The Cincinnati Street Car

[WeezyBengal]

(12-16-2016, 12:10 PM)xxlt Wrote: It works in other cities, such as Portland. I have not seen the Cincy incarnation, but I know initially ridership there exceeded expectations. Curious about the dip. Did you see a data set that tracked it?

There was opposition to the Cincy light rail, that I do know. I wonder if the proposal got so watered down as to make it impotent.

Ride share services like Lyft (and Uber) and cabs are not the answer to downtown congestion and pollution. Bikes are part of the solution in some communities - does Cincy have a bike rental program? We just added one in my new home town but have not seen data on its use yet. The goal of light rail is to take cars off the road and thus reduce congestion & pollution and make downtown more pedestrian friendly so people can, yes walk. Even if people still commute into or toward the downtown but then abandon their car for their movement in the urban corridor it helps with traffic and pollution. Nobody wants to walk or ride a bike in a downtown that is packed with idling automobiles moving at less than 10 MPH.

What would you propose as a better solution? (Again, bringing in more taxis and ride shares actually worsens the problem light rail is meant to solve.)

In cities like DC, Chicago, and off course NYC and London, a robust rail service serves millions if not tens of millions of riders each year. Hopefully the downtown loop is a first step for Cincy to get to a smaller scale but healthy rail transit system serving a broader swath of the city.

Here is the article: 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/12/06/streetcar-ridership-numbers-way-short-projections/95043064/

The numbers were way up in the beginning because it was a novelty at first. Now that the "newness" has worn off and everyone has gotten their joy ride in, no one seems to be riding it because of functional purposes. 

My answer is that downtown Cincinnati doesnt need any kind of transportation solution. Its not that big. If you want to get somewhere then you can either walk, take a red bike (rent and drop bike rental on many street corners), etc. 

Like I said, I could have gotten behind the light rail idea. I think a connection from downtown Cincinnati to its out landing suburbs is something that this city is missing. Can you imagine a train that connects Mason to downtown? It would be so beneficial.