Rail advocacy success story: Cincinnati streetcar (new operating plan)

[beautifulplanet]

There is no post on Amtrak Unlimited about the Cincinnati streetcar yet, so here it is, including trying to cover the most recent developments.

On September 15, 2016 (that's a Thursday), passengers will ride a streetcar in Cincinnati again for the first time in 65 years. The 3.6 mile route will span the area from the banks of the Ohio River, through downtown to the north of the historic Over-The-Rhine district. The streetcar project already revitalizes the areas it passes through now even before start of operations, and will do so even more after it will start operating, with the construction currently being on budget and on time.

Still the only reason Cincinnati will see any passenger rail again (besides the three-times-a-week Amtrak train), is because of an exceptional rail advocacy success story, which will be explained in more detail beneath this original project map:

source:

http://cincystreetcar.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/new-streetcar-route-map/

The upper half of the system, serving Uptown and its university and major hospitals, will not be part of the system due to open 2016. Initially, the streetcar line's northern-most point will be Henry St (also known as phase 1a), still switches at Elder St and Findlay St have already been put in place to make any future northern expansion easier. In 2011, then new Governor of Ohio John Kasich withdrew $52 million in state money that had been awarded to the streetcar by the previous administration, leading to the decision to build the Uptown route at a later time.

Already in 2002, the streetcar was included in a public transportation plan called "Metro Moves" which was voted down.

The Cincinnati Enquirer sums up the streetcar's history like this:

In May 2010, City Council voted 6-2 to put $67 million into the streetcar project, which was then estimated to cost taxpayers $128 million. The project had opposition from the start, but voters approved the project through two referendums.

In 2009, voters shot down, 56 to 44 percent, the idea that any rail projects would first have to be approved by residents. Two years later, 52 percent of voters shot down a measure that would have stopped the city from developing the streetcar.

But then in November, John Cranley was elected mayor on an anti-streetcar platform. The day after he was elected, Cranley proclaimed: "It's dead." The newly elected council halted the project, seeking an independent audit. The federal government gave the city a midnight deadline on Dec. 19 to make a decision – or else the feds were pulling the rest of its $45 million designated for the project.

source:

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/downtown/2014/07/14/track-one-year-streetcar-time-budget/12659977/

One has to try to understand it what things were like at this point - people fought for the streetcar project for years and years, the new governor pulled state funding, the initial line was truncated to get it done, and still construction started, half a mile of track was already laid - and then this new mayor is being elected, and puts a halt to construction. Even as an analysis comes out afterwards showing that the cost to stop the project is nearly as high as to finish it, he is still insisting on killing it, as it is "reckless spending". And then citizens stepped up, in a remarkable campaign of grassroots rail advocacy:

[Ryan] Messer [founder of grassroots group Believe in Cincinnati] emailed friends, neighbors, and others who had supported the streetcar in its years lurching through legislative approval. Soon they were gathered around his coffee table, plotting what would become Believe in Cincinnati.

The group had just six weeks to sway City Hall to restart construction, before a funding deadline would pass, evaporating nearly $41 million in grant money from the federal government. They had to move fast. "We were building the plane while it was already on the runway," remembers Brad Hughes, another Believe member.

Messer, a native of nearby Rising Sun, Indiana, had no previous experience organizing. But his background as a sales executive for Johnson & Johnson taught him about branding and messaging. Believe in Cincinnati members flooded City Council chambers, marched along the streetcar's planned route carrying green balloons, and organized one of the fastest drives to mount a ballot initiative in the city's history.

They gathered more than 11,000 signatures in eight days, forcing a vote in which two council members who had campaigned against the project just months earlier voiced their support for it. It was a veto-proof, six-three vote.

source:

How Cincinnati's Pro-Streetcar Campaigners Won in the End

September 23, 2014

By Chris Bentley

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/09/how-cincinnatis-pro-streetcar-campaigners-won-in-the-end/380452/

As construction was "paused" to study the cost of cancelling the project, many people came together, and made a common effort to advocate for the streetcar. After new council member P.G. Sittenfeld - who opposed the streetcar before the election - came around to support the project, thousands of signatures were collected for a charter amendment, and businesses and civic organizations also became involved in the process, even offering supplemental outside funding for operations of the streetcar. Many might still remember that day, December 19, when finally council member Kevin Flynn and vice mayor David Mann - who both won office campaigning against the streetcar - actually voted in favor of continuing and finishing construction, and an anti-streetcar mayor actually had to make that announcement "We're going to have a streetcar". While of course many are involved in the process of bringing about a streetcar in Cincinnati, it was those residents who stepped up after the election of the new mayor and city council, who changed the course of events, and caused the streetcar to survive and a right decision to be made in a make-or-break moment.

Here is the news of that day (December 19, 2013) in a video:

Council will not derail streetcar project after all

December 19, 2013

By WLWT



source:

Why Metro is recommending this low streetcar fare

November 11, 2014

By Chris Wetterich

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2014/11/why-metro-is-recommending-this-low-streetcar-fare.html?page=all

The plan for the Cincinnati streetcar was to be operating every 10 minutes in peak hours, and every 20 minutes in off-peak hours, in a total of 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. Still that also been put into question, with statements from city council and mayor's office that if operating funds are not sufficient, the hours and days of operation could be cut back, or the streetcar would run less often. Believe in Cincinnati and other resident groups will continue to advocate for the streetcar to operate as planned, and also continue to push for the uptown expansion - for the biggest benefit for the people.

Here is a link to "Believe in Cincinnati"'s excellent, frequently updated Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/BelieveInCincinnati

 

[WICT106]

Good job! Bravo Zulu to you! Keep us informed.

 

[Metra Electric Guest]

Course they could have already have been riding a subway for 80 years.....

(good news though)