#Make5thStaRollerCoaster!!!

#PutThatRollerCoasterWhereMillenniumHotelWas!!!

On 8/17/2022 at 9:31 AM, taestell said:

I just noticed that the official Twitter account handle has changed to @Connector_cincy and the account's name is just Connector (Cincinnati Bell branding removed, but not replaced by Altafiber). Not sure what this means for the name of the system in the long run.

 

Looks like some new "Connector" branding is going up at the stations:

 

 

 

Not sure if this means Altafiber is going to be dropping their sponsorship...

The infinity logo is an interesting holdover from Cincinnati Bell's sponsorship, the logo still works and provides some continuity. Hopefully they return the trains to a simpler wrap scheme, the ArtWorks ones are so ugly imo. 

I was not a fan of the ArtWorks wraps at first, but it does add a more "dynamic" feel to downtown/OTR to have each streetcar have a different wrap and seeing different ones go by all the time.

 

I hope that the new permanent design is simpler and more like the original Cincinnati Streetcar design rather than the Cincinnati Bell Connector design which featured as many swooshes and gradients as the designers could jam in there.

50 minutes ago, dnymck said:

The infinity logo is an interesting holdover 

I actually like the infinity logo part because it is indicative of the route itself. The actual route is shaped like an elongated figure 8 so I think it's a subtle reminder of our streetcar is a circulator as opposed to a more linear system like in KC. That being said, I've never called it the "connector" , I still call it the streetcar and will continue to do so.

Beating a dead horse here, but the official website calls the system "The Connector" now too.

37 minutes ago, taestell said:

Beating a dead horse here, but the official website calls the system "The Connector" now too.

But the URL don't lie!

 

July 2022 data-

It is incredible how high the numbers have grown... now the #2 system in passengers per hour, and #5 in overall passengers (with just 1 route!). Choo choo train to nowhere?

Time to build more choo choo amusement rides! Preferably from CUT to the Casino and up Reading or Gilbert.

 

On 9/8/2022 at 12:49 PM, JaceTheAce41 said:

Time to build more choo choo amusement rides! Preferably from CUT to the Casino and up Reading or Gilbert.

 

I would be very curious to see what percentage of patrons enter the casino through the front door as apposed to the parking lot

On 9/8/2022 at 12:49 PM, JaceTheAce41 said:

Time to build more choo choo amusement rides! Preferably from CUT to the Casino and up Reading or Gilbert.

 

I have always felt they should put a spur to the Casino but maybe they should continue it up Gilbert to Walnut Hills vs going up the hill to Clifton by UC. 

There are certainly benefits to going to the UC area as it connects to the huge population and business in that area, but Walnut Hills along Gilbert is a much easier grade and that area is really coming on strong. Plus, if they go up Glibert, you connect to the Art Museum (possibly Playhouse with the stairs at the bottom of Gilbert) and you can get pretty close to the innovation district. It also encourages more development on the other side of 71 with the link to the streetcar in Walnut Hills. 

 

You connect the Spur to Museum center and now you have FC Stadium, Museum Center, Casino, Art Museum/Playhouse, Reds stadium, old arena, Wash Park, Music Hall, Aronoff, Findlay Market, Library, Kroger, SCPA, Rhinegiest and OTR, and  Courthouses along the streetcar line. Run it up the hill on Gilbert and you connect to thousands of people living there who can take it downtown to their jobs. How many urban circulators or even light rail lines in cities have connections to that many cultural/entertainment destinations in their city. As someone living in the burbs, this gives me a reason to park on the fringes of town and take the streetcar when I go to an event downtown. RIght now, it just does not offer enough destinations to connect with. The only key destination that would not be connected to the line is the Convention Center. 

 

Look at Cleveland, Buffalo, or St. Louis. Those lines may run through town but they do not offer the connectivity to as many key locations as the streetcar could if they built an additional east west spur. 

Really incredible on the ridership news, all during a long, slow pandemic recovery and looming recession type economy.

 

I can only imagine what it will look like when the economy gets better and the "upgrades" at low cost as Thomas has mentioned are implemented.

 

In my opinion I always felt the best move is somehow getting a quick line to Christ Hospital and Uptown area, to MLK, then straight through MLK to the University Hospitals area. Another east spur could go from McMillan at Christ Hospital over to Walnut Hills District to connect what they are doing there direct to UC. That has high potential IMO.

 

MLK for the employment centers and McMillan for the residential. The residential on McMillan will open it up to downtown workers as well.

 

I do think though the most important is a straight line tunnel from Walnut Street up to Christ then make spurs from there, needs to be very fast and reliable on that line. Huge expense for sure. Cincinnati needs some big econ development wins with bringing jobs.

BRT makes more sense going straight up Vine to UC, Medical Campus and the zoo IMO. A good idea might be to build a cross-town streetcar line from UC to Xavier and on to Wasson Way. Building from CUT to the Casino up Gilbert, you could connect to the Wasson Way line at XU and set up a potential full blown light rail line.

3rd highest monthly total all time

It's very likely that sometime in the next 4 days, the streetcar will break the previous annual ridership record with more than 100 days remaining in 2022. 

And just think if it went up to UC. The amount of ridership today would skyrocket since UC is playing at Paycor. If it went to up to Clifton I could see people parking downtown close to one of the stops and taking the streetcar up to the game. 

Edited September 19, 20222 yr by Ucgrad2015

On 9/17/2022 at 12:10 PM, Ucgrad2015 said:

And just think if it went up to UC. The amount of ridership today would skyrocket since UC is playing army Paycor. If it went to up to Clifton I could see people parking downtown close to one of the stops and taking the streetcar up to the game. 

I saw about 20 yellow schools buses lined up on University Circle on Saturday morning, presumably to shuttle students downtown. 

Lori Burchett looks to keep Cincinnati streetcar moving in right direction

https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/cincinnati/news/2022/09/19/cincinnati-streetcar-s-new-boss

Quote

Jeffreys feels the increased ridership is the result of a change in public opinion about the streetcar. It’s changed so much, he said, that the city has received interest from residents of at least two Cincinnati neighborhoods looking at the possibility of expansion.

That includes the historic Mohawk area of northern OTR — the line would go to the Imperial Theater near McMicken Avenue and Linn Street, Jeffreys said. Residents of Walnut Hills told him they'd like to see the streetcar run up Gilbert Avenue to at least Peebles Corner.

Also this quote in the article as well

Quote

The city is exploring grant opportunities to fund a feasibility study, he said.

Also this

 

Very exciting developments!!!

On 9/17/2022 at 11:08 AM, thomasbw said:

It's very likely that sometime in the next 4 days, the streetcar will break the previous annual ridership record with more than 100 days remaining in 2022. 

It actually happened during Oktoberfest Saturday 

19 minutes ago, thomasbw said:

It actually happened during Oktoberfest Saturday 

That's seriously impressive and amazing for the future of transit in Cincy. Not just because it means the streetcar is hitting higher ridership, but more because that higher ridership likely means more people are experiencing useful urban transit, likely many for the first time, which will hopefully lead them to want more of that experience throughout the city.

Today I realized you could use Metro's KPIs to reverse engineer how many vehicle revenue hours each route had for each month.  

UC Football games are really long and there's a lot of down time between plays. 

 

Riders per vehicle hour all land based US transit systems, August 2022

September set the new all-time ridership record. It will be broken this month. Highest Monthly ridership for November and December are almost certain to be beaten as well. 2022 has the highest annual ridership after only 9 months 

I don’t really know how the people counters work at the doors, but I hope they are accurate because there were globs of humans pouring out of the streetcar for blink this past weekend. It’s already been crushing it’s own records and with blink weekend I wouldn't be surprised if it’s another record month.

I love how much progress we've made in catching up to KC's Streetcar.  That one got nothing but good press and expansion talk, and now we're on that trajectory.  At the least, the bad press has all but stopped in local news.

8 minutes ago, 10albersa said:

I love how much progress we've made in catching up to KC's Streetcar.  That one got nothing but good press and expansion talk, and now we're on that trajectory.  At the least, the bad press has all but stopped in local news.

Correct- https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2022/11/08/cincinnati-connector-streetcar-october-sets-passenger-record/69627401007/

 

 

1 hour ago, 10albersa said:

I love how much progress we've made in catching up to KC's Streetcar.  That one got nothing but good press and expansion talk, and now we're on that trajectory.  At the least, the bad press has all but stopped in local news.

 

I visited Kansas City last month.  I am baffled as to how their streetcar managed to accumulate huge ridership from Day 1, as it does not appear to be as useful as Cincinnati's line.  

 

I think that many of their rides are short 1-2 station jumps within the downtown and not longer trips to either end of the line.  

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

Edited November 8, 20222 yr by Lazarus

It's almost certainly because it was seen as a positive civic project in KC whereas it was fiercely attacked by a proto-MAGA group in Cincinnati from the moment it was proposed.

57 minutes ago, Lazarus said:

 

I visited Kansas City last month.  I am baffled as to how their streetcar managed to accumulate huge ridership from Day 1, as it does not appear to be as useful as Cincinnati's line.  

 

I think that many of their rides are short 1-2 station jumps within the downtown and not longer trips to either end of the line.  

Ridership in KC is going to dramatically increase once the extension to The Plaza and UM-KC is complete in a few years. 

On 11/8/2022 at 3:15 PM, Boomerang_Brian said:

Ridership in KC is going to dramatically increase once the extension to The Plaza and UM-KC is complete in a few years. 

 

The Main St. extension to UMKC is u/c and will be longer than the current operating segment, but don't expect ridership to double, since the streetcars will be traveling through a variety of areas that are much less dense than DTKC and the Power & Light District.  I expect that buses will continue to operate on Main, so it'll be interesting to see how much ridership improves in aggregate, since the streetcars no doubt will pilfer some bus ridership.  

 

One interesting contrast between Cincinnati and KC is that Cincinnati's line has numerous annoying lane shifts but is almost entirely level, excepting the pair of block-long inclines on Main and Walnut.  KC, meanwhile, stays in its lane to a much greater degree, but has tons of short inclines.  I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of the line operates at a 3% or greater grade.  The UMKC extension will be more of the same - tons of block-by-block up-and-down, including a 200-foot vertical climb to Westport and then a similar descent to Brush Creek.  

 

 

 

For the last few weeks, signage at the stops has just displayed “streetcar arrives every 12-15 minutes” rather than the real time arrival information. Has the city said anything about this?

13 hours ago, taestell said:

For the last few weeks, signage at the stops has just displayed “streetcar arrives every 12-15 minutes” rather than the real time arrival information. Has the city said anything about this?

Streetcar managers have concluded that the installed real-time arrival system is too unreliable, and so they are using this message while they shop around for a new system. It's unfortunate.

 

9 minutes ago, John Schneider said:

Streetcar managers have concluded that the installed real-time arrival system is too unreliable

I completely agree. I've been using the Transit app and just check where the streetcar is on the route.

 

OR, we could implement all of the easy service improvements thomasbw talks about, plus add another streetcar to the rotation and not have to worry about arrival times since one will be there every 5-7 minutes.

28 minutes ago, 10albersa said:

OR, we could implement all of the easy service improvements thomasbw talks about, plus add another streetcar to the rotation and not have to worry about arrival times since one will be there every 5-7 minutes.

 

Yeah.  

 

Kansas City has ordered eight more CAF Urbos 3 streetcars with an option for ten.  It seems like we could piggy-back on that option should we decide to order more streetcars.   

 

The issue we're facing is that at some point CAF is going to stop building the Urbos 3.  We'll have to buy streetcars that are either a different CAF model or are manufactured by an entirely different company.  You don't want that if you're only ordering a handful of vehicles.  

 

If CAF stops supporting the Urbos 3 in another ten years we're going to have to cannibalize one of our streetcars for parts.  

 

On 11/8/2022 at 11:26 AM, thomasbw said:

 

Think how much better this could be if we built the tunnel up Main to Christ Hospital and beyond. Would probably need to land an Amazon HQ or something to make it happen.

We really should make the Southbank Shuttle fare-free as well and jointly market it with the streetcar. 

 

The maximum amount of gross revenue they made in November was $7,705 (assumes zero cash handling fees, credit card fees for online passes and zero monthly pass usage). Estimated cost to operate the Southbank Shuttle was $215,187, which puts the best case farebox recovery at about 3.5%. 

 

January 2023 is on pace to beat January 2021 and January 2021 combined. 

January is normally the lowest ridership month for the Cincinnati Streetcar. 

 

In January 2023, the streetcar had higher ridership than any month in 2017, 2018, 2020 or 2021. It also had higher ridership than every month in 2019 except for Blink. 

 

We could conceivably break a million riders in 2023. 

Edited February 4, 20232 yr by thomasbw
added a chart

Ridership compared to pre-pandemic levels for 2022 (Note- Detroit didn't report data)

^That data says as much or more about the decline in activity in major cities post-COVID as it does about Cincinnati. Still very impressive to see Cincinnati go the other direction of the trend. 

19 hours ago, ink said:

^That data says as much or more about the decline in activity in major cities post-COVID as it does about Cincinnati. Still very impressive to see Cincinnati go the other direction of the trend. 

In 2022, of the 647 fixed route transit units that had reported data to the FTA, only 27 had higher ridership than pre-pandemic levels, with the median system being down -40% (and total ridership being down -38.4%)

20 hours ago, ink said:

^That data says as much or more about the decline in activity in major cities post-COVID as it does about Cincinnati. Still very impressive to see Cincinnati go the other direction of the trend. 

 

Atlanta's streetcars are currently out-of-service.  The trucks developed some sort of problem and have been shipped to the Siemens factory in California for service:

https://www.wsbradio.com/news/local/safety-concerns-move-atlanta-streetcar-cars-out-service-now/AQ2IUY5OUVAUJAZ3IFSKLCN6T4/

 

 

According to the transit app the extension down Race and Elm has already happened! On a serious note, even with a ‘pro transit’ mayor and council the stop told me the next streetcar was 12 minutes away when it was one block away and the app showed the streetcar driving somewhere on Plum… can’t we get this kind of s**t fixed? (Along with the other easy fixes that thomasbw has mentioned repeatedly)

On 2/8/2023 at 7:59 AM, thomasbw said:

In 2022, of the 647 fixed route transit units that had reported data to the FTA, only 27 had higher ridership than pre-pandemic levels, with the median system being down -40% (and total ridership being down -38.4%)

So basically, it is working!!!

 

Amazing, when you remove obstacles to success, you allow success. Who would have thought?

 

Again as others mentioned, hopefully the administration can get their tail ends in gear to the fixes throughout to make it even better infrastructure.

 

If 2022 had 846k riders, a 35% increase this year would put it at 1,142,000, which is over 3k a day. I think that is entirely feasible just looking at the numbers and how well January went.