CINCINNATI - Ridership on the Connector in May 2023 increased nearly 26 percent to total a record 102,189 passengers compared with the previous best May of 81,175 in 2022.

So far, every month in 2023 has beat the previous record! The upward trend in 2023 comes on the heels of monthly records throughout 2022. 

During the first five months of 2023, ridership totaled 415,115, up nearly 40 percent over the same January-through-May period in 2022. 

Looking Back at 2022 and 2021

The strong performance in 2022 led to an all-time annual record of 846,622 passengers. That tally significantly outpaced the previous annual record of 571,601 passengers recorded in 2017, the streetcar’s first full calendar year of operation.

The streetcar hit a ridership record every month last year except in June, which totaled 49,627 passengers. The temporary drop was due to the partial collapse of a building adjacent to the station stop at 12th and Main which necessitated suspension of streetcar service in the Central Business District between June 12 and July 1, 2022.

Ridership began ticking up in November 2021. By comparison, the streetcar’s previous best months occurred mostly during its first full year of passenger service starting in September 2016. 

The chart below provides details.

Why We Keep Hitting Records

Lori Burchett, deputy director of streetcar services for the City of Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering, credits the positive ridership trend with streetcar crews and city departments doing an effective job maintaining daily operations, passenger safety and reliable customer service, as well as the easing of pandemic restrictions and the streetcar being free to ride. 

The streetcar, which travels 3.6 miles between OTR and The Banks via the Central Business District, is especially popular during big events such as BLINK, Taste of Cincinnati and Oktoberfest because it is a convenient way to travel from one end of the city’s urban core to the other, Burchett explained. BLINK took place last October, the best single month for ridership in 2022 at 103,700 and on record since the streetcar began passenger service in September 2016.

The city took over day-to-day management of the streetcar in January 2020 from SORTA and it has been fare-free since September 2020, when it returned to service after a five-month hiatus due to Covid pandemic restrictions. 

Monthly Streetcar Ridership Records 

New Record	Passenger Count	Previous Record	Passenger Count
May 2023	102,189	May 2022	81,175
April 2023	90,165	April 2022	65,352
March 2023	80,215	March 2022	58,874
February 2023	71,183	February 2022	49,641
January 2023	71,363	January 2022	43,131
December 2022	69,303	December 2021	55,105
November 2022	64,675	November 2021	52,440
October 2022	103,700	October 2016	82, 934
September 2022	88,992	September 2016	75,485
August 2022	83,078	August 2019	56,402
July 2022	89,074	July 2017	61,404
May 2022*	81,175 (Previous: 81,724)	May 2017	53,116
April 2022*	65,352 (Previous: 66,391)	April 2017	49,966
March 2022*	58,874 (Previous: 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

* Denotes audited results versus previously reported passenger counts. 

Please note: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requires the city to track, audit and submit ridership to its National Transit Database (NTD). The city, which uses one of the most conservative methods for reporting streetcar ridership, derives its figures for passenger boardings from infrared sensors known collectively as the Automatic Passenger Counting system (APC). An APC sensor is mounted above every door on all five streetcars. 

The city also audits its APC figures to certify to the FTA that the system is accurate. The city does so by periodically conducting manual passenger counts and comparing those samples to the corresponding APC figures.

Among the metrics measured for ridership, the sensors count each passenger as a single boarding except when unable to distinguish between one or multiple passengers. In those cases, a given passenger boarding is discounted to zero, which results in lower-than-actual passenger counts. 

► mORE RIdership Data