DaleBrown2 writes on Cincinnati.com

“Here’s the questions that need to be answered; this thing will cost at least $10 million a year for 30 years; will the increase in property taxes (the city gives out abatements like candy) and sales tax make up the difference? How long will it take? What are the probabilities? What does it take to have this happen?”

commentor on protransit.com writes:

“Since WWII no passenger rail system (i.e. streetcar or trolley) has come close to covering its operating costs by serving actual customers (passengers), let alone its capital cost. Every rail boondoggle in America only survives through massive taxation of people who do not use it.”

Financial concerns are what we have heard the most of in the last few weeks; and there is no question that the streetcar plan requires a large monetary investment from the city. But that is exactly what it is, an investment.

First off, the calculated operational costs for the streetcar line are $3.5 million a year, not $10, this includes the cost of everyday operation as well as maintenance and repair to the cars and tracks (doc 1 pg. 31).

While the up front cost of the streetcar seems high, the economic benefits over the next 30 years are expected to be almost triple the initial cost (doc 2 pg. 3). And this is relative to the total cost of the streetcar; it is important to remember that the city is only paying $64 million of the $128 million total cost, so the city itself could be seeing upwards of 6 times their initial investment.

A public transit system cannot be expected to pay for itself. Would you expect the police to pay for themselves? That would be a whole lot of parking tickets. Any public program will need to be funded by the city, but it has been extensively studied and the benefits to the city out weigh the risks. If you are looking for more information behind the streetcar study I highly recommend the second of the documents listed below. The study was conducted by a third party and breaks down the multitude of finantial benefits in a digestible way.

1. http://www.ci.cincinnati.oh.us/noncms/projects/streetcar/docs/streetcar-green.pdf
2. http://www.ci.cincinnati.oh.us/city/downloads/city_pdf17763.pdf