Sharon Coolidge | Cincinnati Enquirer

The Enquirer/Meg Vogel

Cincinnati's new City Council is set Tuesday to get its first update on how things are going over at 1927 Race St., home of the Cincinnati streetcar.

What council will hear will not be pretty. By most measures as a transit operation, the project, which officially launched Sept. 9, 2016, is failing. Ridership in January 2018 was only half what it was in January 2017. While it's certainly spurred economic development, there's been no official measure of exactly what growth the streetcar has brought to Over-the-Rhine and Downtown.

Finally, there's a drastic gap between how things are going here compared to Kansas City, which built a streetcar at the same time as Cincinnati, has a similar loop through Downtown and even the same vehicles. In KC, ridership is flourishing and there are plans for expansion.

The issues with the Cincinnati system are numerous:

Who's in charge? When it comes to decision making, there are three bosses for the streetcar. Depending on the issue, it might up to the city, the transit authority or operator Transdev to find a solution.

Ridership isn't anywhere close to meeting projections, even though they were lowered as the streetcar entered this fiscal year. Cincinnati had 578,641 rides taken in 2017, compared to Kansas City, where there were 2,060,425 rides – three times as many riders.

Streetcar vehicles built by manufacturer CAF-USA have so many problems – air compressors, heating, braking, propulsion and power failures – they likely need to be completely rebuilt. The city is so upset it has stopped paying CAF for repairs. Records show the system had 122 problems that led to it being taken out of service. Here too, Kansas City, which has the same vehicles as Cincinnati, doesn't seem to be experiencing as many problems.

Private operator Transdev can't keep staff on hand. The company's situation is complicated by the fact that its portion of the streetcar contract was bid at $3.3 million, less than what it's costing Transdev to operate the system.

The system is running at a deficit, with advertising, naming rights and fare revenues all below estimates. It would be even worse if the city paid all of Transdev's invoices, but disputes have held up payments, allowing finances to seem better than they are.

Councilman Greg Landsman, elected in November and chairman of council's Major Projects and Smart Government Committee, has scheduled a "State of the Streetcar" presentation in his committee Tuesday. He also pledged to make fixes.

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"We offer fresh eyes," Landsman said. "A lot of people are understandably exhausted, having been working on this for years. We like solving problems and this particular issue has plenty of problems to solve."

While there might be some "fresh eyes" on council, The Enquirer has been watching the streetcar from the beginning. Here's what we know now and a peek at how things are going in Kansas City.

So, where does the buck stop?

Cincinnati's streetcar has a three-pronged management structure. The city approved the project and bought the streetcars. It contracted with local transit agency Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority to oversee the system. And SORTA hired Illinois-based Transdev to operate the streetcar.

Compare that to Kansas City. The city approved the project, but then created a nonprofit to run the streetcar, which is governed by a board of 12 people (all of whom must either live or work along the streetcar route).

Cincinnati City Council has been frustrated because there doesn't appear to be leadership managing the myriad of problems. And Mayor John Cranley isn't a streetcar fan, having failed to halt work on it when he was first elected in 2013.

The mayor didn't reply to a request for comment for this story. Paul Grether, SORTA's rail manager, declined to comment until after Tuesday's presentation.

Under Cincinnati's management structure, it's easy for everyone to say the streetcar is somebody else's problem. For instance when the streetcar wasn't operating SORTA directed the media to call the city's spokesman because the issue was related to the cars not working. The city spokesman then said the media should call SORTA because it manages the project.

The example shows that when things go awry, no one wants to take responsibility.

"The project needs a leader," said John Schneider, an activist who helped bring the streetcar to life and has followed the project closely. "It needs somebody at City Hall who can design the streetcar for success."

Where are the riders?

The Cincinnati Bell Connector took to the tracks Sept, 9, 2016, carrying 926,598 riders so far. But ridership this January was 17,220, off more than 50 percent from the same month in 2017. Compare that to Kansas City, where 97,194 rides were clocked – up 8.4 percent from January 2016.

The Kansas City streetcar runs on a similar downtown loop to Cincinnati's streetcar, but Kansas City doesn't charge riders. That means no ticket machines, which in Cincinnati were problematic for months, although they are now working.

The difference in ridership is glaring. Kansas City is averaging nearly 172,000 rides a month, more than three times what Cincinnati is seeing.

Keeping the streetcar free "takes away a barrier,"said Donna Mandelbaum, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Streetcar Authority.

In February, the Kansas City Streetcar Authority announced it would run more vehicles and cut wait times during weekday mornings and evenings and on Sundays.

And the system is officially looking at expanding, A "southern extension will further strengthen our investment while connecting our most dense neighborhoods and business centers in a new and exciting way,” Tom Gerend, the executive director of the KC Streetcar Authority, said in January.

'Fleet-wide' defects bedevil cars

January's brutal cold weather thrust Cincinnati's streetcar vehicle issues into the spotlight. Due to problems with air compressors, the streetcar can't run reliably in the cold. In fact, over a four-day frigid spell in January, it didn't run at all.

City Manager Harry Black said last month the issue is "fleet-wide defects." Among the problems: air compressors, heating, braking, propulsion and power failures.

SORTA and Transdev can make various short-term fixes, but Black said the long-term solution is for CAF to redesign certain systems on the cars.

"CAF built these vehicles and must fix them, and we are fully engaging them including through the City Solicitor's office," Black said last month. In the meantime, the city retained its own vehicle engineer to provide expertise.

Messages left at CAF USA's Washington, D.C., headquarters for comment were not returned.

Kansas City isn't seeing the same equipment struggles, Mandelbaum said. She did not provide data, but said when issues arise, they're quickly addressed.

Trouble at Transdev

Transdev has struggled to keep staff on hand. It’s on its fifth Cincinnati general manager and fifth maintenance manager, with the departures due to everything from retirements to health issues to firings. And it’s supposed to have have four maintenance workers, but at one point in December all four were on leave. They’re back at work now. Transdev officials say the workforce has been stabilized.

The city, based on consultant reports, believed it would cost Transdev $3.3 million a year to run the streetcar, including having wait times of 10 minutes between trains at peak-use times. But the calculations were wrong. Transdev is having to run more cars than projected to meet that 10-minute target, driving its costs up.

“Every streetcar project has a unique set of startup challenges and the Cincinnati Bell Connector is no different," said Bernie McCall, chief operating officer Transdev's rail division, referring to all of the issues the streetcar is having. "Transdev will continue to deploy the needed resources and work with our partners at the city, SORTA and CAF to ensure the Connector runs effectively and safely.”

Budget on the edge of insolvency

Before the Cincinnati streetcar took to the tracks, annual operation costs were estimated at $3.6 million to $4.2 million. That's supposed to cover SORTA's management fee and cover Transdev's operating contract, plus other things such as electricity and police officers who check tickets.

The streetcar budget runs on the same fiscal year as the city, which this year runs from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. Council, last year, approved a budget of almost $4.4 million.

SORTA's January financial streetcar report, covering seven months of its operating year, showed the budget running at a $9,000 deficit. But that doesn't tell the whole tale.

If you look at revenue compared to the projections, advertising is nearly $150,000 short of what was anticipated. Fares are $28,107 short. SORTA is withholding 10 percent of most Transdev invoices, which is allowable under the contract because Transdev is not meeting performance measurements.