Let's move forward on transit

Slowly but surely transit option advocates are coming together to lobby for their cause. With an aging baby boomer population and rising fuel costs, doesn't it just make sense to invest in public transit options? Advocates say: YES! So the umbrella group, going under the battle cry "Save Transit Now, Move Ohio Forward" is looking to change Ohio laws reguarding taxation and funding and how it relates to public transit. Here are a few of the suggestions:

1. Update gasoline taxation laws. Currently tax revenues go solely towards highway improvements. Transit advocates are hoping to funnel some of those funds towards mass transit.

2. Getting other revenues from Vanity Plates and gas taxes collected from off-road vehicles.

3. Letting the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MORPC, OKI, NOACA, AMATS, Eastgate, etc) use flexible highway funds for mass public transporation. ODOT would have to allow this.


The advocate groups, including All Aboard Ohio, Environment Ohio, Bike, Walk Ohio!, GreenCityBlueLakeInitiative, and others are coming together to pull their voices and supporters for the betterment of the state.

This issue is certainly a hot topic in the state of Ohio. In 2009 the state passed legistlation to go forward with the Ohio Hub Initiative (3-C passenger rail corridor project) and is currently awaiting Federal Approval of the project. In November Cincinnatians approved the Streetcar ballot, allowing the first phase of the project to begin, which will connect downtown with Clifton, the neighborhood 2 miles north of downtown containing the University of Cincinnati.

So passenger rail projects in Ohio seem to be headed in the right direction. Cleveland has had the Rapid system for years, and has recently completed the Euclid Corridor project, containing express buses from downtown to University Circle.

Keep up the good work Ohio.

The Great Streetcar Debate

Recently I attended a debate on streetcars in Cincinnati. Streetcars have been heavily debated in Cinci and Columbus for years. Cleveland has the Rapid, which is a train that runs from the airport to downtown and east past Shaker Square as well as to University Circle. Pittsburgh has the T, which connects communities in the South Hills to downtown.

Cincinnati currently has an abandoned underground subway tunnel which wasn't completed due to extreme inflation after World War I. Now that the economic stimulus plan has been passed by Congress and signed by President Obama, the debate about completion of a rail transit system in the city is underway. The proposed streetcar in Cinci will not be underground, where the subway was proposed, but above ground. The underground tunnel is slated to hold new sewer lines. Following are arguments for and against the streetcar in Cincinnati, as well as some of my notes on the topic (in blue).

Arguments Against the Streetcar:

-All electricity in Cincinnati currently comes from West Virginia coal, which isn't currently "clean coal technology." So, would it really be sustainable? Perhaps THIS is the best argument against streetcars in Cincinnati. If the energy supply is going to become more sustainable then the streetcar would be a viable solution.

-Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) are usually used...the speaker felt that TIFs inappropriately distribute funds to private developers. TIFs have proponents and opponents...generally falling upon liberal/conservative lines. They don't always work, but shouldn't be a concern with Streetcars as it's a given that feasible development will occur near stations.

-Streetcars aren't transportation, they are treated as development plans. Is the encouragement of development in urban areas such a bad thing?

-Annual defecits increase due to subsidizing for lack of ticket revenues (ridership revenues are generally set lower than operation costs). This is a legitimate concern, but what is wrong with providing affordable transportation? Tax revenues from new development will overcompensate for operational cost subsidies.

-Railed systems are much less flexible than buses. Rails laid in between two hubs of activity (downtown and Clifton) will not need to move for several years, as these two hubs contain schools, jobs, businesses and cultural amenities that will not leave anytime soon.

-Gentrification may occur in areas near the streetcar, which hurts lower income residents. Gentrification is good in certain doses. The City can maintain or provide enough affordable units by amending the zoning code.

Arguments For the Streetcar:

-36% of jobs in the Cincinnati Metro are located downtown and 20% of jobs in the Cincinnati Metro are located around the University of Cincinnati, making the Streetcar available to at least 56% of the region's workforce as well as residents who live in the area. More than half of the region's workers/residents will have access to rail transit options in their daily lives.

-Market Rate housing could be built downtown if decent transit available. Many people are inhibited to move downtown due to lack of parking. Studies show that access to rail transit in dense areas allow households to go from two to one car.

-Parking demands downtown make projects/activities there difficult and the streetcar would alleviate some of these hassles. Access to visable rail transit allows residents another option. Cars can be parked elsewhere and destinations can be accessed through rail transit and walking.

-Development typically occurs and is concentrated near permanent transit stations/stops. Concentrated development is a natural product of rail transit. Stations/stops are opportunities for service businesses in particular.

I am a proponent of Streetcars. They are not necessarily the entire solution, but they are one link in the chain of multimodal transportation.

Similarly the Ohio Hub, an ODOT study of high speed rail trains between Cleveland/Columbus/Dayton and Cincinnati (just to start) is in the planning stages and construction can start as soon as 2010. An innercity rail system in Cincinnati will eventually be part of a statewide service allowing Ohioans to travel across state or a few blocks away without the stress of buying gas or looking for a parking space.