CINCINNATI – Ridership on the Cincinnati Bell Connector in May notched another monthly record, its second-best ever since the streetcar began passenger service in 2016.

Passenger counts totaled 81,724 in May, just shy of the streetcar’s all-time ridership record of 82,934 during its first full month of service in October 2016. Its previous second-best month occurred during downtown’s BLINK light festival in October 2019 with 76,752 passengers.

“We’re thrilled with our ridership trends and expect the momentum to continue this summer and fall when passenger counts are typically strongest,” said Matthew Hulme, interim streetcar director. “Last weekend’s Taste of Cincinnati event downtown on the streetcar line and Reds’ games were huge contributors to us reaching this awesome milestone.”

May’s results also mark the seventh-straight monthly record, which followed on the heels of the best November, December, January, February, March and April for the streetcar. 

For the past year, daily ridership on the streetcar has averaged 1,800 passengers per day.  However, daily average ridership increased to 2,400 passengers during most of May before ticking up to 2,600 passengers the last full weekend of the month.

Hulme also credits the consistently increasing ridership with streetcar crews and city departments maintaining daily operations, passenger safety, reliable customer service and the easing of pandemic restrictions.

For the last seven months, passenger counts are up 30 percent compared with all previous November-to-May periods since the streetcar began operations more than five years ago. Ridership totaled 407,314 for the seven months ended May 31, compared to the system’s previous high-water mark of 311,905 for the seven-month November-to-May period when the streetcar initially began operations in late 2016 through spring of 2017.

Note: Please see the monthly ridership chart below for reference.

The streetcar, which travels a 3.6-mile loop between OTR, the Central Business District and The Banks, operates 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Sundays. It is free to ride.

Monthly Streetcar Ridership Records

 

New Record	Passenger Count	Previous Record	Passenger Count
May 2022	81,724	May 2017	53,116
April 2022	66,391	April 2017	49,966
March 2022	58,882	March 2017	37,471
February 2022	49,641	February 2017	36,681
January 2022	43,131	January 2017	35,334
December 2021	55,105	December 2016	52,209
November 2021	52,440	November 2016	49,920

 

Read more about the streetcar.