Cincinnati Streetcars
Streetcars in Cincinnati?
It’s Good for Everyone.
Streetcars bring more jobs, more development and more city revenue to provide city services.
More Jobs.
Now is the time for us to invest in Cincinnati’s streetcar system that will help our entire community grow by creating more jobs. How does the streetcar do this? In cities across the country, from Atlanta to Seattle, it has been shown that businesses open along the fixed, permanent streetcar lines because they can count on customers each and every day passing their doors. Buses and other transportation-oriented investments such as highway widenings don’t have a proven track record of doing this.
The more businesses that are constructed and opened, the more jobs for our community. These are jobs building, working, and maintaining the streetcar line, construction jobs on the businesses that open along the line, and jobs within those businesses themselves. Many of these will be small businesses serving the community such as dry cleaners, restaurants, and shops.
More Development.
Streetcars are a good investment because the payoff is good for everybody. There are currently 92 acres of land devoted to parking along the 7.9-mile downtown and Over-the-Rhine loop. Much of this land could be used for additional development to produce greater tax revenue for city services in all neighborhoods.
Property values along the route will also increase, resulting in more revenues for Cincinnati Public Schools, too.
In fact, the number one thing that streetcar lines have proven to do in city after city is increase revenues.
Streetcars are a type of infrastructure project outlined in President Obama’s stimulus package passed by Congress and there is legislation being discussed in the Senate that will enable more federal funding specifically for streetcar projects . Because they help put people to work, streetcars are seen as an economic booster to urban areas. That is why the City of Cincinnati has adapted its funding strategy to seek federal monies now to build the initial loop from the Banks all the way up and around the University of Cincinnati and surrounding neighborhoods.
More Revenue for all Neighborhoods.
According to the HDR Feasibility Study the city had done, the average economic return for the Cincinnati streetcar system is expected to be 2.7 times greater than the original investment over 35 years. This was based on other cities’ experiences and confirmed independently by the University of Cincinnati’s Economics Center for Education and Research.
Not only does this streetcar line help build the city and create jobs, but makes us more competitive in retaining and attracting businesses and professionals. There are 46 other cities across the United States that are studying, developing, building, or operating streetcar systems for similar reasons including: Austin, Baltimore, Chicago, Indianapolis, Memphis, New Orleans, Sacramento, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington DC.
