But many who advocate streetcars believe buses encourage wholesale suburban development and do little to stimulate community growth, permanent neighborhoods and stable retail shopping areas. Other critics of streetcars maintain that trolleys may be better than diesel buses, but light rail can carry more passengers and move at higher speeds than streetcars. Fritze says there is room for streetcars and light rail. It is available for trips of only a few blocks with friendly stops convenient to shopping and circulation in the area it serves. Light rail, in contrast, can be used for more long-distance travel.
Money is the major issue in bringing streetcars back to Cincinnati.
But there are other obstacles. An extensive network of trolley track remains underneath the city's streets. But in Cincinnati, Fritze explains, streetcars were built to operate on a wider gauge than in other cities. No streetcars remain that can run on the track. And because the original cars were an odd gauge, they were scrapped rather than sold.