The Streetcar Can't Save Your City

Two weekends ago, for the first time, Cincinnatians could load up on pretzels and hot metts at their vast Oktoberfest celebrations downtown and then hop on a streetcar. And almost 30,000 people did just that: The city’s brand-new streetcar system packed on crowds on its first weekend of full-fare service. The weekend before, about 50,000 residents of the Queen City got a free ride for grand opening of the 3.4-mile Bell Circulator, named for sponsor Cincinnati Bell.

Streetcar boosters, who have been patiently awaiting the resurrection of a system that was mothballed in 1951, are justifiably delighted. Cincinnatians who pushed for a trolley redux had to overcome two ballot initiatives that tried to halt the project, in 2009 and 2011—plus fierce resistance from the state’s governor, John Kasich, who withdrew $52 million in promised federal funding in 2011. Then a decidedly anti-streetcar mayor, John Cranley, stormed City Hall in 2013, replacing the term-limited Mark Mallory. Only the fact that the new rails were already half-installed kept the decade-long project alive: The estimated costs of halting the streetcar exceeded what it would take to complete it. (Enjoy the whole tortured history of the project here.)