page_title: Streetcars in Cincinnati
section_title: 21st century system
hierarchical_section_title: Streetcars in Cincinnati / 21st century system
caption_attribution_description: Car 1175 of the Cincinnati Streetcar system, the first CAF streetcar to be delivered, being towed along the line during initial testing. The location is on Main Street immediately north of E. 4th Street. Car 1175 arrived in Cincinnati and was unloaded on October 30, 2015.
context_page_description: Streetcars operated by the Cincinnati Street Railway were the main form of public transportation in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century. The first electric streetcars began operation in 1889, and at its maximum, the streetcar system had 222 miles of track and carried more than 100 million passengers per year. A very unusual feature of the system was that cars on some of its routes traveled via inclined railways to serve areas on hills near downtown. With the advent of inexpensive automobiles and improved roads, transit ridership declined in the 20th century and the streetcar system closed in 1951.
  Construction of a new streetcar system, now known as the Cincinnati Bell Connector, began in 2012. Consisting initially of a single route, the new system opened on September 9, 2016.
context_section_description: Proposals to build a new streetcar line began being discussed in about 2001, as a way to energize housing and development in Over-the-Rhine, Downtown Cincinnati, and the "uptown" neighborhoods that surround the University of Cincinnati, after Portland, Oregon, opened a modern streetcar system in 2001 that was credited with generating significant new property development in what had been decaying areas adjacent to downtown.  The Cincinnati proposals generated both support and criticism and were studied and revised several times after 2002.  Following a 2007 study of the potential benefits of building a modern streetcar system, the Cincinnati City Council gave its approval in 2008 to a plan to build a new streetcar line.  In 2009 and 2011, the city voted on referendums designed to stop the streetcar project, but in both cases a majority of voters favored the project. Ground was broken for the Downtown – Over-the-Rhine line on February 17, 2012, and utility relocation began at that time.  In July 2013, the City of Cincinnati signed a contract for the construction of the tracks, power system, and maintenance facility. During planning and construction, the new system was called Cincinnati Streetcar, but it was renamed the Cincinnati Bell Connector under a naming rights deal with Cincinnati Bell shortly before the line's opening.  The system opened to passengers on September 9, 2016.
caption: The Cincinnati Bell Connector uses CAF Urbos 3 low-floor streetcars, one of which is shown here making the first test run in late 2015.
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