Two weekends ago, for the first time, Cincinnatians could load up on pretzels and hot metts at their vast Oktoberfest celebrations downtown and then hop on a streetcar. And almost 30,000 people did just that: The city’s brand-new streetcar system packed on crowds on its first weekend of full-fare service. The weekend before, about 50,000 residents of the Queen City got a free ride for grand opening of the 3.4-mile Bell Circulator, named for sponsor Cincinnati Bell.
Streetcar boosters, who have been patiently awaiting the resurrection of a system that was mothballed in 1951, are justifiably delighted. Cincinnatians who pushed for a trolley redux had to overcome two ballot initiatives that tried to halt the project, in 2009 and 2011—plus fierce resistance from the state’s governor, John Kasich, who withdrew $52 million in promised federal funding in 2011. Then a decidedly anti-streetcar mayor, John Cranley, stormed City Hall in 2013, replacing the term-limited Mark Mallory. Only the fact that the new rails were already half-installed kept the decade-long project alive: The estimated costs of halting the streetcar exceeded what it would take to complete it. (Enjoy the whole tortured history of the project here.)
