5 reasons why the Cincinnati streetcar's numbers are crashing, with no fixes in sight (Kent: neighborhoods, property tax)

[jfre81]

Grade separation is the key.

No problem with a streetcar in the way Cincy has if there's also rapid transit feeding people downtown. It's a little more useful if people aren't having to already drive there.

Rapid transit and high speed rail should be the thing for longer hauls. If there was a little more regional cooperation, Cincy/Dayton/Indy/Louisville/Columbus etc. could be making themselves the hub of a national system. Being a gateway to the west again, which is how these places tended to grow in the first place.

[cincitransplant2]

I rode the streetcar for the first time yesterday, and as convenient as I found it for getting from CBD to OTR (which took less than 10 minutes), the return trip was excruciating. I picked it up in OTR and it took me nearly 35 minutes to get from OTR back to CBD. I had no desire to add another 20 minutes to my ride (I wanted to get off on Main and 6th), so I hopped off at the Aronoff and walked over one block. I like the concept, and had I been a bit more knowledgeable of the route, I could have shaved a lot of time off by walking over to Music Hall to catch the downtown facing car. It was nice getting to two places I needed for $1 and not having to worry about moving my car, finding new parking, and paying additional parking fees.

I feel that there is promise here, and perhaps offering things like free or discounted parking with a ticket might help boost the numbers...

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by Mircea

Cranley is not the cause of poor-ridership.

He is most certainly the cause of the poor ridership.

Frequent closings during operational hours, refusing to operate the streetcar during what would be peak hours, running a low number of trains on the tracks far below capacity....

It's a textbook case of how to run something into the ground.


If you don't believe it, ask yourself what happened when he was first elected into office, and more importantly WHY someone who took those actions would want the thing they fought so hard to have fail.... succeed.

[cincydave8]

Yep the previous council didn't have the votes to override Cranley's veto to do very easy improvements like raising the fee if you park on the tracks. He also delayed and delayed the downtown traffic study that should give the streetcar signal priorty. This should finally be done this fall. A lot if not all of the blame falls on Cranely. There are very easy fixes that have been explained and proposed before. It does appear council has the votes this time to override any Cranley veto...once they stop pissing on each other over the city manager.

[Weaubleau]

Kansas City's streetcar is overwhelmingly popular. Then again, it is free to ride. I wonder how many people would ride it if it cost $1 each way, not very many I think.

[unusualfire]

Originally Posted by cincydave8

Yep the previous council didn't have the votes to override Cranley's veto to do very easy improvements like raising the fee if you park on the tracks. He also delayed and delayed the downtown traffic study that should give the streetcar signal priorty. This should finally be done this fall. A lot if not all of the blame falls on Cranely. There are very easy fixes that have been explained and proposed before. It does appear council has the votes this time to override any Cranley veto...once they stop pissing on each other over the city manager.

I think the FBI should look into it among other things that's been going on in his office.

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by SWOH

He is most certainly the cause of the poor ridership.

Frequent closings during operational hours, refusing to operate the streetcar during what would be peak hours, running a low number of trains on the tracks far below capacity....

Do you have actual evidence of that? Because no one else does.

The streetcar was closed during operational hours, but that was due to weather related events, namely that the street couldn't handle the weather.

You're not going to claim Cranley is responsible for the weather, are you?

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by Mircea

Do you have actual evidence of that? Because no one else does.

The streetcar was closed during operational hours, but that was due to weather related events, namely that the street couldn't handle the weather.

You're not going to claim Cranley is responsible for the weather, are you?

You provided it (I would have brought my own, but let's just use yours).

You mention the weather.
People do not control the weather but they DO control what is or is not defined as "inclement weather".

Cranley shut down the streetcar when people would have needed it most, during inclement weather.
Who wants to walk 10 blocks in a rain storm?
Wouldn't it be nice to take the streetcar instead?
Oh wait Cranley shut it down... and look at those ridership numbers tank.
Nice job Cranley, what a team player that guy is, making sure the streetcar is closed when people are going to be using it, what a guy.

Praise the lord he's term limited.

[ProkNo5]

Originally Posted by Weaubleau

Kansas City's streetcar is overwhelmingly popular. Then again, it is free to ride. I wonder how many people would ride it if it cost $1 each way, not very many I think.

Another Cranley cause. When I was working on the streetcar I shouted countless times that is needed to be fare-free. The cost of the fare collection equipment and fare enforcement far outweighed the fares collected. Cranley refused to even do a cost-benefit analysis of that option. Instead he made a "special taxing district" a wedge issue, knowing full well that Ohio law doesn't allow overlapping districts. He effectively got CBD and Over-the-Rhine residents fighting with each other which, of course, led to yet another impasse.

Cranley is VERY MUCH to blame for low ridership numbers. He has done an amazingly effective job at slighting and undercutting the project every opportunity he gets.

[censusdata]

It should have went from Covington and Newport to UC. As it was built it is primarily about gentrifying OTR.