The Cincinnati Street Car

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(12-16-2016, 01:22 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: 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. 

Thanks for the link!

I agree with you in large part - you can walk, I can walk, but the average person in many parts of America is too lazy to. Cincy is probably one of those parts.

There is a scene in The Gods Must Be Crazy! where a woman backs her car twenty feet down the driveway to the mailbox, gets a handful of business envelopes out of the mailbox, and drives back up into the garage. That's the mentality of too many people, and changing it ain't easy. But if they can walk their fat asses the same distance to the street car as to the office garage, sit down on the street car and ride 4 blocks to Wendy's, eat, and then ride back to work instead of driving there, they might do that. Multiply that by just 750 downtown workers a day and you are 25% of the way to the ridership they are targeting.

So, I think the numbers set as goals are reasonable. I also think with special events like Reds and Bengals games the ridership should spike if the system kinks get worked out and they might even beat the targeted numbers. Season will also effect ridership, right? Things like Party in the Park and concerts and Riverfest don't happen November to February...

I hope they keep trying to work out the bugs and expand it. It is not only an environmental win if it works, it is a human win (imagine a relaxing commute Mason to downtown where you can read or nap or check emails vs whiteknuckling down I-75 or I-71), and in most cities it is a business win as it stimulates commerce around stops.

Sounds like growing pains. I wouldn't bury it yet, even though critics would love to.

I think there are some obvious spoke candidates - such as Mason which you mentioned - for destinations.

The article talks about the need for a traffic study and and a comprehensive solution downtown. So, I think traffic downtown may be worse than you realize, and again, that is a business concern and ultimately an economic concern everyone has a stake in.