April 2013
| Business World Magazine | 243
TRANSITIONAL TRIUMPHS
Cincinnati is also making improvements to
its infrastructure in transportation and fleet
operation, which again, will yield to less re-
liance on fossil fuels. Falkin says by 2025,
the city “will be done with gas and diesel.”
Over the last two years, the city fleet has re-
duced its gas consumption by more than 12
percent, which he calls progress toward that
goal. The city is now utilizing more electric
and hybrid-electric vehicles, but plans to ac-
quire more fueled by cleaner, compressed-
natural-gas and will soon begin developing
CNG fueling stations.
Other initiatives involve mass trans-
portation. Although the city maintains a
public bus system known as Metro, one
initiative will lead to the establishing of a
downtown modern street car system, simi-
lar to that which sparked redevelopment in
Portland. The street cars will connect with
downtown neighborhoods and will run on
overhead electric power lines. The idea is to
decrease downtown traffic congestion while
increasing public ridership.
Increased ridership is also at play in
the developing of a new bus rapid transit
line that will begin this summer. To explain
Cincinnati’s approach, Falkin offers a little
insight into cultural aspects of transit.
“If you look at people who ride the bus
and those who ride a train, you’ll notice they
are not the same. Many people who ride the
bus are transit dependent.They have no other
