Cincinnati's streetcar now open for passengers

Описание: CINCINNATI (WKRC) - The Cincinnati streetcar tracks make a 3.6 mile loop between just north of Findlay Market and The Banks.

The Cincinnati streetcar had its own Opening Day Parade! Several VIP runs followed by regular passenger service that began around noon. Local 12 News got a VIP run, but the streetcar itself was the real celebrity!

Each streetcar carries 154 people, 116 standing. There are 38 seats. City council first OK'd the project in 2008. It survived two voter efforts to kill it and a new mayor, John Cranley, who wanted to kill it is as well. But council ultimately said yes again and the streetcar survived.

Cincinnati has five streetcar vehicles, starting with number 1175 and going up. People may wonder why 1175? Cincinnati doesn't have that many streetcars. Well, when Cincinnati ended streetcar service in 1951, the last car was numbered 1174. So this just picks up where they left off.

A teenager named Bill Myers was a passenger on the last trip in 1951, “The last car, that was many years ago. They always would say another car would come along. If you miss one. Well, having ridden the last one I thought it would be fun to catch a ride on the next one. I didn't think it would be 65 years, though!”

Myers came back Friday, September 9, to take a first ride on the new line. He's a member of the Cincinnati Transit Historical Society who is living through history, today and back then.