Cincinnati and the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) have reached an agreement that could alleviate a major source of track blockages for the streetcar system.
The city will spend up to $600,000 to relocate a bus shelter on Main Street, north of Fifth, to eliminate overlapping bus and streetcar operations.
A city council committee approved the proposal Tuesday.
"With the construction of the Cincinnati streetcar system along Main Street, adjacent to Shelter G, SORTA and the city have determined that overlapping bus and streetcar operations at Shelter G result in operational inefficiencies and obstructions for bus and streetcar operations," SORTA and the city wrote in a joint memorandum of understanding. "SORTA has determined that these issues could be resolved through the relocation of Shelter G to a nearby area together with a reconfiguring of affected bus routes."
Interim city Transportation and Engineering Director Don Gindling said the change won't affect passengers.
"SORTA looked at their re-routing and they believe that they can re-route the passengers from this location to another location with no impact," Gindling said.
The city will use money from the original streetcar construction project to design and build the new shelter. The Federal Transit Administration has authorized using that money for the plan.
The city and SORTA have been working to reduce streetcar track blockages since the system began operating in September 2016. Those obstructions delay service and the frequency of when streetcars arrive at stops along the route in Downtown and Over-the-Rhine.
