These pictures were taken of Government Square at around 10:30 pm, an hour after the fireworks had concluded. As expected there was a large demand on the public transportation system. The Cincinnati Streetcar would have alleviated this congestion [Please forgive the cell phone camera quality of the pictures].
Zone A of Gov't Square.
Zone C of Gov't Square
Zone B- The Bus to UC
Zone B
These pictures were taken an hour after the fireworks. A lot of people aren’t going to make it on the buses pictured and will have to wait even longer. A streetcar that carries nearly 200 passengers and runs frequently will make riding public transportation easier for the City, it will make coming Downtown easier, and the new economic development created by the streetcar will help all 52 neighborhoods.
September 8, 2009 at 9:01 am
Keep in mind too, that this didn’t factor in all those who decided to drive into town since no shuttles were run for the fireworks this year. The streetcar would eliminate a considerable number of cars driving all the way into town who could actually park further away to come to event.
September 8, 2009 at 9:28 am
ugh, #17 Sunday night schedule:
10:20
10:55
11:50
12:25
& 2 of ‘em don’t go all the way out. It’s also only about 200 people in 2 hours.
But where would you park along the streetcar route ?
Is Findlay Market & St Phillipus open to the public at night ?
Metro made a bad political mistake in not using the transit center so soon after it got so much publicity & criticism.
September 8, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Wow. What a joke. You have to wait 30-55 minutes for the next bus! Its unbelievable people are willing to stand for this!
With the streetcars running I wouldn’t be surprised if the wait would be cut down to 5-10 minutes between cars, especially if they ran extra trains for special events like this.
As for parking for the streetcar, there would be tons of options really. There are garages and surface parking lots all over OTR that could be used as well as a lot of places Uptown. For instance, the gateway quarter in OTR has that brand new giant parking garage at Central Parkway and Vine that could be used for special event parking I would think. Right now its used for weekday work commuters.
September 9, 2009 at 12:29 pm
COAST has recently become very pro-bus, so I look forward to hearing their plan to resolve this situation without rail. Maybe they’ll draw up a proposal that adds new articulated buses to express routes, special events, and the heaviest used regular routes. Ahhh, who am I kidding, they don’t care about buses. They only care about their political interests and promoting their agenda.
September 9, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Yea I was definitely waiting for over 1/2 an hour to take the 17, 18, or 19 back to Clifton. Considered walking, we did to get down to the river that afternoon. Eventually decided to take a cab. A quick ride and $12 later (split between 4 people) we were back. I am totally for the streetcar or any investment in our public transportation to help make events like Riverfest even more fun.