a clickbait call to "rebuild" the streetcars due to poor cold weather performance. 

 

I'm not able to find similar stories in Kansas City.  In fact, KC continues to have gigantic ridership, even during cold weather.  In December they had two days with over 10,000 passengers: http://kcstreetcar.org/ridership/

The Enquirer's top story is a clickbait call to "rebuild" the streetcars due to poor cold weather performance. 

 

I'm not able to find similar stories in Kansas City.  In fact, KC continues to have gigantic ridership, even during cold weather.  In December they had two days with over 10,000 passengers: http://kcstreetcar.org/ridership/

 

In your opinion what do you think is the main reason why our streetcars projections are not living up to what they are supposed to be? Hoping the uber traffic study will also look into making the streetcar more efficient.

Cranley stuffing the SORTA board with anti-streetcar people.

 

https://twitter.com/RayshonMack/status/960616459771760646

Cranley stuffing the SORTA board with anti-streetcar people.

 

https://twitter.com/RayshonMack/status/960616459771760646

 

It's a return to the Charlie Luken/Tom Luken years. 

 

The big question is why the blue bloods, who owned the Lukens and own Cranley, so deeply fear a city with effective public transportation? 

 

City of Cincinnati rehires engineering firm to watch over streetcar fixes

 

The city of Cincinnati is rehiring an engineering firm that will aid it as repairs are made to the streetcars for cold weather-related problems that have impacted service.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/02/06/city-of-cincinnati-rehires-engineering-firm-to.html

In Jason Williams' article this morning Fix streetcar, other things... he asks people to stop blaming the enquirer for the streetcar.

 

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics-extra/2018/02/06/px-pastor-seelbach-twitter-feud-prompts-question-what-cincinnati-city-council-doing/312221002/

Streetcar was out of service this morning due to "inclement weather".  Saw one of the cars disables on Walnut Street just south of Court Street.  I thought that weather like this wouldn't really disable the whole system.  Is the thin layer of ice that impossible to overcome?

^ The streetcar was making the loop all night in order to prevent the overhead wire from freezing. However at some point, a vehicle blocked the tracks and held up the streetcar for 45 minutes, which was long enough for the overhead wire to freeze.

In Jason Williams' article this morning Fix streetcar, other things... he asks people to stop blaming the enquirer for the streetcar.

 

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics-extra/2018/02/06/px-pastor-seelbach-twitter-feud-prompts-question-what-cincinnati-city-council-doing/312221002/

 

 

From the article:

Why isn't anyone on City Council calling for officials from streetcar manufacturer CAF USA to come before the public and answer questions? Why isn't anyone on Council coming up with creative ideas to bolster ridership?

 

Because Cranley is quite obviously leaving this thing to die.  He wants absolutely nobody left willing to stand up for it.  Lack of routine maintenance, lack of promotion.  Act like it's not even there. 

 

 

 

 

Act like it's not even there. 

 

Such as by allowing a vehicle to block the tracks for 45 minutes. 

In Jason Williams' article this morning Fix streetcar, other things... he asks people to stop blaming the enquirer for the streetcar.

 

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics-extra/2018/02/06/px-pastor-seelbach-twitter-feud-prompts-question-what-cincinnati-city-council-doing/312221002/

 

 

From the article:

Why isn't anyone on City Council calling for officials from streetcar manufacturer CAF USA to come before the public and answer questions? Why isn't anyone on Council coming up with creative ideas to bolster ridership?

 

Because Cranley is quite obviously leaving this thing to die.  He wants absolutely nobody left willing to stand up for it.  Lack of routine maintenance, lack of promotion.  Act like it's not even there. 

 

My friend walked past Cranley on the street during Blink. Cranley was ranting and raving about "all the traffic" and saying stuff like "you know the streetcar is the cause of all this traffic". His pathetic attempt to kill the streetcar by neglect is absolutely criminal.

Cranley is a scourge to your city's success.

Cranley stuffing the SORTA board with anti-streetcar people.

 

https://twitter.com/RayshonMack/status/960616459771760646

 

 

It's a return to the Charlie Luken/Tom Luken years. 

 

The big question is why the blue bloods, who owned the Lukens and own Cranley, so deeply fear a city with effective public transportation? 

 

 

Harder to control a city that is prosperous than one that is sputtering along?

 

Maybe they are just collectively morons who can't see past their own noses... I dunno.

Cranley stuffing the SORTA board with anti-streetcar people.

 

https://twitter.com/RayshonMack/status/960616459771760646

 

 

It's a return to the Charlie Luken/Tom Luken years. 

 

The big question is why the blue bloods, who owned the Lukens and own Cranley, so deeply fear a city with effective public transportation? 

 

 

Harder to control a city that is prosperous than one that is sputtering along?

 

Maybe they are just collectively morons who can't see past their own noses... I dunno.

 

Looks like he deleted that tweet, anyone have a screen grab?

original tweet preserved via a facebook link

Not sure why he deleted it, but here it is:

Why the streetcar was being towed around downtown today

 

 

Ice on the overhead lines that power the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar caused the system to be sidelined on Wednesday after a disabled vehicle thwarted the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority's plan to clear the it, leading to the latest snafu involving the project.

 

The problems resulted in the surreal site of a large tow truck with a police escort hauling a streetcar around the route in an attempt to remove ice from the lines.

 

When ice covers the overhead power lines, the streetcar cannot conduct the electricity needed to make it move. SORTA's plan during an ice event is to run a streetcar around the route overnight. The friction between the streetcar's pantograph and the overhead line keeps it clear of ice.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/02/07/why-the-streetcar-was-being-towed-around-downtown.html

No streetcar service this morning.  No idea why as there were no announcements made.  My wife had to drive my daughter and I into daycare/work.  What exactly are the selling points of the streetcar exactly?  I'm losing a lot of faith over here.

Don't be so obtuse, you know exactly what's going on.

Seems to me the only way this gets fixed is if all the green balloon people get organized again and lobby city council. The neglect is too damaging to wait. Get a clear set of demands and make them, loudly.

I'm losing a lot of faith over here.

 

Please don't, because this is literally what Cranley wants. Once the supporters give up, he'll axe the whole thing.

Seems to me the only way this gets fixed is if all the green balloon people get organized again and lobby city council. The neglect is too damaging to wait. Get a clear set of demands and make them, loudly.

Yes. Let's do this. It's been on my mind for quite a while now.

 

I've got on my calendar to prepare remarks for the Valentine's day city council meeting: Wed. Feb 14 [/member] 2:00. Should be a lotta love in the air.

 

Anyone else up for joining me?

 

My focus would be on the need for council to be very clear on specific priorities to improve service to what was promised as part of the $145MM investment. That reliable and frequent service, and reliable information about that service, is a must-have. My answer for the 'why?' will focus on economic development and specifically the impact that parking requirements are having - right now - on development, and how an efficiently run streetcar service could help alleviate that.

Hasn't money for the streetcar been tied to the federal funding that was received? Is that a path for putting heat on the city?

Where has John Schneider gone, I wonder? He was the lead champion and guru of all things streetcar, and I would be interested to hear what he has to say about the state of the system. I think there is more to the struggles of the streetcar than just the city administration leaving it out to dry. Minimizing disruptions in service from things like track blockages, and fixing the arrival time displays would be moderately helpful, but I don't think those two things will get more people to ride the streetcar. Mixed traffic streetcars are just kind of limited in their utility, especially those that have circuitous routes. There just simply aren't many scenarios where taking the streetcar presents an advantage over walking, driving, or taking Uber or Lyft.

 

Each day, I take a neighborhood circulator bus to and from my nearest Metro station. This bus operates similar to the streetcar in that it runs continuously(roughly coming to each stop every 15 mins), and the line is kind of a figure 8 shape, also similar to the streetcar. The bus usually only has a handful of people on it, and almost all of them are either going to or coming from the Metro. There are a few people who work at the hospital or grocery store who will get off at those places to go to work, but I'd say 90% of the people use the system to connect to the subway. For getting to destinations within the neighborhood, it's simply way easier and faster to walk or bike rather than wait for the bus, sit in traffic in the bus, and then walk to your destination from the nearest stop to wherever you're going. I think the same problem affects the streetcar. If there was a regional rail line under Fountain Square or on the riverfront, the streetcar would probably be seeing much greater usage, as it would serve a valuable purpose of bridging that first/last mile problem that rail often runs into. Commuters from the suburbs could exit their riverfront train and take the streetcar to the financial district on 4th and 5th, courthouse area on Court, and the growing office cluster in OTR. Without this, though, I don't really think there are enough people who need to be circulated throughout the basin.

 

I think it might be time to admit that the streetcar has some very serious limitations, and the answer isn't just run more so more people will use it. A relatively easy strategy for increasing ridership would be to funnel all the commuter bus routes into the riverfront transit center, and have free transfers from the bus to the streetcar. That would get more people using the system at morning and evening commutes, at least.

Where has John Schneider gone, I wonder? He was the lead champion and guru of all things streetcar,

 

I ran into him two weeks ago...on the streetcar, of course!

 

 

A relatively easy strategy for increasing ridership would be to funnel all the commuter bus routes into the riverfront transit center, and have free transfers from the bus to the streetcar. That would get more people using the system at morning and evening commutes, at least.

 

It's a good strategy and I discussed exactly that with Yvette Simpson when she was running for office. If she had won, it might've happened. Unfortunately SORTA does not have the money to open the Transit Center. Cranley has repeatedly vetoed any city money that's been spent on Metro, even inexpensive stuff like bus stop shelters, so there's no way he would allow the city to pay for the transit center's operating costs and let Metro use it for free.

Where has John Schneider gone, I wonder? He was the lead champion and guru of all things streetcar, and I would be interested to hear what he has to say about the state of the system.

 

I think he's been busy with other things in his life. He does post regularly on Facebook, so you should follow him there. He just doesn't spend much time on forums like this one anymore. I'm sure if there was another rally to fix the problems, he would be helping to lead it.

Where has John Schneider gone, I wonder? He was the lead champion and guru of all things streetcar, and I would be interested to hear what he has to say about the state of the system. I think there is more to the struggles of the streetcar than just the city administration leaving it out to dry. Minimizing disruptions in service from things like track blockages, and fixing the arrival time displays would be moderately helpful, but I don't think those two things will get more people to ride the streetcar. Mixed traffic streetcars are just kind of limited in their utility, especially those that have circuitous routes. There just simply aren't many scenarios where taking the streetcar presents an advantage over walking, driving, or taking Uber or Lyft.

 

Each day, I take a neighborhood circulator bus to and from my nearest Metro station. This bus operates similar to the streetcar in that it runs continuously(roughly coming to each stop every 15 mins), and the line is kind of a figure 8 shape, also similar to the streetcar. The bus usually only has a handful of people on it, and almost all of them are either going to or coming from the Metro. There are a few people who work at the hospital or grocery store who will get off at those places to go to work, but I'd say 90% of the people use the system to connect to the subway. For getting to destinations within the neighborhood, it's simply way easier and faster to walk or bike rather than wait for the bus, sit in traffic in the bus, and then walk to your destination from the nearest stop to wherever you're going. I think the same problem affects the streetcar. If there was a regional rail line under Fountain Square or on the riverfront, the streetcar would probably be seeing much greater usage, as it would serve a valuable purpose of bridging that first/last mile problem that rail often runs into. Commuters from the suburbs could exit their riverfront train and take the streetcar to the financial district on 4th and 5th, courthouse area on Court, and the growing office cluster in OTR. Without this, though, I don't really think there are enough people who need to be circulated throughout the basin.

 

I think it might be time to admit that the streetcar has some very serious limitations, and the answer isn't just run more so more people will use it. A relatively easy strategy for increasing ridership would be to funnel all the commuter bus routes into the riverfront transit center, and have free transfers from the bus to the streetcar. That would get more people using the system at morning and evening commutes, at least.

I agree with some of the things you've said, but disagree strongly with others. These are arguments that have been rehashed and rehashed and rehashed again... going back to page 1.

 

People appreciate well designed and run things. People run away from things that are in poor taste, poorly conceived, or poorly run. The streetcar right now is a well designed, and very poorly operated, transit system. This becomes obvious the first time you board.

 

I said this from the first day of operation - accurate real time displays are not a cute toy. Not in 2016 (or now). They are a necessity. Not spending money on them was a decision made by dinosaurs who didn't know what they were doing, or by streetcar killers with a political angle to exploit. Signal timing and prioritization are not esoteric luxury items, they are essential core components of the system, because reliable transit availability is absolutely essential. Why do you think you like your car so much?

 

I am so tired of the streetcar/walking comparison (and no, Lift/Uber are obviously not comparable). Please refrain until you first explain why people will ride around the block again and again, fuming, because they can't find a parking place close enough to where they're going. Or explain people driving their cars around for 5 minutes in a mall parking lot close to their entrance, waiting for a spot to open up.

 

This whole system just stinks like many many other complex engineered systems I've seen, that are designed by people who don't operate them, and don't know how to. They inevitably fail until they're resurrected by people who actually know something about the operational side of things.

 

So, no takers here on my suggestion to talk to council next Wednesday?

I don't have extensive knowledge on how streetcars are supposed to operate but I know that Kansas City's is working, and Detroit's is working and Toronto's all work and those cities all have winters that are on par or worse than ours (and in the case of KC it's the same manufacturer). We need legitimate answers to why ours isn't working and I would love to try and help to make it better.

I don't have extensive knowledge on how streetcars are supposed to operate but I know that Kansas City's is working, and Detroit's is working and Toronto's all work and those cities all have winters that are on par or worse than ours (and in the case of KC it's the same manufacturer). We need legitimate answers to why ours isn't working and I would love to try and help to make it better.

 

I suspect that we are intentionally not doing routine maintenance so that the streetcars eventually all break down and will cost a ridiculous sum to get running again.  Anyone who steps forward to champion their return will be smeared by the blue bloods.

 

It's plain to hear that the devices that silence the streetcars at curves are not operating, as squealing has been non-stop for months.  The ride quality is also deteriorating because the steel wheels are not being rotated.  This is routine maintenance that is intentionally not being done. 

There has definitely been deferred maintenance. Transdev has had so much turnover, they have hired and fired like 5 different general managers since the system opened. Many of the best people at the city, Metro, and Transdev has been so frustrated with the way that the City runs things that they have left for jobs in other cities.

I said this from the first day of operation - accurate real time displays are not a cute toy. Not in 2016 (or now). They are a necessity. Not spending money on them was a decision made by dinosaurs who didn't know what they were doing, or by streetcar killers with a political angle to exploit. Signal timing and prioritization are not esoteric luxury items, they are essential core components of the system, because reliable transit availability is absolutely essential.

 

This. This. This. 1,000x THIS! Love your comment, Jim.

 

The cold weather issues being experienced currently and recently aren't unique to our system. Kansas City has faced similar issues, but seems to somehow be tackling them a lot more effectively. Let's put those mechanical issues aside for a moment, though, and go back to the core issues with the Cincinnati Streetcar.

 

- Real-Time signs took way too long to work properly and effectively. By the time they did, confidence in them had been eroded.

 

- Even if the real-time signs didn't work, effective tracking via a phone app would've more than made up for it. However, unlike Kansas City and several other similar/bigger systems throughout the nation/world, the Cincinnati Bell Connector has no app that allows you to track vehicles. You can pay fare from your phone, but that app provides absolutely no useful information for knowing when/if a train is coming.

 

- Even if an app wasn't developed, there are free, downloadable alternatives using data put out by transit agencies. I've used the free "Transit" app on iOS in New York City, Boston, Las Vegas, and Chicago; that app tracks those systems far, far, far more effectively than any Metro bus or Cincinnati streetcar. When the streetcar is working, it rarely appears on the app in real-time at all. When it does, it's only showing 1 (or if you're lucky maybe 2!) vehicles. Ironically, the only time I've seen it show all vehicles in a reliable format was when Metro buses marked as "Route 100" were filling in during the recent shutdown. If other cities can somehow make this seemingly reliable service work, why can't we?

 

- Even if the real-time signs aren't reliable and there's no app available, a proper frequency wouldn't right the ship, but it would make things easier. It's a lot easier to walk to a station and think "Hmm, at most, I have ten minutes until a train comes" than think "I believe trains come every 12-15 minutes, maybe." Yet, our frequency is ridiculous.

 

- Even if you rely on frequency and no technology, this system was designed with certain sections having proper signal timing in mind. When that was eliminated, relying on any sort of frequency is just a guess at that point, because cars are likely to get bogged down or delayed, especially in evening commute traffic. And then there's the whole issues of vehicles blocking the tracks and facing no repercussions.

 

I don't buy into the arguments that you can "walk faster than the streetcar." You can't. I've walked from 4th to 12th several times on nice days and been passed by trains making that trip quicker. However, when you factor in that your station wait time could be anywhere from a few to fifteen (or more) minutes, why wouldn't you just hop on a bike or start hoofing it? If you're a downtown office worker, having no confidence in location, availability, or frequency gives you little incentive to use the system to grab lunch, run errands, etc. within a reasonable time frame.

 

There are all these little things that can be quite clearly and easily fixed, yet here we are over a year into this thing opening and what's been done? Nothing.

 

We can all commiserate about Cranley, Smitherman, and their ilk. At least they've said they've been opposed from the beginning, that was never any secret. But where's the leadership looking to make this thing not just run, or even run well, but just run properly?. Who's out there promoting that it should be done right, should be an asset, and something we can do well? Because like it or not, it's here to stay.

 

Yet P.G., Seelbach, and Young, who have been proponents in the past, are seemingly quiet (or bogged down with twitter spats). Where's the leadership? In my opinion, Murray handled things alright for someone who was opposed and clearly isn't going to tackle the issue, David Mann always seemed lukewarm. We won't see them be champions anytime soon. Landsman, Dennard, and Pastor are new or made their positions known.

 

So who, if anyone, of our elected city officials is going to step up?

 

Sorry for the rant, but it just seems so typical of Cincinnati to not be able to remotely execute a project that has been proven successful in so many other places. These problems aren't hidden and the solutions aren't some mystifying sorcery. Yet, here we are.

 

Edit: Spelling

you can "walk faster than the streetcar." You can't.

 

 

You can't jog faster than the streetcar. But the perception that you can is the same fun house mirror section of the brain that makes people think they're going to save time by crawling around a supermarket parking past open spaces looking for a close space. 

You can't walk faster than the streetcar, but you can definitely walk to a destination faster than taking the streetcar. If you're walking from Fountain Square to 12/Vine, you're talking maybe a 10-15 minute walk. Currently, you'd often have to wait longer than that just to get a streetcar. But even if you only have to wait 8-10 mins for a streetcar, you still have to walk a two blocks over to Main Street, and take a 3-5 minute ride up to 12/Vine, so it ends up being about the same amount of time or slightly longer to take the streetcar. Add in rush hour traffic, and you can certainly cover more ground on foot than the streetcar. If the route was longer, then those wait times become less significant, because walking wouldn't really be a viable option.

I am skeptical that you can walk from The Banks station to 12th & Vine faster than the streetcar, even if you get a 10-minute head-start, except under the very worst conditions.  I have actually raced the streetcar while jogging (usually several miles into a jog, so I'm not sprinting) several times for fun and usually get passed by it right at 12th & Vine.  It then pulls far ahead as it circles around Washington Park if it catches any green lights.  It is much faster, generally, in OTR than it is downtown, but the extent to which it is doesn't come into focus until you actually try to beat it on foot. 

It is much faster, generally, in OTR than it is downtown, but the extent to which it is doesn't come into focus until you actually try to beat it on foot. 

 

This would lend credence to making Walnut and Main transit only south of Court St or something like that. I wish that could get some traction because as someone had mentioned earlier in this thread, it could be a great idea.

It is much faster, generally, in OTR than it is downtown, but the extent to which it is doesn't come into focus until you actually try to beat it on foot. 

 

This would lend credence to making Walnut and Main transit only south of Court St or something like that. I wish that could get some traction because as someone had mentioned earlier in this thread, it could be a great idea.

 

This would be a boon to Metro buses as well. I used to catch an express on Walnut and would track it. The bus was always on schedule, but it rarely ever made it to my stop (and then Gov. Square D) on time, due to traffic on Walnut. If the streetcar had a dedicated lane shared with buses and a priority light at 5th that allowed that buses to turn into Gov. Square/5th/or continue South with the streetcar, it would really hasten not just transit, but ALL traffic. Same with Main. I now catch a bus on Main/7 every day and it's a constant flow of Metro routes contesting with cars. Main generally flows better than Walnut, though.

^Yes, I don't think we would need transit only streets, just lanes.  That would push it through so much faster.

 

I'd be more than willing to send out e-mails to council on this.  Anyone want to make up a template and we can all send it in with our thoughts?  I think we need to emphasize, we are our taxpayers and the lack of action is a detriment to the investment.  Roll up your sleeves in a non-partisan non-bias way and make it work.  You know what we need to do.

 

Also, something like a timeline of sort to demand dates (and we can demand because we are the taxpayers, they are the stewards of our money):

 

When is the traffic study finished and published and what is the mode of action? (also I want to ask when it was started so I want to make certain and compare it to when it was supposed to start)

 

When is the real time traffic fixed and what is the mode of action to get this fixed?

 

List of critical chokepoints on the streetcar and mode of action to fix?

 

List of track blockages and mode of action to fix?

You can't walk faster than the streetcar, but you can definitely walk to a destination faster than taking the streetcar. If you're walking from Fountain Square to 12/Vine, you're talking maybe a 10-15 minute walk. Currently, you'd often have to wait longer than that just to get a streetcar. But even if you only have to wait 8-10 mins for a streetcar, you still have to walk a two blocks over to Main Street, and take a 3-5 minute ride up to 12/Vine, so it ends up being about the same amount of time or slightly longer to take the streetcar. Add in rush hour traffic, and you can certainly cover more ground on foot than the streetcar. If the route was longer, then those wait times become less significant, because walking wouldn't really be a viable option.

Hey I've never heard anyone ever say that the streetcar is better/more convenient for every trip, right? It just needs to be better/more convenient for a significant number of the possible trips. And, yes, it can be, for more than enough trips to make the streetcar a genuine asset to the core region. I don't think you believe that, but I do. The only way to tell is to remove the various things that are current operational impediments. Everyone should agree to do at least that.

I live on Main at basically the midpoint of the streetcar route. So depending on where I'm going it may or may not make sense for me to take it. If I'm going to Rhinegeist, it absolutely makes sense for me to walk 2 blocks the wrong direction in order to catch the streetcar at 12th & Main, then ride it 4 blocks west and 8 blocks north to my destination. If I'm just going to Vine Street, I'll just walk two blocks west. The streetcar is not about making sense for every trip every time. It's about having different transit options that might make sense for different people making different trips in different circumstances.

Main generally flows better than Walnut, though.

 

Walnut has a huge bottleneck between 6th and 7th - it is only 3 lanes because of the Aronoff sidewalk bumpout, one of which is always crowded with stopped cars due to the 21C valet. Anytime I'm on the streetcar heading south, particularly in the evening, I get off at the stop just north of 7th. It's almost always faster to walk south from there. A transit only lane there would be the biggest help, but seems difficult to implement because of the hotel valet and the fact that the streetcar tracks are essentially right down the middle of the street.  Making that whole block a transit/pedestrian only street would solve the problem, and might even improve traffic flow all around in the long term.

Agreed. That is the one part of the route that would benefit most from a transit-only lane. However I do think there's still going to be a pretty big benefit just from coordinating the green lights on Walnut and optimizing for southbound traffic flow.

They could test turning 1-2 blocks of Walnut into a transit-only street by simply putting some cones out.  They could also ban left turns onto Walnut from 9th St. and Central Parkway.  We'll never see that though with this administration. 

 

 

You can't walk faster than the streetcar, but you can definitely walk to a destination faster than taking the streetcar. If you're walking from Fountain Square to 12/Vine, you're talking maybe a 10-15 minute walk. Currently, you'd often have to wait longer than that just to get a streetcar. But even if you only have to wait 8-10 mins for a streetcar, you still have to walk a two blocks over to Main Street, and take a 3-5 minute ride up to 12/Vine, so it ends up being about the same amount of time or slightly longer to take the streetcar. Add in rush hour traffic, and you can certainly cover more ground on foot than the streetcar. If the route was longer, then those wait times become less significant, because walking wouldn't really be a viable option.

Hey I've never heard anyone ever say that the streetcar is better/more convenient for every trip, right? It just needs to be better/more convenient for a significant number of the possible trips. And, yes, it can be, for more than enough trips to make the streetcar a genuine asset to the core region. I don't think you believe that, but I do. The only way to tell is to remove the various things that are current operational impediments. Everyone should agree to do at least that.

 

No, I do believe that the streetcar can be an asset to the core, and I do think it serves a purpose for some trips, for sure. The problem I see with it, is that it is not more convenient for a significant number of possible trips, for a few reasons. I've long said that I think the largest ridership for the streetcar will come from the 'poles' because when you get to the far northern and southern sections of the route, the distance to other desirable locations becomes long enough to warrant taking transit as opposed to walking. Movement within the CBD, or from the riverfront to Fountain Square, or Fountain Square to 12th/Vine is just generally not an arduous task to the point where most people would be looking for alternative transportation methods besides walking. So right off the bat, the utility has already been limited. Add in the service issues and lack of real time arrival info, and the scales become even more imbalanced, because the margins for time improvement with walking vs the streetcar are already pretty thin for most rides, and requiring someone to wait 15 minutes basically eliminates whatever time savings might have occurred. Finally, there just aren't that many people in the core who RELY on the streetcar for real transportation purposes. The vast majority of workers downtown drive, and the vast majority of new residents downtown and in OTR also own cars. It's hard to convince people to ditch their cars if parking is affordable and relatively easy. Unless the alternative presents an obvious advantage in time or ease, people will generally drive.  This isn't a Cincinnati phenomenon, but occurs everywhere. The people who are moving to OTR are increasingly wealthy and not transit dependent, and when that occurs, transit usage generally goes down. We're seeing this now in LA, where transit usage has been declining pretty steadily, in spite of Metro adding more and more rail lines. Large swaths of LA are gentrifying, and the poorer people who used to take transit are being replaced by rich people who have and use their cars. All of these situations are in play in with the Cincinnati streetcar, in my opinion.

Another idea that just crossed my mind: if they end up converting Main Street to two-way north of 12th, then you could make the streetcar lane transit-only from Central Parkway to 12th. The simplest way would be to ban cars from turning left from Main onto 12th, so cars in the right lane would have no other option but to continue straight on Main. Alternatively, if you added a transit signal at that intersection, you could have a total of four phases:

 

- streetcar gets transit-only signal to turn left from Main to 12th

  - cars on Main northbound could also get green light during this phase with a red left arrow to prevent left turns

- cars on Main northbound get green light and green left arrow to make turn onto 12th

- cars on 12th get green light (left turn only)

- cars on Main southbound get green light (right turn only)

Doesn't matter if you can jog faster, jogging isn't a mode of transportation.  No one jogs to work or to the store.

Here is a video of new CAF streetcars operating just fine in cold weather:

^Wow, shocking! It's almost like CAF knows how to build a streetcar that operates in cold weather.

 

Now if only we had a city willing to provide basic cold weather maintenance and support...

Ok here's the explanation I got.  There's both a design issue and a duty cycle issue.  Because of some oddities in the design specifications, CAF used a different air compressor than they normally would.  This is a pretty small unit, similar to the ones used to start electric locomotives which would be run off batteries to create just enough air pressure to raise the pneumatic pantograph to the overhead wire.  A compressor like that would be generally used for a couple minutes a month, whereas ours are being used 18 hours a day for maybe 50% of the time.  That's much longer than such a small unit is intended.  Also, one compressor serves an entire car, powering the sanding system which is used for braking in slippery conditions.  Without the sanders it's not safe to run the cars.  The air system also runs the track oilers. 

 

The other issue is that moisture is condensing in the compressor itself (not the air reservoir) overnight in the cold.  Since liquid doesn't compress, when the compressor piston hits water it basically blows apart the mechanism.  They have a large stock of spare parts to fix the broken compressors, but of course it takes time to do it and the car is out of service for that time.  Why exactly this is happening in the first place isn't really known, but it's on CAF to fix, which will likely require replacing them completely. 

 

Kansas City can get around this problem in part because their carbarn is large enough to hold all their cars.  If they stay warm then the moisture doesn't condense in the first place.  They are also better able to mitigate an out of service car because their route is isn't a continuous loop, there's a small loop at the north end and a stub-end terminal at the south at Union Station.  Normally they do a layover at Union Station but if a car is out of service they can skip it in order to maintain the same headways. 

Any explanation as to why ours are being used more than usual? Is there a design difference in our cars or overhead wire that require the compressor to work so much more often?