Why Cincinnati public transit sucks? (Findlay, Norwood: 2013, lawyer, house)

[jmecklenborg]

They should give the routes numbering based on the "trunk" of the route. For example, have 17-A, 17-B, 17-C, 17-D. Instead they do "17 Seven Hills", which makes no sense if you don't know where the hell Seven Hills is. Having a route named after the terminal stop instead of the general areas served is just plain stupid.

[deg1114]

Here is a great, 'at a glance' map that gives you the popular and more frequent routes. This one is great to use as a pocket reference.

Cincinnati Transit Map

It does not give you a time table but it is good quick reference for getting from point A to point B.

I found Google maps to be really helpful in planning a trip.

[progmac]

Originally Posted by bike756

And 17-D makes no sense if you don't know where "D" is :-P

I actually think they're doing well in naming their routes. They recently (a year or two ago) even renamed the (now) 11 and 43 to keep with the same syntax as the 4, 17. It's definitely the right move as it lets people begin to think of the main trunk of the route as the same, which it is if you don't travel to or from one of the branches. It eliminates some of the apparent complexity that can arise from layering low frequency routes to produce a high frequency corridor.

More people will board in the portions of the route where the various extensions are running on top of each other--it's in a denser area and has a higher frequency--so why not simplify things for them as much as possible with your naming conventions?

Now that just needs to come across somehow which it doesn't do well yet. The naming conventions make a lot of sense, but it's definitely not obvious why, and doesn't help anyone understand the system.

I think 17-a 17-b etc makes sense. Then you can tell someone (or yourself) to catch bus 17-B, not 17 - Destination descriptor. The descriptor is confusing because EVERY route has at least ONE descriptor, even if it isn't a trunk route with branches. So how is the user supposed to know that SOME routes have MULTIPLE descriptors? The answer is they can't and that is why it is confusing.

[jmecklenborg]

You're right, that's the problem. When the 18 was running there was only one 18. But there were/are four 17's. There are even multiple routes under the same X heading. There are actually two different 71X routes, one that heads through some commercial park and another that heads straight downtown.

Adding to the problem is we don't have long streets in this city like most do. Most cities have several arterial streets that are 10 or more miles long. Columbus and Cleveland both have such streets. The only one we have is Reading. Gilbert becomes Montgomery, Vine becomes Rt. 4, Glenway doesn't make it all the way downtown, etc. So we can't name the bus routes by those main streets like they do in many other cities.

[t45209]

As long as parking is relatively cheap and the average commute in Cincinnati is averaging around 30 minutes or less, there's no demand for public transportation. If it cost $30 a day and 90 minutes each way, then you would see more people wanting public transportation. As it stands right now, the #1 is virtually empty.

[TomJones123]

Originally Posted by t45209

As long as parking is relatively cheap and the average commute in Cincinnati is averaging around 30 minutes or less, there's no demand for public transportation. If it cost $30 a day and 90 minutes each way, then you would see more people wanting public transportation. As it stands right now, the #1 is virtually empty.

Not where I live. 17 and 19 are jammed morning/evening heading to and from downtown, respectively.

[progmac]

Originally Posted by t45209

As long as parking is relatively cheap and the average commute in Cincinnati is averaging around 30 minutes or less, there's no demand for public transportation. If it cost $30 a day and 90 minutes each way, then you would see more people wanting public transportation. As it stands right now, the #1 is virtually empty.

a quarter of downtown commuters ride the bus.

most routes are really quite full most of the time. i think most of us that ride multiple routes regularly can confirm this.

[TomJones123]

Originally Posted by t45209

As it stands right now, the #1 is virtually empty.

Really, the #1? Dude...it goes from the Museum to the zoo via Mount Adams. That's not really a commuter route. Even Metro calls it "The One for Fun." I would have to say that's not really a good barometer to measure Metro use by.

Schedules: Cincinnati Metro - Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority

[motorman]

Originally Posted by TomJones123

Really, the #1? Dude...it goes from the Museum to the zoo via Mount Adams. That's not really a commuter route. Even Metro calls it "The One for Fun." I would have to say that's not really a good barometer to measure Metro use by.

Agreed. Wanna experience perhaps the most "peopled" Metro routes--then check out the #17s, #4s, and #33s. As an example (because I routinely ride the #4 back and forth from Norwood to downtown), I always try to catch this bus home at 4th & Main, before it swings up past the Federal Building and then the Courthouse. Boarding a #4 at either one of these two stops virtually guarantees standing in a long or long line of people!

[cali3448893]

Hope is coming...streetcar system.