After multiple rounds of ordinances and subsequent mayoral vetoes, Cincinnati City Council voted Wednesday afternoon to make the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar fare-free.

With a 7-2 vote -- and a mayoral veto override -- the nine-member council decided Wednesday to reallocate money from the city's general fund to finance streetcar operations without relying on fare revenue to carry passengers. In doing so, lawmakers also rejected a plan put forward by Mayor John Cranley to preserve streetcar fares and use that revenue to fund increased police operations throughout some city neighborhoods hit by a recent uptick in violent crime.

READ MORE: Would more people ride the streetcar if it were free?

As with most streetcar developments, getting to Wednesday's decision didn't come without a protracted legislative back-and-forth and political finger-pointing from both sides of the issue.

Here's a rough timeline of how Council got there:

Wedneday's Council discussion spurred as much debate among members as previous sessions. Mayor Cranley echoed comments he made during Tuesday's Law and Public Safety Committee, arguing that the rise in violent crime over the last several months -- and what he said is a subsequent need for more police officers on the streets -- outweighs the streetcar.

He and Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman also said making the Connector free would be unfair to bus riders, who still have to pay a fare to ride.

Cincinnati Metro bus rider Tiffany Webb told WCPO that she agrees, and said if the streetcar is free, all forms of public transportation should be free.

"Its not helping us, the working class," she said. "What does it do for the working class people that dont go down to The Banks? Theyve got to go to work. They got to do something... I feel like if theyre going to make the streetcar free, they need to make everything free. With this pandemic going on everything should be free so we can get back and forth and do what we need to do."

RELATED: Councilman wants to make Metro buses free for veterans

Cincinnati Metro went fare-free during the early weeks of the pandemic, but the transit authority board quickly reversed that decision after Cranley voiced concerns that free buses were encouraging large gatherings and crowds of people "joyriding." A spokewoman for Cranley told WCPO at the time police had informed him that participants of a large, illegal gathering of people in Over-the-Rhine on Apr. 3 used Metro to arrive at the scene.

WCPO could not independently confirm a correlation between fare-free Metro buses and the illegal gathering.

Councilman Greg Landsman spoke again in defense of making the streetcar fare-free, also echoing his comments verbatim from one day prior: "This is not a plan. This is a stunt," he said, referring to Cranley's proposition to use streetcar fare revenue to fund additional police presence in areas of concentrated violent crime.

"This is a distraction," Landsman said.

Multiple citizens spoke in favor of reopening the streetcar fare-free during City Council's public input session prior to Wednesday's meeting.

"Keeping the streetcar free right now will be an enormous help in bringing traffic back to the urban core," said a woman from East Price Hill, who hopes the Connector could be a tool for jump-starting economic activity in Over-the-Rhine, Downtown and The Banks, which all took a hard hit from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions on businesses.

Rookie council member Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney had her reservations about preserving streetcar fares for more police funding, questioning how much money streetcar fares even generate for the city. Her question remained unanswered beyond what then-City Manager Patrick Duhaney indicated in a May 2019 memo that, during fiscal year 2020, the streetcar would bring in roughly $330,000 in fare revenue but would also incur a cost of nearly $260,000 to collect those fares.

With that pre-pandemic estimate -- which unlikely represents ridership levels as the COVID-19 crisis continues into the fall -- that would mean roughly $70,000 net revenue from streetcar fares.

Seelbach's ordinance allows for the streetcar to remain fare-free for up to 60 days while the city administration renegotiates agreements with contractors hired to operate the Cincinnati Bell Connector.

The Cincinnati Bell Connector will reopen to passengers on Wednesday after closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest question up for debate by city leaders is whether or not passengers will have to pay.

The last thing anyone wants to be talking about is the streetcar, Cincinnati city councilmember Chris Seelbach said.

In August, Cincinnati City Council passed an ordinance to bring back streetcar service, minus the fee, in September. Two weeks ago, the city managers office said more ordinances would be needed to accomplish that.

"We've had a free streetcar before and we don't have to go through those hurdles," Seelbach said.

Meanwhile, Mayor John Cranley is filing a new ordinance that would keep the fare and use it to pay for more police officers in the Over-the-Rhine area, citing concerns over the areas rise in violent crime.

"I don't know why city council thinks it is a priority to make the streetcar free, but it is my priority as mayor to focus on what's really important, Cranley said. Saving lives is really important."

The area he wants to focus on has been home to many recent shootings, including 11 in one night in early August.

"The people who ride the streetcar want a safe neighborhood, Cranley said. And I am certain that paying a dollar per ride in order to get better police presence is something the streetcar riders would expect."

The total amount of money that could be brought by re-instituting the fare is unclear.

"Whatever it is, whatever amount, we could use additional resources to fight crime," Cranley said.

According to a 2019 city memo, it costs the city about $253,000 a year to collect the fares for the streetcar. In order to cover that expense and make a profit, revenue from the fare needs to surpass $21,000 a month. Thats the equivalent of 10,500 riders buying a full-day pass.

In 2019, ridership reports said the streetcar averaged about 44,000 a people a month. With the pandemic putting an end to many downtown activities, no Reds games and reduced hours of operation, ridership this year is uncertain.

"A former SORTA Board member provided me data saying that it may actually cost the city money to have fares and then enforce those fares, Seelbach said.

He said this is all a ploy by the mayor to once again fight over the streetcar.

"I expect him to do whatever he can to bring the streetcar front stage and fight about, Seelbach said. I expect nothing less from him."

A special session was called Tuesday to ensure Wednesdays streetcar reopening happens fare-free.

"I thought that was embarrassing when I heard that, Cranley said. I think this is a classic case of don't tell me what your priorities are, show me your budget."

If the group passes the free-fare legislation, Cranley can veto it.

The mayors ordinance will be discussed at Tuesdays Law and Public Safety Meeting.

If the ordinance has support, it will go to full council on Wednesday.

If the mayor waits until Wednesday to veto, city council would have to wait a full week to override it.

As city officials continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, Cincinnati's vice mayor Chris Smitherman called for the Cincinnati Bell Connector to temporarily suspend operation on Sunday.

"We cannot justify any loss of jobs while continuing to operate the streetcar at this level of ridership," Smitherman wrote in a news release. "I ask the administration to examine this, and all other non-essential spending, for the duration of the emergency situation."

I will be introducing legislation to temporarily suspend operations of the streetcar.

Disruptions in our budget will require difficult decisions to be made. We MUST prioritize our core services and city workers! pic.twitter.com/lWIvHvg8Vr

Christopher Smitherman (@voteSmitherman) March 29, 2020

Smitherman wrote that daily streetcar ridership has fallen from an average 1,400 riders a day to around 250 riders since the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to data from the city's website though, daily streetcar ridership between Feb. 1, and March 10 has not fallen below 500 riders. More recent ridership numbers are not yet available.

This call comes two days after Mayor John Cranley said the city faces layoffs and budget cuts thanks to COVID-19.

Cranley did not speak to how many people would be laid off or how much would be cut after City Councilmember Chris Seelbach tweeted that the city administration is projecting a $60 million to $80 million deficit in the general fund. Seelbach said the deficit would require "cutting important jobs and services by June 30."

"It is very important at this time to send the message that we are doing everything in our power to mitigate any job loss for our great city workers," Smitherman wrote Sunday. "The motion to temporarily suspend streetcar operations is simpy a 90 day pause."

The city of Cincinnati announced a new perk Wednesday for baseball fans who purchase same-day tickets to Cincinnati Reds games this season.

Fans can now use valid same-day game tickets for free rides on the Cincinnati Bell Connector. The promotion begins Wednesday as the Reds take on the Atlanta Braves for a 6:40 p.m. game, and continues for the entire 2019 season.

Using a digital or printed ticket, fans can hop aboard the streetcar for free rides to or from The Banks, Downtown and Over-the-Rhine on the same date as the game listed on the ticket.

Show the game ticket to the fare inspector instead of the traditional streetcar pass.

Game tickets will be eligible for free rides on the streetcar all day on game days.

The promotion was made possible by a donation from Woods Hardware, according to a city news release.

By making the streetcar free on game days with a paid ticket, its our way to give back and thank Cincinnati for the tremendous success weve had at our Downtown Cincinnati hardware store, said Matt Woods, owner of Woods Hardware. Go Reds!

Click here for the streetcar route and station stops.

Click here for the Cincinnati Reds schedule and ticket options.

City Council got an update Tuesday on some lingering proposals to revise the streetcar's operating procedures, after ridership and revenue continue to lag behind projections. Among those ideas still being considered: making the streetcar free and terminating or renegotiating the streetcar's management contract with the transit authority.

The biggest issue facing the streetcar more than two years after its launch in Sept. 2016 remains below-projected ridership numbers and dropping revenue, both from low fare collection and advertisers not renewing their contracts with the Cincinnati Bell Connector.

Council member Greg Landsman -- who oversees Council's Major Projects and Smart Government Committee -- floated the idea of a special assessment for businesses and property owners along the streetcar route to help boost incoming revenue.

Landsman said he would suggest deferring any advancement of that idea to the new, incoming streetcar "CEO," a position he said the city is "very close" to filling.

The "CEO" position was part of a larger proposal Landsman advanced last year, calling for a massive restructuring of how the streetcar is managed and operates. Landsman proposed the restructuring after it became clear that the current arrangement did not place accountability for the streetcar's success on a single person or body. As the streetcar operates now, the city owns the streetcar, and the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority oversees operations, which are carried out by a third party, public transit operations firm Transdev.

Assistant City Manager John Juech last spring described this management dilemma as not having "one neck to choke."

The city is also in the process of evaluating its operations and management agreement with SORTA in order to determine whether the city should take over direct oversight of streetcar operations from the transit authority, Landsman said.

Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman called for a report on such a "divorce" last June. City Manager Patrick Duhaney reported in November that removing SORTA from the streetcar's management structure would be "expensive and time-consuming."

Council member David Mann renewed a call he first made last spring, suggesting that making the streetcar free to ride might boost ridership.

"When can we stop charging fares from riders?" he said, pointing to Kansas City's similar streetcar system, which does not charge a fare. "Their ridership there has been phenomenal."

The Council committee Tuesday did not take any action on the streetcar management. Landsman promised a more detailed report on the status of these proposals would be forthcoming later this week.

CINCINNATI -- After a two-year wait for the results of a Downtown traffic study, members of City Council were left with more questions than answers Tuesday after a preliminary presentation from transportation officials.

The goal of the study was to assess traffic congestion problems throughout Downtown and make recommendations for how to fix them. But Tuesday's presentation lacked specifics, multiple council members agreed.

"This took two-and-a-half years and it feels a little sloppy to me, at least how it's laid out," said City Councilman Chris Seelbach. "The fact that the solutions aren't tied to the problems makes this a little hard to follow.

"I don't feel like I got my money's worth."

The 27-page report made observations about traffic signal timing, transit stop locations, lane striping and curbside management, among other traffic issues.

Downtown streets carry a wider variety of commuters than when the Central Business District had its last traffic study, in the mid-1990s -- including pedestrians, bicycles and transit vehicles like buses and the streetcar, in addition to single-occupant vehicles and delivery trucks.

Council member and committee chair, Greg Landsman acknowledged the scope of the study and asked officials to come back with more specifics.

"I'm glad we're having this conversation, but we have to get to a place where we have actionable recommendations," he said.

Assistant City Administrator John Juech stepped up to the podium near the presentation's conclusion to say that Tuesday's testimony was always meant to be just the first step.

"This is just the interim report. We were always anticipating coming to council for your feedback," he told the committee.

Acting City Manager Patrick Duhaney reiterated Juech's comments in a statement following Tuesday's meeting, reading in part:

The presentation discussed today in committee was not a complete report... Today's update fulfilled only one of several detailed tasks outlined in the contract with the vendor. There are still several outstanding elements of the contract that need to be completed before the authorship of a final report. The intention was always to present Council with interim findings for guidance and feedback before issuance of a final report.

That vendor was downtown Cincinnati-based Brandstetter Carroll, Inc., who subcontracted Kimley Horn to conduct the traffic study.

Tim Brandstetter, a consultant with Downtown-based Brandstetter Carroll, said his team outlined some possible solutions in three categories: recommended, needing further study and not recommended, based on need and cost.

View Brandstetter Carroll's full presentation below.

Among those recommendations was testing transit-prioritized traffic signals at key intersections along the streetcar route:

Seelbach felt encouraged by this.

"This is one of the first concrete steps we can take to help fix the streetcar," he said.

Brandstetter also recommended moving the Cincinnati Metro bus stops located on Fifth Street between Race and Vine streets.

"With the bus stops starting at the signal at Vine and working your way back, Fifth Street during the peak hour is essentially reduced down to one lane for the eastbound through traffic," he said. "You see that cascade back several blocks."

As for pedestrian safety improvements, Brandstetter recommended curb bump-outs -- which the city has used elsewhere -- as well as exploring re-timing walk signals a few seconds before vehicles' green lights, giving them time to make it into the crosswalk before drivers at the intersection can move.

City Council will likely receive an update to Tuesday's presentation after January 1.

12-11-18 Downtown Traffic Study Report by WCPO Web Team on Scribd

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Bell announced it will provide free Wi-Fi service along the streetcar route.

As the streetcar's chief sponsor, the telecommunication giant's offer should come as little surprise.

Cincinnati Bell officials made the announcement at a news conference Friday at The Banks, during which city leaders met to discuss the Smart Cincy initiative, which focuses on issues related to connectivity, mobility, cyber-security and sustainability. In January, officials requested proposals for building a broadband network throughout the city, as part of the initiative.

Councilmember Sittenfeld kicks off this mornings press conference announcing @CincyBell as a #SmartCincy partner that will better connect Cincinnati and deliver free, high-speed Wi-Fi along the @CB_Connector route and adjacent areas. pic.twitter.com/qWYfXEOgVZ

"Technology is the great equalizer in many ways," said Mayor John Cranley in a news release following Friday's conference. "Being able to help eliminate the digital divide is a great thing for our residents."

The streetcar runs a 3.6-mile loop from Rhinegeist Brewery at Elm and Henry streets through Downtown to Great American Ball Park at The Banks. People riding the streetcar and sitting in "adjacent areas" can access the "Smart Cincy Wi-Fi" network by providing their name, email address and date of birth.

Not long after the January request for proposals, the city began construction of a "fiber ring" -- roughly 20,000 feet of new fiber optic underground cable -- around a roughly 60-block perimeter in the Central Business District.

One of the goals in building the fiber ring, then-city manager Harry Black said, was to make wireless internet available throughout Downtown.

In April, Cincinnati Metro announced more than 60 of its vehicles -- 59 standard buses and five Metro Access vehicles -- would begin offering free Wi-Fi. Those buses are distributed throughout various Metro routes.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- Amid the operational woes that have continued to plague the streetcar since its launch two years ago, city officials said it would be "expensive and time-consuming" for the city to take over full control of streetcar operations from the transit authority.

In a report to City Council, Acting City Manager Patrick Duhaney outlined the multiple steps that taking over streetcar operations would entail, including:

Under its current structure, the city owns the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar, and SORTA oversees operations on the city's behalf. SORTA has a contract with transit service provider Transdev to carry out those operations.

This structure requires one contract between the city and SORTA -- that's the OMIGA -- and a separate contract between SORTA and Transdev. Were the city to take over operations, it would have to renegotiate a new contract of its own with Transdev, Duhaney said.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: Cincinnati's streetcar

Duhaney said that would involve a "lengthy process of evaluating existing SORTA contracts and assigning them to the city, where possible."

Duhaney also pointed to SORTA staff members' expertise when dealing with the FTA, a federal agency that maintains a host of requirements for transit systems relying on federal funding.

"FTA grantee requirements are extensive and require specialized knowledge of transit laws," Duhaney wrote in the report. "As a transit agency that relies on federal transit funding, SORTAs in-house staff, its reporting processes, and its finances have been built for the purpose of complying with FTA grantee requirements."

If the city were to take control of streetcar operations, Duhaney said his administration would recommend maintaining a contract with SORTA to help manage FTA requirements.

Duhaney's report would not hazard to estimate the cost of these and the other necessary actions such a shift in management would require.

"The city requires the assistance of a rail expert to fully understand the scope of the transfer of operating authority but is currently taking steps to acquire this expertise," Duhaney said.

The streetcar's management structure came into question earlier this year, when city leaders became frustrated by a growing list of streetcar problems with no clear individual to hold accountable.

Assistant City Manager John Juech recommended that the system needed "one neck to choke."

Not long after, City Councilman Greg Landsman -- who heads up the council's Major Projects and Smart Government Committee -- recommended the city hire a "streetcar CEO," who would answer to the city administration and the transit agency and have the support of a small nonprofit organization.

City Council approved that plan as part of its 2019 budget negotiations in June.

Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman originally requested Duhaney's report in a motion filed June 27, 2018, asking the city administration to "evaluate options for removing the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) from its role as operator of the city's streetcar system."

Duhaney's report was added to City Council's calendar for consideration during the next Major Projects and Smart Government Committee meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 27.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- Ousted city manager Harry Black offered "fixes" to Cincinnati's streetcar -- among other promises -- to at least one City Council member if it meant he would not be fired, according to recently released text messages among five elected officials.

Now streetcar advocates say those text messages provide further evidence that politically motivated foot-dragging continued to block the streetcar's progress, more than a year after its launch.

In a series of text messages among City Council's so-called "Gang of Five" -- Democrats P.G. Sittenfeld, Chris Seelbach, Wendell Young, Greg Landsman and Tamaya Dennard -- Seelbach told his colleagues that then-City Manager Harry Black offered to push forward with prioritizing traffic signals for the streetcar -- so it would run faster and have to stop less -- along with making it free to ride.

Both were proposed fixes for the beleaguered 2-year-old streetcar system.

BACKGROUND: Council members criticize mayor, city manager in textsLATEST: Judge orders City Council texts released

"He agreed...to include in his budget signal prioritization and making the streetcar free," Seelbach wrote, referring to Black, in a March 12 text message. "And I have those promises in writing... in exchange for me not voting to fire him!"

In another text earlier that day, Seelbach criticized Black for his "lack of any kind of leadership on fixing the streetcar." Seelbach said Black also offered cooperation on responsible bidder legislation, in exchange for a "No" vote on a measure calling for his termination.

WCPO has requested from Seelbach's office documentation of such written promise from Black, but has not heard back as of this writing.

The text messages are now the subject of a lawsuit, alleging they violate Ohio's open meetings laws.

The nearly 80 pages of text messages include discussion among the five council members regarding Mayor John Cranley's request for Black's resignation, and subsequent discussions between the council members and Black. The text messages, ordered released by a judge during a court hearing Monday, date from Jan. 19 - March 24, 2018.

The streetcar has been a political hot potato since supporters first proposed the circulator train more than a decade ago. It was a wedge issue in the last two mayoral races -- both won by Cranley, who ran opposed to the streetcar project and paused the project for the first two weeks of his first term.

It's been plagued with mechanical, logistical and ridership issues since its launch in the fall of 2016.

For some streetcar supporters, the text message exchange is a window into how politics have plagued the streetcar from before its beginning.

If the streetcar's troubles were the plot of a murder mystery, the texts are what Derek Bauman would call the "smoking gun."

"(Black's) basically saying, 'We could do all this now,'" Bauman said, referring to streetcar fixes like different traffic signal timing or free fares -- fixes that had remained mired in red tape throughout Black's management of the project. "That tells me that Black knew what the answers were, and something was holding him back."

Bauman lives in Over-the-Rhine and was a Mason police officer before running for City Council last year. He also serves as a board member for the rail advocacy group All Aboard Ohio, an organization that has been vocal about its support of the streetcar project.

He's criticized City Hall leaders in the past for dragging their feet on what he says could be simple solutions to some of the streetcar's biggest problems -- primarily its consistent tardiness and, as a result, low ridership.

"The traffic study should have been done years ago," he said, referring to a still incomplete traffic study that city council ordered in October 2016. The study will evaluate traffic signal timing throughout Downtown to maximize its efficiency for all vehicles -- including people using the sidewalks.

"They're still dragging their feet," he said.

Another proposed fix that can't seem to gather traction in City Hall: increasing the fee for parking on and blocking the streetcar tracks. Streetcar proponents on council have proposed raising the fee from $50 to $100, but multiple attempts have resulted in no change to the current fee structure.

"It's cheaper to block the streetcar tracks for 45 minutes than it is to get caught riding without paying," Bauman said. The fine for riding without paying a fare is $100.

A WCPO analysis found that streetcar track blockages steadily increased from August 2017 to July 2018 and created what the transit authority's director of rail services, Paul Grether called a "major constraint physically."

"This is a political football -- always has been," Bauman said. "Finally the layers of this onion are coming off."

CINCINNATI -- In its more than 40-year history, Oktoberfest Zinzinnati has seen hundreds of thousands of visitors flood the urban core, growing more and more popular each year. But as big festivals like Oktoberfest, Taste of Cincinnati and BLINK grow bigger and bigger, Downtown and Over-the-Rhine streets aren't getting any wider.

It's a challenge that Lori Salzarulo, with the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce, said is on her mind each year. Salzarulo is the chamber's Senior Event Coordinator, and this weekend will mark her 17th Oktoberfest Zinzinnati.

"It's been very steady in growth," she told WCPO. "When we were up on Fifth Street, it was interesting because you could feel the growth because you're finite in Fifth Street just from beginning to end."

The chamber anticipates an Oktoberfest attendance of roughly 675,000 this year -- about what the festival saw last year, according to chamber spokesman Rich Walburg. During the first-ever BLINK art and lights festival in Cincinnati last fall, Downtown, OTR and The Banks saw an estimated 1 million people -- a record for a single event in the city's urban core.

As WCPO has previously reported, the event exposed some lingering struggles the neighborhoods face when it comes to accommodating big crowds.

COLUMN: What BLINK taught us about getting around Downtown, OTR

Crowds swell, streets shrink

On one hand, Downtown is notorious throughout the city for its persistent congestion -- so much so that the city has nearly concluded an extended traffic signal timing study. It's the first time engineers have examined the signal patterns in more than 20 years.

With BLINK, some 10-minute trips could take more than half an hour. Shortly after the light festival, Metro bus rider Cam Hardy told WCPO, "It took me 37 minutes to get from right here at Fifth and Main to Main and Liberty." That's little more than 15 blocks through Downtown and the southern half of OTR.

A city spokesman told WCPO in an email, in part:

"BLINK was a new event that brought a unique set of challenges... The initial assumption was that most individuals taking part in BLINK would walk, ride a bike or utilize the Cincinnati Bell Connector (streetcar) to get around the urban core; many people did that. However, due to the size of the event area, a considerable number of people ended up driving around to look at the light displays/artworks spread between The Banks, the Central Business District and Over-the-Rhine. This led to more and lengthier traffic backups than initially anticipated."

In 2016, leaders with the city and the chamber decided to relocate Oktoberfest from its original site centered around Fountain Square on Fifth Street to Second and Third streets near The Banks. For Salzarulo, this meant more space.

"Once we moved down to the new site, it was a lot easier for us to accommodate more people again with more infrastructure," she said. "So, it's actually worked well. We learn things every year, but we've just been able to make it a little better each time."

With the move came new strategies for street closures and parking options, Salzarulo said. "We work with police and (the department of) traffic and engineering. They tell us what the best patterns would be. They tell us where those closures need to be."

She mentioned Elm and Vine streets specifically as two normally one-way streets that go at least partially two-way during the festival so Downtown residents can access their homes.

Salzarulo added that the chamber also partners with navigation apps like Waze -- which also feeds information to Google Maps -- to push out street closures and parking options to visitors who aren't as familiar with the street grid.

"We do weekly communication with all the businesses and parking garages in this area to say, 'What else can we do? Is there any other communication we should look at?' If you have the Waze app, you're coming around our street closures to get into these garages."

A safe place to walk around

The closures don't really pose too much of a challenge for people living Downtown, according to Sue Byrom. Byrom heads the Downtown Residents Council, and she said the closures aren't so much a hassle, but parking can be for residents.

"You know, they can't go around towing when you've got people trying to park all the time," she said. "If you go down Riverside, you'll find some cars are parked in front of hydrants and things like that, which you get worried about if a fire does happen and they can't get to it."

READ MORE: Oktoberfest 2018 street closures

For the most part, though, Byrom said Downtown neighbors make due with the situation.

"You know where you cant drive, and some roads will be more blocked off than others," she said. "But I think we all just adapt, and it doesnt happen that often so overwhelmingly that we cant get around."

Byrom said for her neighbors, Oktoberfest and other big festivals are instances when the Central Business District really gets to stretch its legs as a "walkable" neighborhood.

"It's definitely an urban core, but the word that comes up over and over again is 'walkable,'" she told WCPO. "That's really, really important for it."

For Byrom, the streetcar has made a "big difference," at least with connecting Over-the-Rhine parking options to The Banks.

"You can't imagine the numbers of people who are waiting to get on the car and get off it. I mean, it's jammed," she said. "For people who dont have a car or dont want to try to deal with the parking, its perfect. I mean, hop on, hop off: Its great."

Mostly for Byrom, though, big Downtown events are less about clogged traffic and stuffed parking garages and more about showing off the business district as a residential area that is friendly to families.

"People that I know who live Downtown absolutely love the crowds," she said. "It was so great to have so many families out, you know, because there's still this hangover from (the 2001 riots) that says, 'Oh, I don't know how you can live down there. It's so scary.' Well, we live down here. We walk around at night. It's not scary."

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- The streetcar turned two years old on Sunday, and even some of the staunchest streetcar supporters agree that it's been a bumpy ride over the last 24 months.

"It's been a continual learning and improvement process," said Paul Grether, the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority's director of rail services. He's overseen streetcar operations since the 3.6-mile loop opened for service September 9, 2016.

"We've learned a lot of things from operating the streetcar the past two years. We're working very closely with our partners at the city to address some of the challenges we've had," he told WCPO.

Those challenges include:

WCPO spoke with city and transit leaders and compiled these nine takeaways from two years operating a modern streetcar system in Cincinnati:

1) The leadership structure needs to change

Earlier this year, rookie City Council member Greg Landsman -- whose committee oversees streetcar matters -- proposed restructuring the streetcar's chain of command. He wants to hire a city-employed streetcar chief executive officer, who would report to the city manager and SORTA's own chief executive.

City Council approved that motion May 31.

"This would be the first time the project has had a person in charge, top to bottom, the whole project, which we desperately need," Landsman said.

"They can help us get the blockages resolved, the issues with the vehicles fixed, and all of the other things we have to do to increase ridership, including looking at the viability of making it free," he said.

As it is currently structured, the city owns the streetcar and entered into a contract with the transit agency. SORTA, in turn, hired a third-party firm, Transdev, to carry out operations and maintenance.

Just a few months before Landsman's motion, Assistant City Manager John Juech told City Council that the root of the streetcar's woes came from not having a single person to hold accountable when issues arise.

"You need one neck to choke," Juech said. "I don't know if we're going to get where we need to go under this management structure."

Landsman said the new executive director position should be filled before the end of the month and would be supported by an appointed, nonprofit community board.

2) SORTA might be out

Near the end of 2017, it was already clear the transit authority was considering exiting its streetcar operations contract with the city. It's since become more of a mutually agreed-upon separation.

It's what fueled Landsman's proposal for a new management structure.

As WCPO previously reported, "The streetcar is a luxury, and the bus system is a necessity," said former SORTA board member Gary Greenburg. "Every hour (our staff) spend on streetcar issues are hours not spent on the bus system."

The competition between attention allocated to the region's bus service and its streetcar system predates the streetcar itself.

Dwight Ferrell, SORTA's chief executive, said the streetcar's reliance on Federal Transit Administration funds would make it difficult for SORTA to completely "divorce" the streetcar, even if it came down to the streetcar's owner, the city.

"Because of how the federal funding flows through, permission or approval from the FTA would also be required," Ferrell told the SORTA board in December.

But part of Landsman's proposed re-organization might involve removing SORTA from the equation.

"If we want to see a dramatic improvement in the project's performance, we've got to be able to put everything on the table, and that includes management of the streetcar," Landsman said.

In an emailed statement to WCPO, SORTA Board of Trustees Chair Kreg Keesee said, "The administration has begun exploring the necessary steps and processes that would be required to facilitate such a request" to remove the transit authority from streetcar operations.

3) Streetcars don't like the cold

The winter months of early 2018 posed the biggest mechanical challenge the streetcar has faced since it launched a year and a half earlier. An air compressor component of the streetcar vehicles began to break down in below-freezing weather, SORTA officials explained.

It prompted then-City Manager Harry Black to withhold $4 million from the vehicle manufacturer, New York-based CAF USA.

"This is unacceptable," Black said in Jan. 18 memo to City Council and the mayor. "Due to these ongoing manufacturer issues, at my direction, the city has not paid CAF since November of 2016, nor has the city agreed to final acceptance of the vehicles."

Grether said maintenance and operations crews are in the process of installing redesigned air compressors on the streetcar vehicles.

"We're hoping and we're pretty confident that's going to address the issue this winter," Grether said.

4) People ride less when it's cold, too

An overall glance at streetcar ridership data -- provided by SORTA -- paints a murky picture.

The first two months of service were clear outliers: The initial hype surrounding the streetcar's much-anticipated launch combined with numerous events taking place in Over-the-Rhine, Downtown and The Banks to produce drastically high ridership.

Those figures took a quick nosedive, though, once temperatures started to drop in November 2016. The following 21 months began to show a pattern: More people ride the streetcar in the warmer months, and fewer ride in the colder months.

But even those trends don't hold fast. Take August 2017, when streetcar ridership plunged by roughly 10,000 rides, taking two months to get back up to the number taken in July.

"Ridership tends to reflect both the weather and activities in the city. We've seen that in our buses, too," said SORTA spokeswoman Brandy Jones.

READ MORE: What do ridership numbers actually tell us about the streetcar?

5) Weekdays are finally outperforming weekends

When officials began making predictions about how many people would ride the streetcar each day, and when, the initial assumption was weekday ridership figures would be higher than on Saturdays and Sundays.

That assumption was almost immediately squashed during the streetcar's first six months of operation.

By early 2017, then-transportation committee chair Amy Murray said she was surprised looking at the numbers.

"I'm interested to see in the summer months, since we haven't seen those months, does it pick up on the weekdays?" she told WCPO.

After the streetcar's first year, though, weekday ridership began surpassing weekend ridership, month after month.

6) We're still learning not to park on the tracks

As WCPO previously reported, streetcar blockages -- that is, usually, when a vehicle is parked on the tracks -- have increased over its lifespan, with some modest decline in recent months.

The biggest offenders were delivery trucks and Cincinnati Metro buses stopped along the streetcar loop, according to SORTA data obtained by WCPO. 

The blockage issue first came into clear view in early 2017, when officials pointed out Rhinegeist as a particularly troublesome spot for the streetcar, due to a heavy flow of rideshare services like Uber and Lyft picking up and dropping off outside the OTR brewery.

The brewery since designated a pick-up/drop-off spot farther north on Elm Street past the streetcar tracks.

But the blockage problem persisted even after businesses like Rhinegeist took action. For Grether, that has a big impact on the system's reliability because a blockage shuts down the entire system, delaying arrivals at every stop.

"From an operational point of view, we look at the headway -- that's basically the amount of time in between streetcars. We continue to see improvement of that month over month over the last two years," he said.

Some, though, think the city could do more to deter drivers from stopping or parking on the streetcar tracks. City Council member Chris Seelbach has pushed his colleagues on multiple occasions to increase the penalty for blocking the streetcar tracks. 

"Reliability of the streetcar - knowing it's coming every 12 to 15 minutes - is incredibly important, especially with people getting to work or on a lunch break or on a schedule," Seelbach said as early as February 2017. "They may risk getting a $50 ticket. Hopefully $100 or $250  is enough of a penalty they won't do something illegal."

As of this writing, the fine for blocking the streetcar tracks remains $50. Since March 2018, there have been 915 blockage incidents. The majority of those were five minutes or less in duration.

7) People are paying to ride

"We collect a lot of data related to fare inspections," Grether said. "We've seen that Cincinnatians are frankly very, very honest. We're seeing fare evasion rates of lower than 1 percent, sometimes even half a percent in some months."

Grether said the industry standard for fare evasion rates on a system like Cincinnati's streetcar is closer to 1.5 percent.

"So, we're very pleased with that," he said.

SORTA employs off-duty Cincinnati police officers to inspect fares on the streetcar on an undisclosed inspection schedule.

"You don't know when a fare inspector may board," Grether said.

8) Expansion still in limbo

When city leaders first conceived of a modern streetcar system running throughout Cincinnati's urban core, the first phase initially included tracks that extended from The Banks beyond Over-the-Rhine up to Clifton and the University of Cincinnati.

That extension was postponed after an attempt by then-newly elected Mayor John Cranley to stop the project outright. The result was a compromise that included just the OTR and Downtown portions of the streetcar.

Since its launch in 2016, there has been very little talk about expanding the streetcar's reach into Uptown. That's largely due to the operational and mechanical problems that have plagued the system in its infancy.

By contrast, Kansas City's streetcar -- which opened just a few months before Cincinnati's and uses identical vehicle models -- announced earlier this year it would be expanding its downtown connector line into adjacent neighborhoods. 

9) What's in a name?

In the streetcar's case, a lot. We're talking $3.4 million.

That's what the streetcar's chief sponsor, Cincinnati Bell, agreed to pay the city for the naming rights over its first decade of operation. Hence the streetcar's official title: the Cincinnati Bell Connector.

But earlier this month, Cincinnati Bell officials released a statement saying they "have concerns" about the streetcar's overall performance.

"Cincinnati Bell has concerns about the streetcars performance, which we have shared with the city," a spokesperson wrote in a statement. "At this time, however, no decision has been made regarding our sponsorship."

Landsman said he hopes the changes in leadership he's proposed will help convince Cincinnati Bell to stay onboard.

"I understand the frustrations people have, including Cincinnati Bell," he told WCPO. "I think the changes being made are the right changes, and hopefully that will keep folks who are invested in the project."

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- Not a fan of the Cincinnati Bell Connector? Even Cincinnati Bell itself is a little anxious about it, according to a statement released Friday night.

"Cincinnati Bell has concerns about the Streetcars performance, which we have shared with the City," a Cincinnati Bell spokesman wrote. "At this time, however, no decision has been made regarding our sponsorship."

The local telecommunications company pays $340,000 each year for the troubled public transit project to wear its colors and its logo. Its part of of a 10-year contract meant to provide a total of $3.4 million in funding to streetcar operations. 

Its also not enough, year to year, to save the streetcar from losing money. Transit officials who met in June projected a $400,000 deficit by the end of fiscal year 2020 unless the project was able to generate more revenue. 

CINCINNATI -- A Downtown bus stop was the point of controversy last week when Mayor John Cranley vetoed an ordinance that would have spent up to $600,000 to move Shelter G at Government Square off Main Street.

Why move the shelter? Councilman Greg Landsman defended the move during council's June 27 meeting. 

"It will eliminate a great deal of congestion there in that Government Square area," he told his colleagues. "The congestion in this area is unarguably and undebatably (sic) responsible for a huge chunk of the (streetcar) blockage issue."

As WCPO has previously reported, the area surrounding Fifth and Main streets -- where the shelter currently sits -- stands out as a hot spot for streetcar delays, bus delays and overall traffic gridlock during the morning and afternoon rush hours.

IN DEPTH: Streetcar blockages getting worse, data show

The ordinance, which council passed Wednesday before the mayor vetoed it, directed the city administration to amend its agreement with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority to pursue efforts to reduce congestion in the area. SORTA owns and operates Cincinnati Metro.

Councilwoman Amy Murray voted against the measure, saying it's too early to decide if the shelter even needs to go.

"It seems to me that this is premature, because I know we've been waiting for this traffic study so we can understand the flow," she said.

City Council ordered the traffic study shortly after the streetcar launched in 2016, as it quickly became clear that the streetcar was struggling to move efficiently through Downtown traffic. The study is meant to investigate traffic signal timing and other factors that could contribute to congestion, especially on Walnut and Main streets where the streetcar runs.

The study is set to be ready for council's review by the end of 2018, said Assistant City Administrator John Juech. It will be the first time the city has reviewed Downtown's traffic patterns in more than 20 years.

A city spokesperson emphasized to WCPO after the meeting that the cost would be only up to $600,000.

"We are working with all involved parties to explore available options," said interim communications director Casey Weldon.

Because of its direct correlation with streetcar delays, the amendment to the agreement with the transit agency calls for the streetcar's capital maintenance fund to pay for the new bus stop and shelter.

With that, Cranley took issue.

"Any good financial management will keep money aside for capital maintenance and operating," he said. "Since the streetcars have been in several wrecks it's a real issue to make sure we have money for fixes."

The streetcar's capital maintenance fund totals a little more than $1 million, Juech said.

"I think that there's a 'good faith' effort to look at where the streetcar stops are and where the bus stops are to reduce congestion, and that's a good thing," Cranley said. "But there's no reason to spend $600,000."

Landsman said he's open to multiple options beyond moving the stop, and he urges the city administration and SORTA to pursue the least expensive fix possible.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- Now that agreements are inked and Major League Soccer is a go, many are still wondering what exactly is in store for the West End -- especially when it comes to how the landscape and streetscape could change with the arrival of a new top-tier league stadium.

"Housing was the number one issue" while negotiating FC Cincinnati's Community Benefits Agreement with the city and neighborhood of the West End, said Anne Sesler, spokesperson for the soccer club. "But for residents, particularly to the west of Taft High School, (parking) was a concern."

But as for specifics, nearly everyone agrees it's too soon to tell.

RELATED: FC, West End deal gets mixed reaction from neighborhoodCOMPLETE COVERAGE: Everything FC Cincinnati

"We're not at the place to deal with plans that detailed," said FC Cincinnati spokesperson Anne Sesler. She told WCPO the club is still in the process of acquiring all the properties for the site, slated at what is now Taft High School's Stargel Stadium. The plan calls for demolition of the existing Stargel Stadium and the construction of two new stadiums, one for FC Cincinnati and a second to replace Stargel across Ezzard Charles Drive.

That's my parking space!

After residents expressed worries over affordable housing and residents being displaced once a new stadium is built, Sesler said the club heard most concern raised over what would happen to parking in the neighborhood.

The Community Benefits Agreement allows for the West End Community Council -- if it chooses -- to request that the city establish a residential parking program for the neighborhood. That could consist of permit-only parking zones or times in the neighborhood.

Whether a new parking garage will accompany the new stadium remains to be seen, but the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners, on multiple occasions, has promised to fund a 1,000-space parking garage in the vicinity of the stadium.

Where it would go is still in question, but it's something Sesler said "FC Cincinnati, the City of Cincinnati and stakeholders in the West End are all relying on."

Some are worried that a new parking garage would lead to homes being demolished. That's a concern developer Mark McCullers told WCPO earlier this year shouldn't weigh too heavily on neighbors' minds.

McCullers worked with the club to develop its stadium plan. When asked if a new parking garage or lot would displace residents, he said, "I don't expect that to be the case at all."

McCullers pointed to the two other nearby garages -- the Town Center Garage on Central Parkway and the Washington Park garage between Race and Elm streets just a block away -- as well as the stadium's proximity to the streetcar line, which also drops off riders on Elm Street.

Sesler reinforced McCuller's point about public transit: "One of the hopes is to have folks park at The Banks and take the streetcar up," she told WCPO. "A lot of fans take Uber, so there may also be an Uber drop zone, but that's not yet set.

"It was definitely envisioned that people would use all different modes."

Clogged arteries?

Sesler said that before developing specifics around infrastructure upgrades for the neighborhood, engineers will have to conduct a traffic study in the vicinity to examine potential car volume and street capacity.

According to the Community Benefits Agreement, FC Cincinnati and the city will coordinate to fund the traffic study, which will examine usage of the streets and intersections surrounding the new stadium. Those include Central Parkway, Liberty Street, Ezzard Charles Drive and Linn Street, as well as the nearby Interstates 71 and 75 interchanges.

The club and city launched a similar traffic study when they were eyeing Oakley as a possible site for a new stadium. In a Q&A with FC Cincinnati President Jeff Berding last November, the Oakley Community Council described the traffic situation around Crossroads Church -- which sits near the then-proposed Oakley site -- as a "disaster" around church service times.

Sesler said she heard different concerns from the West End community.

"Because of the location of the site -- it's abutting Central near Liberty near Ezzard Charles -- it's near all those larger thoroughfares, so it wasn't as much of a talking-point as it was in Oakley," Sesler said. 

Another consideration that will come into play stems from the re-location of Stargel Stadium across Ezzard Charles Drive from Taft High School. This could create need for new crossing safety features between the school building and the new football stadium, which won't just serve Taft High School but a number of other nearby schools and teams, said Lauren Worley with Cincinnati Public Schools.

But, like everyone else involved in this process, CPS is still in the planning phase, Worley said.

"We will be engaging our CPS school community, including the Cincinnati Police Department and other safety officials, to ensure the safety and security of our students and staff during and after construction," she told WCPO in a statement.

More West Enders walking to work?

Another big hope from West Enders is that the stadium will mean new businesses in the neighborhood, which could mean new jobs. 

West End Community Council President Keith Blake said that could mean more residents could possibly find work in the neighborhood, instead of having to commute out.

"The biggest potential for the stadium and businesses to come to life is the opportunity to have jobs within reach for residents," he told WCPO earlier this year.

What kind of jobs might the West End expect? While nothing is set in stone, Multiple leaders who negotiated this plan and others like it have pointed to the importance of wooing retailers to the vicinity around a stadium.

"You want to make sure you're putting together the sort of retail that the neighborhood thinks is really valuable, but also the sort of retail that produces return for the owners," said Mark Rosentraub, a University of Michigan professor who has helped design dozens of stadium projects nationwide. "What you don't want to do is get a facility that is a flying saucer in an ocean."

Whether it's walking to work or walking through the neighborhood, there is a precedent for stadiums producing foot traffic in the surrounding neighborhood -- even if that didn't prove true here with Paul Brown Stadium.

"The foot traffic is amazing," said Eddie James, who owns a restaurant near the newly built soccer stadium in Orlando, Florida. He told WCPO he was afraid food trucks parked outside the stadium would hurt his business, or -- inversely -- crowds would be too big and his regular customers might lose their loyalty.

That hasn't been his experience, though: "It's been very positive for the neighborhood."

Sesler made this point as well, saying that for soccer fans the match itself is only part of the day or evening out.

"It's not like a football or baseball game," she said. "With soccer, it's different. Because the matches are two hours, most people will do something else while they're down near the stadium."

As for a new stadium's impact on the West End, time will tell, and any devils hiding in the details remain to be found.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

Previous reporting by Amanda Seitz contributed to this story.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO.

CINCINNATI -- Ever been stranded on the airport tarmac, waiting -- it would seem endlessly -- for your gate to open?

It's crowded. The seats are small, and you've probably been sitting there for hours. You've been told over and over that it should be just another five to 10 minutes. All you want is to stretch your legs and finally get to your destination.

Streetcar passengers got a mild taste of that frustrating scenario over the weekend, when -- once again -- a vehicle parked on the tracks halted streetcar service for at least 20 minutes.

For reference, that's five minutes longer than passengers should have to wait for the next streetcar to arrive at their station even during light service hours.

It's one thing for the streetcar to be blocked. This incident was different, though, because it meant passengers on one vehicle couldn't exit until crews cleared the tracks.

They were stuck.

IN DEPTH: Streetcar track blockages are getting worse

Let's be clear about one thing right away: These passengers' confinement to the streetcar vehicle is not the fault of the streetcar system itself -- often a quick conclusion to draw.

The blame falls on the driver -- and the officials responsible with enforcing the law.

Why couldn't the operator just let the passengers off while they cleared the tracks? Because they had no choice in the matter.

In a statement confirming the June 3 afternoon blockage, Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority Director of External Affairs Brandy Jones told WCPO that streetcar operators could not release the passengers from the vehicle without breaking federal and state transit safety regulations.

"(S)treetcar service was suspended due to a vehicle blocking the track, preventing the streetcar from pulling into the next closest station," Jones said in an emailed statement Monday evening. "Per state and federal certified safety procedures, we are not permitted to evacuate passengers in the right-of-way in an uncontrolled manner."

WCPO asked SORTA if passengers had been stuck on a blocked vehicle in any other past blockage incidents but did not immediately hear back.

READ MORE: City Council approves new streetcar director position

For Councilman Greg Landsman, the position of fault is unclear. He spoke about the incident during Monday's Budget and Finance Committee hearing when SORTA officials presented their 2019 streetcar budget request.

"If you asked, 'Where does the buck stop?' on the issue of blockages ... you would get a multitude of answers," he said during the meeting.

For Landsman, Sunday's incident is symbolic of a string of missteps and buck-passing that ultimately results in a negative experience for residents and visitors alike. And that's not just a negative experience with the streetcar but with the city itself.

"As people were leaving -- frustratedly -- somebody from out of town commented on their experience of our city," Landsman said. "It was negative because of this."

Landsman is right.

Sunday's incident was just another layer added to the continuing reliability issues impeding the streetcar's success.

"That (incident was) a bad one, but so is sitting on a platform waiting for a streetcar," Landsman told the committee and SORTA officials. "So is getting in a streetcar and having to wait way too long to get to where they want to be."

So let's consider those other two sources of blame. First, the driver. We've had more than 18 months to learn that parking on the streetcar tracks is strictly prohibited. You just can't do it. Ever. Period. There is signage all along the track indicating this.

This is another reason why the city needs to up the fine for parking on the streetcar tracks to $100, rather than the $50 currently charged.

But equal responsibility -- more so in the rare case that this driver might be from out of town and could reasonably plead ignorance -- falls on the city to enforce this traffic rule and get vehicles moved and moved quickly. This city is not short of towing companies who would jump at the chance to charge for another run, and I'm not convinced it would take a tow truck more than 10 minutes to get anywhere along the streetcar route.

One detail to this story -- if true -- would make Sunday's incident even less excusable. Landsman anecdotally recalled that this was a delivery driver of some sort, unloading before clearing the tracks.

SORTA officials did not confirm this, nor whether the driver was cited.

If this was a delivery driver, it adds two more points to the list of ways the streetcar's right-of-way is not just forgotten but actively ignored. First, if this was a delivery driver, he or she probably has delivered to this location before. Delivery drivers drive the same routes constantly. That's their job.

But by the same token, if this was a delivery driver who was not towed or approached with a ticket or tow truck in less than 20 minutes, that suggests officials allowed this driver to hold up the streetcar while he or she made the delivery.

Any of the possible explanations for Sunday's incident are simply unacceptable. We can do better. We have to do better. Leaders need to be less patient and enforcement officers more vigilant -- otherwise no one will take seriously any claim that this city wants to make the most of this $150 million investment.

CINCINNATI -- Transit officials Monday presented to the city's Budget and Finance Committee their budget request for next fiscal year's streetcar operations, but a city memo said the administration is more worried about 2020.

In a memo issued last week, Acting City Manager Patrick Duhaney said budget projections show a negative streetcar fund balance during fiscal year 2020 -- which begins in July 2019 -- if no budget changes are made. 

"This will require raising additional revenues or reducing expenditures to balance the Streetcar Operations Fund in FY 2019 and beyond," Duhaney wrote on May 23.

The deficit would sit at around $400,000 by the end of fiscal year 2020 if the streetcar does not find a new source of funding or if spending is not reduced, Duhaney estimated.

Despite Duhaney's memo, no one on the Budget and Finance Committee or representing the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority looked beyond the scope of the next fiscal year in their comments -- at least not specifically.

In their streetcar budget request, SORTA -- which oversees streetcar operations on behalf of the city -- made no recommendations to change service levels or fare prices. Their budget recommendation includes dipping into the city parking revenue surplus to the tune of about $325,000.

Parking revenue has always been one of the streetcar's top revenue streams.

The streetcar needs more now, in large part, because revenues from the Voluntary Tax Incentive Contribution Agreement -- often referred to as the VTICA -- have come up short. The VTICA was established to encourage developers along the streetcar line to kick in funds toward the streetcar in exchange for redevelopment tax incentives.

Finance Director Chris Bigham explained the VTICA came up short for two reasons. First, the original funding estimates accounted for the estimated value of construction improvements made to buildings along the streetcar route, even though they should have been estimated based on the ultimate property value, after construction.

"So, for example," Bigham said, "You could have a project worth $4 million in construction but is ultimately abated at $1-2 million in property value."

The second factor, Bigham said, were delays in promised construction investments.

In a March 20, 2018 memo, Bigham informed council of the revised funding estimates. For fiscal year 2018, the VTICA contributions were supposed to total roughly $400,000. The reality was closer to $36,000.

Administrators expect those VTICA payments to grow in the coming years. In the revised VTICA payment schedule, Bigham expects roughly $160,000 in payments in 2019, jumping to $432,000 in 2020 and $607,000 in 2021. Those -- as well as the initial, inflated estimates -- came from Bigham's Finance Department in concert with the Department of Community Economic Development.

So what's the fix? Most Council members seemed focused on how to increase ridership, which requires making the streetcar more reliable.

"I am very interested in the prospect of making the streetcar free," said Council member Greg Landsman, referring to a motion submitted last month by Council member David Mann. "I'm certain we need to make it reliable first."

Landman and his colleague Chris Seelbach renewed another call for change made earlier this month, including establishing a "CEO" type position to oversee all aspects of the streetcar. City Council approved that motion late last month.

Transit officials told the committee Monday that collecting fares costs the streetcar nearly $200,000 a year, when they account for ticket vending machine maintenance, ticket printing and other materials.

More information is needed to get a clearer sense of how the "CEO" position or free fares could make streetcar service more fiscally viable and more reliable.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- The streetcar's management structure is ready for a change, and City Council took a step today toward making that happen.

As WCPO previously reported, Council member Greg Landsman last week submitted a motion that would establish an executive director position to oversee streetcar operations. He or she would report to both the city and the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority.

City Council approved that motion during Wednesday's full council meeting. The motion also called for the creation of a new nonprofit to support the new executive director.

Under its current management structure, the city owns the streetcar, and SORTA oversees a third-party vendor, Transdev, which carries out streetcar operations.

Council members and city administrators have long expressed frustration over the number of cooks in the streetcar's kitchen. In March, Assistant City Manager John Juech said, "You need one neck to choke. I don't know if we're going to get where we need to go under this management structure."

Landsman emphasized during Wednesday's meeting that existing streetcar funds can support the proposal.

Council approved Landsman's motion 5-1, with Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman being the sole "no" vote.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- After a year and a half of technical and managerial issues, one City Council member issued late Wednesday a list of "fixes" for Cincinnati's beleaguered streetcar.

Council member Greg Landsman heads up the Major Projects and Smart Government Committee, which oversees most big transportation projects, like the streetcar. In his motion, Landsman called for the creation of an executive director position who would report to both the city and the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, which oversees streetcar operations on the city's behalf.

The new position would also work with a new nonprofit organization -- consisting of corporate and community leaders -- that would support the executive director's leadership.

"The executive director must be empowered to manage all the aspects of the streetcar operations, including all contracts and decisions," Landsman wrote in his motion. "(T)his new leader is arguably the only way to establish an effective management structure in the short-run."

Concerns over streetcar management have brewed since March, when officials worried the streetcar's management structure might not be working. Currently, the city owns the streetcar, and SORTA oversees operations, which are carried out by a third party, Transdev. 

Councilwoman Amy Murray chaired the Major Transportation and Regional Cooperation Committee during the previous council term -- since renamed as the Major Projects and Smart Government Committee -- and oversaw streetcar construction and its launch. She suggested there were too many cooks in the kitchen.

"If you look at what's happened in the administration of the streetcar over the last two years, it's not working," she told Landsman's committee. "If we don't make a change, it's going to continue not working."

In that same meeting, Assistant City Manager John Juech said, to address the streetcar's problems, the administration needed "one neck to choke" when looking for answers to the streetcar's continuing issues.

"I don't know if we're going to get where we need to go under this management structure," he told the committee.

Landsman's motion calls for several provisions to be put in place until an executive director and nonprofit can be established, including:

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- What if the streetcar were free to ride?

That's a question one City Council member is asking the administration to explore. In a motion filed Tuesday, Council member David Mann moved that "the city pursue the goal of eliminating charges for streetcar ridership."

"I would like to see ridership be cost-free to the rider," Mann told WCPO Tuesday. "In Kansas City, where they've been practicing this from the beginning, there have been a million riders a year. Here, there are far fewer than that.

"We're spending a lot of money now to collect fare revenue from riders."

Of the roughly $450,000 in fare box revenue projected for fiscal year 2018, Mann said in his motion that the city is spending $125,000 just to collect the fare.

"I think it's counterproductive," he said.

Mann thinks there are other ways to recuperate the roughly $325,000 the streetcar generates in net ticket revenue sales each year.

His proposal would create a "Parking Trust Fund" to eliminate the need for streetcar fares. The streetcar's current operating budget relies on roughly $1.5 million each year to fund operations, while budget projections through 2019 anticipate a drop in fare box revenue.

In his motion, Mann proposed waiving parking requirements developers face in Downtown and Over-the-Rhine if they contribute a portion of what they would have paid to provide those parking spaces into the proposed parking fund.

"That would develop, I think, significant resources and allow us to reduce or eliminate the cost," he said. Mann also floated the idea of approaching the streetcar's corporate sponsors -- including its namesake sponsor, Cincinnati Bell -- for assistance.

"We're not talking about increasing the cost to the taxpayers of operating the streetcar," Mann said. "Instead of recovery at the farebox, we'd seek to recover from the developers that have been given relief from the parking requirements, corporate sponsors and the like."

Mann said it's about finding a way to make the streetcar a success -- and for him, that comes down to continued development in Downtown and Over-the-Rhine, but also showing the city the streetcar's value, and that means ridership.

"We have a tremendous investment in the streetcar, and I personally think it's tremendously valuable to our city, and we need to find a way to enhance ridership," Mann said.

Streetcar ridership has struggled to maintain initial projections, with ridership levels consistently lower in winter months since its launch in September 2016.

Fare collection boxes were also a thorn in the city's side from the streetcar's launch, with technical issues involving credit card readers and display malfunctions only being resolved late last year.

"It started out with folks having a lot of lack of credibility that, if they tried to ride the streetcar, they could even buy a ticket," Mann said. "That's a problem, and that would be eliminated with this change."

The Kansas City Streetcar, which opened only months before the Cincinnati Bell Connector in 2016, does not charge a fee to ride its 2.2-mile urban connector line.

Mann's motion will go to his council subcommittee on budget and finance. That committee's next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29.

"I think this would make a much higher ridership, which will make us a lot better about the streetcar and what it does for our community," Mann said.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- For the 20th annual Flying Pig Marathon, it might be easier to ditch the keys.

That's because the race will mean dozens of road closures until roughly noon Sunday, city officials announced.

The city advises spectators wishing to park near the starting line -- on Elm Street near Paul Brown Stadium -- to arrive early before the streets close.

Here's the route:

Sunday, May 6

You'll want to strap in for this list of closures. 

The following streets closed around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, to begin staging preparation for the marathon starting line:

Then, starting at 5 a.m., these streets also closed. Keep in mind that Cincinnati police will be on hand to assist anyone needing to cross the race route:

The race then moves into Mariemont and Fairfax, then returns on westbound U.S. 50/Columbia Parkway:

To accommodate the half-marathon route, these roads will also close as needed:

Public transit

The street closures also mean some detours and service interruptions for Cincinnati Metro bus service and the streetcar in Downtown.

The streetcar will begin running around noon both Saturday and Sunday. It takes roughly 30 minutes after the races conclude to resume service.

For Metro, the races will impact the following routes:

Here's more detailed information on the specific detours per route.

Jaclyn DeAugustino reports on traffic for Good Morning Tri-State. Connect with her on Twitter (@JaclynDeAug) or on Facebook.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- If anyone knows what it's like to rely on the streetcar every day, it's Matt Jacob. That's because the Over-the-Rhine resident makes a point to ride as often as he can.

"I try to ride five days a week," he told WCPO.

Having ridden the streetcar hundreds of times between his OTR home and his Downtown office, he's come to know its benefits -- and its shortcomings.

On the one hand, he said it's given him the flexibility to live car-free after he totaled his car last fall. On the other hand, he said it's made for a commute that's harder to plan, and sometimes makes him late for work.

Reliability has remained a consistent complaint about the streetcar since its September 2016 launch. First, credit card machines wouldn't work, and arrival displays weren't accurate. The city is in the midst of a Downtown traffic signal study to improve congestion during rush hour, which would often put the streetcar behind schedule.

While those issues are mostly resolved, another problem continues to stand in the streetcar's way, literally: vehicles blocking the streetcar tracks.

Jacob said he's been on the streetcar during a blockage roughly five times since he started riding.

"A lot of that was right when it opened up," he said. "At the start of it, a lot of it was cars trying to parallel park who were just oblivious that there was even anything waiting for them behind them."

The city of Cincinnati invested tens of millions of dollars in its streetcar system. This story is part of a series examining what is holding the system back.

After 18 months of operation, accounts are mixed about how the city is working to make sure the tracks are clear. WCPO dug into raw track blockage data compiled by the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority. While the city owns the streetcar, the region-wide transit agency oversees operations on the city's behalf.

Our review found that incidents resulting in the streetcar stalling for a vehicle in its way are trending up this year despite enforcement and prevention efforts from both the city and the transit agency.

Since streetcar vehicles began testing in the spring of 2016, there were 1,346 instances of a vehicle blocking the streetcar tracks as of March 31, 2018.

It's a story of peaks and valleys when broken down month by month.

While Assistant City Manager John Juech reported in March that "blockages have decreased nearly each month since the start of revenue service," SORTA's data show that, on a month-by-month basis, increases in blockages were more common than decreases.

See Juech's March 6 report embedded below.

SORTA's data also show the majority of vehicles blocking the tracks are automobiles and public service vehicles like Metro buses, fire trucks, police cruisers and ambulances.

Here's a month-by-month breakdown of streetcar blockages by vehicle type:

Juech, who oversees the city's streetcar system, declined WCPO's multiple requests for an interview about the growing number of blockages. Chief Performance Officer Leigh Tami told WCPO, via a city spokesperson, that she's found the data to be sometimes inconsistent.

SORTA also manages Cincinnati Metro bus service, and told WCPO it plans to redesign Government Square -- the chief Metro hub -- to reduce the potential for blockages.

Main Street just north of Fifth Street is a major hot spot for blockage incidents. That's where Government Square Area G picks up bus riders on four different routes.

"It's a major constraint physically there because you have the traffic signal, the bus stop where the track is located," said Paul Grether, SORTA's director of rail services.

Turns out, it's not just the streetcar that gets stuck: Sometimes, the streetcar delays a Metro bus.

"Depending on which vehicle is where, the blockages occur to both organizations," he said.

Grether told WCPO that SORTA is already working on relocating those bus stops and relocating the Area G stop over the next six to 12 months.

SORTA is not alone in making sure the tracks are clear. The city's municipal code prohibits cars from parking along the streetcar route, which means Parking Enforcement is also charged with intervening in the event of a blockage.

"That's always our first phone call," Grether said.

A spokesperson for Juech told WCPO the city has issued 936 citations as of last week.

But the fine for blocking the streetcar tracks is relatively low when compared to other streetcar systems, and even other parking violations in the city. The fine for blocking the Cincinnati streetcar tracks is $50. In Kansas City -- where they opened a similar streetcar system just months before Cincinnati followed suit -- the fine for parking on the tracks can be as high as $200. In Detroit, the fine can be up to $650 or more.

Even compared to the fine for not paying to ride the streetcar, the fine for causing a blockage is low: It's $100 the first time a rider is caught without paying his or her fare. That fare increases with each subsequent offense.

Some members of city council -- most notably Chris Seelbach -- have pushed for an increase in the penalty, but that has yet to pass through council.

Other parking infractions here in Cincinnati -- like blocking a fire hydrant or parking in a handicap zone -- can cost offenders up to $250.

The number of blockages and the low penalty for blocking the tracks makes Cincinnati's streetcar system an "outlier," according to John Schneider.

Schneider is a retired real estate developer and Downtown resident. Popularly known as "Mr. Streetcar," he was a key player in bringing the streetcar back to Cincinnati and advocated by hosting trips to other streetcar cities.

"Ive ridden streetcars hundreds of times all over the country. Ive been blocked one time," he said. "I think Ive used (Cincinnati's) streetcar maybe 150 times. Ive been blocked five times.

"This is not normal in terms of how these systems are operated."

Schneider says the root of the streetcars' problems stem from City Hall.

"I see no effort by the city to improve it," he told WCPO.

Schneider places blame specifically on Mayor John Cranley, who opposed the project and temporarily blocked its progress when elected to office in 2013. A super majority of city council overrode the action two weeks later.

"Mayor Cranley could tomorrow call a news conference and say, Were no longer going to tolerate these blockages. The data are in, and its a problem. We are going to start issuing citations for every violation,'" Schneider said. "We havent heard that message from our mayor yet."

Cranley's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO.

In the last few years, a lot of people have talked about how to improve our region's transportation and transit infrastructure.

The city of Cincinnati, Hamilton county, the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce, grassroots organizations -- a deluge of plans and visions, more plans, more visions for Greater Cincinnati's transportation infrastructure.

When it comes to implementing those plans? Well...

Consider the Central Parkway Protected Bike Lane as a starting point. Originally planned to extend all the way from Downtown to Clifton, it sits unfinished, ending at Marshall Avenue in the CUF neighborhood -- about half its intended distance. Some city leaders took action to prevent its extension and even called for removing a portion not two years after it was built.

Of roughly 300 miles of planned bike infrastructure over 15 years, in eight years the city has installed 20 miles.

It's not just the bike plan that is behind schedule. About 50 percent of Cincinnati Metro's annual $100 million operating budget comes from the city's earnings tax. That model was adopted -- and has remained unchanged -- since the 1970s. Bus fares have not increased in nearly a decade, and routes are starting to disappear.

Or how about the elephant in the room everyone loves to talk about but no one is willing to pay for: the Brent Spence Bridge. Elected leaders and transportation officials from both sides of the Ohio River have known for well over a decade that the double-decker carrying Interstates 71 and 75 can no longer handle the traffic volume it sees.

The Brent Spence is not just a regional problem: It carries nearly 5 percent of the nation's gross domestic product every year.

Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear was talking about the Brent Spence before Matt Bevin replaced him in 2015. Now, Bevin's first term is more than half over. Still no one can agree on how to pay for the bridge.

One of Bevin's first moves in office was to push through legislation banning tolls on any bridge that connects Kentucky and Ohio. Tolling a new bridge has been a contentious idea surrounding the project since its initial proposal, with multiple local leaders in Frankfort opposing them.

In short, we're really good at coming up with good ideas, but bad about figuring out how to pay for them.

On one hand, it's good that at least there's talk about improving the region's aging infrastructure. After all, it's impossible for leaders to approve spending on projects that have not been meticulously studied and planned.

Take, for instance, the most recent plan to come forward, presented Friday morning by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. Increased investment in public transit, offering more choices to more commuters, utilizing new technologies -- all appropriate and worthwhile goals, based on close looks at what other peer cities are doing.

But even the Chamber acknowledged the piece that seems to be missing: leadership.

"Ultimately, its not enough to have a vision and a plan of action if we dont also work with our decision makers around achieving that vision," the plan reads. "We need to support the myriad of leaders who are committed to this work with the best policy recommendations and best practices to ensure the success of this vision."

Meanwhile, every year we don't begin the process of building a supplemental bridge to support the Brent Spence, the project increases in cost, Beshear told reporters during a 2014 news conference. The same is true for the aging Western Hills Viaduct.

None of this is to say that recent progress hasn't been made. In 2017, Cincinnati City Council voted to allocate $500,000 toward pedestrian safety improvements throughout the city.

Hamilton County and city leaders each pledged enough money to provide the more-than $60 million local contribution to building a new Western Hills Viaduct -- depending on the federal government coming through with the additional other 80 percent of the cost (another obstacle).

But as long-time bicycle advocate Frank Henson told WCPO earlier this month, "If we don't finish (the Central Parkway bikeway) now when it's the cheapest to do, and we come back later, it's going to cost significantly more money." Five-hundred thousand dollars here, $750,000 there doesn't gather much traction, he said.

The friction over these projects usually comes down to community will. For example, residents in Madisonville earlier this month rejected a plan to install a bike lane along Whetsel Avenue. In 2002, Hamilton County voters soundly killed a ballot measure to levy a new sales tax to invest billions in a regional public transit plan, by a two-thirds majority vote against.

We like the ideas. We don't like the cost.

Part of that might be that this region is extremely car-centric: More than 90 percent of commuters use a single-occupant vehicle to get to and from work each day, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data. But what if there were more options, more money devoted to providing those options? Would that reliance on cars go down?

That doesn't explain the delay in repairing our aging bridges, though. Congestion on the Brent Spence Bridge impacts roughly 200,000 drivers every year. Yet, still no new bridge.

What if we were willing to put our money where our mouths are?

CINCINNATI -- City leaders continued their search for answers Tuesday as problems continued to pile up with the streetcar, 18 months into the system's operation.

At the heart of the numerous issues facing the struggling transit system: too many cooks in the kitchen.

As it is currently structured, the city owns the streetcar and entered into a contract with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority to oversee operations. SORTA, in turn, hired a third-party firm, Transdev, to carry out operations and maintenance.

"You need one neck to choke," said Assistant City Administrator John Juech during Tuesday's Major Projects and Smart Government Committee meeting. "I don't know if we're going to get where we need to go under this management structure."

Since its September 2016 launch, the streetcar has hit multiple stumbling blocks: Wait times are too long. Ticket vending machines aren't working. Ridership is down. Advertising revenue is down. Mechanical issues have plagued four of the five vehicles, especially in cold weather. Staff turnover is high, and operators' performance is in question. 

That's just to name a few.

"I originally supported the streetcar, and I still do," Councilman Wendell Young said. "Frankly, I'm running out of patience with the streetcar."

Young's not alone. The committee grilled Juech during Tuesday's meeting in order to, as committee chair Greg Landsman put it, "to get everyone on the same page."

Multiple council members drew the conclusion that the streetcar's management system needs to be restructured.

"If you look at what's happened in the administration of the streetcar over the last two years, it's not working," said City Council member Amy Murray. Murray formerly led the Major Transportation Committee, which was restructured and renamed with this year's new council term. She ran the committee for the entirety of the streetcar's construction and launch.

"If we don't make a change, it's going to continue not working," she said.

Murray said she's drafting a motion to ask the administration for a report on the management structure's efficiency.

"We're asking the administration to look at it and see how we need to impact it because between the city, SORTA and Transdev, it's been very frustrating."

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- The city should expect continued streetcar failures as freezing weather persists, according to a letter from the transit authority.

The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority -- which oversees streetcar operations -- said in a letter Thursday evening, "Until vehicle redesigns and field modifications that are successfully implemented, streetcar vehicle failures will continue to impact reliable service during freezing weather conditions."

One of the problems comes from the vehicles' air compressors, the letter said, which suffer from frozen valves and blown pistons, among other issues. This poses a safety concern.

Often, though, the freezing cold causes multiple issues in various combinations, making preparing for repair and maintenance difficult, SORTA said. This impacts reliability and, in turn, will impact ridership, which has already proven to be down during the winter months.

COLUMN: Let's shut down the 'shut down the streetcar' talk

"Transit rail ridership is based on service reliabilty," SORTA wrote. "When headways (frequency) or service span (times that service is supposed to start and end) are not met and the system runs 'short' of vehicles, patrons lose confidence in the system."

The streetcar needs to run four vehicles of its five vehicles to maintain reliable service, according to transit officials: three out on the tracks, one ready to go, and one in reserve, presumably undergoing maintenance.

The fix will come from CAF -- the vehicle manufacturer -- when they can implement a redesign of the air compressor mechanism and other parts damaged by the cold. For now, SORTA is recommending the city request additional spare parts in anticipation of future breakdowns.

As WCPO previously reported, City Manager Harry Black said in a previous memo that the city has withheld $4 million in payments to CAF due to vehicle defects.

"Due to these ongoing manufacturer issues, at my direction, the city has not paid CAF since November of 2016, nor has the city agreed to final acceptance of the vehicles, Black said.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

Pat LaFleur covers transportation and mobility for WCPO.

CINCINNATI -- Another month, another reason to rail on the streetcar.

This time? The streetcar was shut down last weekend due to "mechanical issues," City Manager Harry Black said in a Jan. 18 memo.

"This is unacceptable," Black said.

He's right. It is unacceptable. The city paid a lot of money for these streetcars and to build their tracks.

But also unacceptable is what seems to follow nearly every bump and hiccup the streetcar hits: the call by detractors to send the streetcars back and shut down the system.

We see it play out most -- like most controversial things do today -- on social media. Headlines that prompt angry comments calling the streetcar a "boondoggle," a "waste of money" and "never meant to be," to take a few examples from a WCPO Facebook post Friday. These were comments left on a post linking to WCPO's coverage of last week's weather-related mechanical issues.

But using every setback as a reason to call for shutting down the streetcar isn't just counterproductive, it also would cost the city a lot more than it takes to keep it running every day.

Naysayers found out about that back in 2013. That's when newly elected Mayor John Cranley tried to block the project. After a two-week hiatus, construction resumed because Washington threatened to reclaim millions in federal funding granted to the project if the city didn't see it through.

Now that it's built and running, the same rules apply. If the city shuts down the streetcar, it would have to pay the government back federal money used to build it. The contract between the city and the feds stipulates that the system must remain in service for the duration of its "useful life," which for a rail system is usually a matter of decades.

A more sensible call to action by those frustrated by the streetcar's troubles would be to tell the city to ask CAF -- a subsidiary of the Spain-based manufacturer that built the vehicles -- to replace the faulty streetcars it built.

Calling for a system shutdown is a scorched earth approach that would end up costing the city millions of dollars and would create more problems than it would solve. 

Another common misconception is that taxpayers are footing the bill for streetcars that don't work.

It's actually not that simple. The city hasn't paid the manufacturer since November 2016, when it was clear the streetcar vehicles were having persistent mechanical issues. 

"The city will continue to withhold final acceptance and payments, now totaling more than $4 million, on the streetcar vehicles until they are in full working order," Black said.

It's worth noting that $4 million is about what it cost to operate the streetcar during its first year. The streetcars might have been faulty, but the city effectively ran the system for free for its first year anyway.

All of this leads me to wonder: What does it take for the streetcar to get some positive publicity?

One of the streetcar's biggest success stories was roughly one year ago, during the first Women's March at Washington Park, which drew some of the streetcar's highest ridership numbers. 

It also prompted frustration. The streetcars were packed full for most of the day, and that meant a lot of people had to wait. Streetcars would be too full for people waiting at certain stops to get on board.

A similar situation occurred during the streetcar's first Oktoberfest in September 2016 -- just a couple weeks after the system's launch -- as well as during BLINK last October.

What these weekends have told us is that, in addition to the mechanical issues, the streetcar struggles to keep up with increasingly high-capacity Downtown events.

That's not a bad problem to have.

Yes, the city should do everything in its power to make sure the manufacturer of these vehicles delivers on its promises to provide functioning vehicles.

Rail systems are built to last for a century, and it's no surprise that it's stumbled as it is getting its footing. It's a fool's errand to try to compare Cincinnati's streetcar savvy to how well other cities have implemented their transit systems.

Right now, it seems the streetcar is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't. That needs to change.

CINCINNATI Plagued by mechanical problems, the downtown streetcar has been pulled out of operation until at least Monday, and city officials revealed they are withholding $4 million in payments until the company that built it fixes it.

This is unacceptable, City Manager Harry Black said Thursday, referring to shutdowns by four or all five streetcars over the last 2-3 days.

Metro will operate buses on the streetcar route between the Banks and Findlay Market while the streetcars are being repaired, and the city plans to bill CAF, the streetcar builder, for the cost, Black said.

Black noted that service issues have reoccurred since streetcar operations began in September 2016 and he threatened to sue CAF if problems persist.

Due to these ongoing manufacturer issues, at my direction, the city has not paid CAF since November of 2016, nor has the city agreed to final acceptance of the vehicles, Black said in a memo to Mayor John Cranley and city council.

JUST IN: @CityOfCincy Manager Harry Black calls @CB_Connector issues this week "unacceptable," says city has withheld $4M from builder CAF since Nov @WCPO pic.twitter.com/uwiGD85luZ

The streetcar is owned and funded by the city, managed by SORTA (Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority), and operated by Transdev, a company that operates streetcars around the world.

SORTA blamed manufacturing and design defects for equipment failures. Most issues are related to air compressors that operate the sanders, which are essential to slowing down in slick conditions, SORTA said in a news release.

Below-zero temperatures exacerbate the problem, officials have said.

We are working with the City of Cincinnati, CAF and Transdev to resolve problems and restore service as quickly as possible, said Paul Grether, Director of Rail Services for Metro.  Suspending service will allow the team to work intensively on the identified issues with the goal of providing service that is reliable and safe.

Black said the city would continue to withhold payments and final acceptance of the vehicles "until they are in full working order, including air compressors, brakes and the wiring systems."

CAF "has a team on the ground in CIncinnati and we are fully engaging them, including through the City Solicitor's office," Black said.

Metro buses will operate the streetcar route between The Banks and Findlay Market during the streetcar shutdown. Here are the specifics:

RELATED: Bus riders could see fare hikes by summer

CINCINNATI -- The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority will continue to oversee streetcar operations, despite efforts by some to separate the agency from the controversial public transit system.

SORTA Board of Trustees member Gary Greenburg put forward a resolution during Tuesday's board meeting that called for the agency to terminate its contract with the city of Cincinnati, in which it agreed to oversee streetcar operations and maintenance.

He called the streetcar a "distraction" from SORTA's efforts to boost its beleaguered Metro bus system.

"The streetcar is a luxury, and the bus system is a necessity," he said. "Every hour (our staff) spend on streetcar issues are hours not spent on the bus system."

Looking forward to the board's upcoming push to put a sales tax levy before voters in November -- as part of the agency's efforts to boost bus service -- he said, "It would send the message that SORTA is ready to devote 100 percent of its time and attention to making this the best, most effective bus system that the region could possibly hope for."

But others on the board felt Greenburg's resolution -- and not the streetcar itself -- was the distraction.

"This has been something that the community, in my opinion, is finally coming together on," said Board member Mary Miller. "This is a bigger distraction."

Board member Brendon Cull agreed with Miller, worrying that the process of exiting the agency's contract with the city would be just as, if not more costly.

"You can think what you want about it, but we have a contractual obligation to run that streetcar," Cull said. 

SORTA cannot exit the contract without mutual agreement from the city and without "just cause." The contract also comes with state- and federal-level stipulations, and would require approval from both the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration.

"Because of how the federal funding flows through, permission or approval from the FTA would also be required," said Dwight Ferrell, SORTA's CEO and president. "Because the state of Ohio, ODOT, has responsibility for safety oversight, that requirement is there, as well.

"Because the money flows through us, we would never be able to be completely divorced from the streetcar... even if the FTA lets us off the hook.

"It would take a minute," he said.

Still, some board members worry public perception surrounding the streetcar could hurt their bid for a 2018 sales tax levy measure going into campaign season.

"For whatever it's worth, perception is reality," said Board member Ron Mosby. Mosby said the misconception is still pervasive that the transit agency owns the streetcar and that the streetcar siphons money from bus service. In reality, the city owns the streetcar and no funding has ever been diverted from Metro bus service to fund streetcar operations.

"We've taken great pains to make sure the funds are segregated," Mosby said, "but all of that takes work so that we can make sure that we appear this way.

"Good or bad, that's the perception."

This discussion unfolded Tuesday morning as the board prepares for the turn of another election cycle, which could mean new faces sitting at the board table come January, as some members' terms are set to expire.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

CINCINNATI -- When BLINK's organizers set out to plan and design the four-day light, art and music festival, they immediately had the streetcar in mind: The 21 outdoor light-art installations were all situated along the streetcar's 20-block loop through Over-the-Rhine, Downtown and the Banks.

One could even say the streetcar was itself a character in the light show production, rolling by with its familiar ding-ding as visitors toured the city streets. 

What leaders didn't expect, though, were the immense crowds that poured into the urban core last weekend, estimated at roughly 1 million people, and what that would mean for the show's star character.

It was the largest crowd drawn by a single event in the city's history -- ever. These large crowds meant more big numbers: The streetcar logged roughly 27,000 rides throughout the festival, far exceeding average weekend ridership.

But, while transit advocates are celebrating the high ridership, they also said it exposed a persisting struggle for the streetcar. Since its inception, the streetcar has struggled to keep up with high-capacity, crowded events.

Cameron Hardy, with the Better Bus Coalition, attended this weekend's events, but when asked if he used the streetcar: "No, too packed!"

The crowds were evident on social media.

#BlinkCincy pic.twitter.com/C8RVzlHVui

On the one hand, this meant a lot of new riders. 

"We saw a lot of first-time riders coming out and exploring the city," said Brandy Jones, spokesperson for the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, which oversees streetcar operations.

On the other hand, that number could have been higher, as the crowded streetcars meant many were left waiting long waits just to board. Some -- like Hardy -- chose not to ride at all.

"Everything streetcar that I'd seen was too packed, and I said 'It's just better to walk,'" he said.

The streetcar's ongoing struggle with its ticket vending machines also reared its head during BLINK, with multiple machines malfunctioning or simply shutting down.

Streetcar ticket machine at Washington Park. Not good timing, as @BLINKcincy will mean big ridership tonight. @WCPO Photo: @TerryHelmerWCPO pic.twitter.com/S2uOC75ANw

"We had technicians out along the route all weekend ready to handle any (ticket vending machine) issues that arose," Jones said.

There was a silver lining to those malfunctions, though. Jones said BLINK weekend saw roughly 1,500 new riders using the EZ Ride ticketing mobile app.

The root of the problem, for Hardy -- who commutes primarily by Cincinnati Metro bus -- comes down to Downtown's traffic design.

"It took me 37 minutes to get from right here at Fifth and Main to Main and Liberty," Hardy told WCPO. It's normally a 10-minute bus ride, he said.

Jones confirmed that congestion is a frequent cause for headaches along the streetcar route.

"Unfortunately, the streetcar operates in mixed traffic, so we are at the result of, whenever there are blockages and cars blocking the track, we work with the police as best we can," she said.

Perhaps as an omen, this reality hit home quite quickly during the event, when a crash involving a Metro bus caused the streetcar to shut down for three hours during BLINK's kick-off parade Thursday night.

Hardy suggested that, for big events like this, the city could temporarily designate certain lanes for streetcar travel only.

City Council member and transportation committee chair Amy Murray wouldn't commit to the idea of transit-only traffic lanes for special events, but did point out just how unique BLINK really was.

"I think BLINK was such a one of a kind, unique thing to do in this city that people didn't know how many people would show up there, or the effect it would have on traffic patterns," she told WCPO Monday.

The city recently launched a traffic signal study throughout Downtown and Over-the-Rhine, in order potentially to alter signal timing so that it optimizes flow among all modes of traffic, including bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

It's the first time the city has conducted such a study in more than 20 years. The average turnover for such studies is between five and 10 years.

Everyone agrees that, despite the streetcar's struggle to handle demand, the weekend was an overall success -- even if it came with a reminder of work still to be done.

"It's a good and a bad thing," Hardy said. "It's good because it's tons of people everywhere and a lot of things going on downtown. But it also exemplified the need for some transit lanes and stuff like that."

Prior reporting by WCPO's Joe Rosemeyer and 9 On Your Side's Jake Ryle contributed to this story.

Pat LaFleur reports on transportation and mobility for WCPO. Connect with him on Twitter (@pat_laFleur) and on Facebook.

Evan Millward is a reporter for 9 On Your Side. Connect with him on Twitter (@EvanMillward) and on Facebook.