A new route for the Cincinnati streetcar? How about 9?

Cincinnati City Hall is not ready to talk about expanding the Connector streetcar system.

But that doesn’t mean John Schneider and Matt Butler can’t.

Long active in area transportation efforts, the two streetcar advocates are putting nine ‒ yes, nine ‒ expansion plans on the table.

They shared one with The Enquirer, with hints about the other eight. They plan to unveil them in full on Thursday at an event they are calling Cincinnati Streetcar Forum.

More than 200 people have signed up to attend their presentation, hosted by a transportation group funded by Covington’s Devou Good Foundation. A survey will follow, allowing supporters to rank their favorite expansion ideas.

“This is their opportunity to have their opinion heard,” said Butler, a small business owner who serves as the foundation’s president.

Record-high ridership for 2023

The forum follows news that the Connector picked up 30% more passengers in 2023, with 1.1 million riders for the year.

In announcing the new record, officials with the city's Department of Transportation & Engineering said they would soon launch a survey of their own, asking riders and non-riders for feedback about the existing 3.6-mile service. The Banks to Findlay Market route cost $148 million to build and requires close to $6 million a year to run.

The city is aware of the Devou Foundation forum but is not involved with it, Lori Burchett, deputy director for streetcar services, said via email.

“Our team ... remains focused on maintaining the streetcar system’s reliability and safety,” Burchett said. “We would look to our leadership on city council and in the administration for guidance on expansion.”

The city is not currently exploring streetcar expansion options. But some council members are warming to the idea, according to Enquirer coverage last year.

Still, all have been cautious, given the controversies the streetcar spurred over some 15 years of planning and the system’s slow path to growth since its 2016 launch.

Ridership, which dipped during COVID, has been on the rise since then, at least in part because the city made it free to ride in September 2020.

L-shaped route suggested for Uptown

The forum organizers are proposing the Uptown neighborhoods of Clifton and Walnut Hills as one expansion site.

As drawn, it would be a free-standing L-shaped route with its own cars and maintenance facility. North-south tracks would run on Clifton Avenue along the border of Burnet Woods Park and the University of Cincinnati. From there, the route would move east-west along Calhoun Street, East McMillan Street and William Howard Taft Road to just past the Walnut Hills Library.

Other new routes would tie the Clifton/Walnut Hills one to the existing system, Schneider and Butler confirmed.

Of their eight other ideas, at least one proposes crossing the Ohio River into Northern Kentucky, they said, noting that all nine can co-exist with the original system.

In general, the proposed routes avoid streets targeted for narrowing or already served by Metro buses, they added.

Uptown was identified early on for streetcars. It was called a “potential extension,” with tracks running up Vine Street, in the city’s initial streetcar feasibility study in 2007. It stayed in plans through 2011, as city and state leaders debated funding options.

The 2007 plan also suggested extensions west, along Central Parkway and 12th Street; east to what was then called Broadway Commons; and south along Eggleston Avenue, then the Taylor-Southgate Bridge over the river to Newport.

Survey shows support for expansion

Cincinnati Streetcar Forum organizers consulted streetcar riders to draw up their proposals.

“Streetcar supporters have ideas on where it should go next,” Schneider said.

In a survey last fall, 90% of more than 2,500 respondents said they were likely or very likely to support expansion. In comments, some respondents cited Uptown as a desired route. They also shared complaints about the existing system:

• Cars are too often slowed by poorly timed traffic lights and traffic, factors also tallied on a city site that tracks delays.

• The system does not do a good job of letting riders know when to expect the next car.

Expansion 'not going to be cheap'

Butler understands that city administrators need elected officials to take the lead on expansion. “Their mandate is to run the streetcar, not to expand the streetcar,” he said.

But advocates can make a difference, said Schneider, a semi-retired property developer who was a key champion of the existing streetcar system.

“A lot of things bubble up from advocates,” he said. “Good ideas get the support of coalitions, get funding.”

Federal dollars would be key to expansion now, Butler said.

He and Schneider could not put a price tag on expansion plans, though. “They’re not going to be cheap,” Schneider said.

Survey for rankings opens next

Organizers, working as Devou Good Foundation's Coalition for Transit and Sustainable Development of Greater Cincinnati, are still taking reservations for the Thursday event. Doors to First Lutheran Church, 1208 Race St., open at 6 p.m., with the forum at 6:30.

The event will be live-streamed, with the survey to rank expansion options opening afterward.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Where could Cincinnati's streetcar expand?