Streetcar? What streetcar?

Candidates for Cincinnati City Council overwhelmingly told The Enquirer that extending the Cincinnati Bell Connector route was not a priority - and one got annoyed the Enquirer even asked.

Instead, about half the council candidates surveyed and both mayoral candidates have said their priority is the bus system.

This is a big shift from the last election when the streetcar was a defining issue in the mayoral and council races.

This time around, council candidate Lesley Jones summed up an opinion held by many she's running with: "We should fix Metro first."

Even self-proclaimed "transit candidate" Derek Bauman, who racks up "likes" with his videos recorded while riding the streetcar, said, "My immediate priority is seeing that SORTA’s bus service is sustainably funded and service is improved."

In March 2015, Councilman Chris Seelbach wanted the city to fund a study to take the streetcar Uptown. But this year, when replying to an Enquirer survey of council candidates, he took issue with asking about the streetcar at all.

"It's disappointing that the Enquirer had five questions to ask candidates and didn't ask about the crumbling Western Hills Viaduct, our failing Metro Bus System, or investment in our business districts," he said. "My biggest priority for public transportation for the next term is to move forward on a Metro Bus Expansion plan."

Unsurprisingly, Mayor John Cranley's transit page on his campaign site doesn't mention the streetcar, and his opponent, Yvette Simpson, told the Enquirer that a bus study and system redesign will be a top priority.

Has the streetcar become politically toxic? When discussing her transit plan, Simpson said: "Rail is four letter word on our city."

She said these attitudes are why she doesn't expect the streetcar to expand in the next four years, even if she wins the mayor's race.

"I think both sides overplayed their hand," said Mark Policinski, CEO of the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Regional Council of Governments. "Some people thought it would be a total disaster. Some people thought it would be manna from heaven. They were both wrong."

He said the streetcar's performance has made politicians cautious.First-year ridership numbers came in 27 percent lower than projected, but the project has not cut into city finances as some opponent predicted.

Of the 20 council candidates who responded to The Enquirer survey, only two said they supported streetcar expansion without caveats: Brian Garry and Wendell Young. But even they didn't say it had to happen soon.

Six candidates supported expansion, but not until a number of other conditions were met. Derek Bauman, Michelle Dillingham, Lesley Jones, Chris Seelbach, David Mann and P.G. Sittenfeld all said buses, the Western Hills Viaduct or more sustainability on the current route had to happen first. The rest of the respondents were less enthusiastic.

Streetcar advocate John Schneider said he is unconcerned that city council might not have a champion for expansion.

"We're running a marathon here, not a sprint," Schneider said. "There needs to be a political focus on improving what we've already built."

He cited blocked lines and broken ticketing machines.

"The city has been a very poor steward of the investment," he said. But, he noted, the project has been successful at bringing development to Downtown and Over-the-Rhine and those successes will lead to expansion eventually.

A renewed focus on Metro has Cam Hardy excited. The bus rider and advocate said the system was forgotten in the fight over the streetcar.

"They're finally listening," he said, but now they have to take action.

Hardy said city council could quickly implement dedicated bus lanes along busy corridors, even if it is just during rush hour. He also supports Simpson's plan to study the system and redesign it, mirroring a Columbus project that launched this spring.

Regardless of what happens, it appears Cincinnati's public transportation system will continue to stay in the limelight whether that's buses or rail. And the surest way to influence the city's transportation future is to vote.

"The only thing that matters is the politics," Policinski said. "That's true of every great infrastructure project in the world."