CINCINNATI – Ridership on the Connector rose more than 30 percent in 2023, significantly outperforming its previous best year to achieve a new annual record with 1,108,092 passengers.

“It was an awesome year in 2023 on top of a great 2022,” said Lori Burchett, deputy director for streetcar services with the Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE). “All our ridership metrics continued to increase. We couldn’t have achieved these consecutive record results without our operations partner Transdev, which continues to keep the streetcar running smoothly with excellent on-time performance.”

Total ridership increased 30.9 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, the previous annual record with passenger counts of 846,622. Before the most recent two years, the streetcar’s annual record was 571,601 passengers in 2017, the streetcar’s first full calendar year in operation. 

Other 2023 highlights: The streetcar set new ridership records every month except in October, including five consecutive months with 100,000 plus passengers, and celebrated another milestone with 1 million passengers in a single calendar year in late November. 

Burchett also credits the strong ridership to more people being aware of the Connector as a convenient, free and enjoyable way to travel between OTR, Downtown and The Banks. 

Weekday ridership fueled 2023’s momentum. 

Passenger counts Monday through Friday increased 35.3 percent to 712,711 compared to 526,858 passengers in 2022. Weekend ridership rose 23.6 percent to 395,381 passengers in 2023 on Saturdays and Sundays from 319,764 in 2022. 

In addition, weekday ridership as a percent of total ridership continued its upward trend. Ridership during the work week represented 64 percent of total passengers in 2023, up from 62 percent in 2022 and 53 percent in 2017, with 526,858 and 302,721 weekday passengers in those years, respectively.

Overall ridership since passenger service began in September 2016 totals approximately 4.5 million.

Though ridership typically slows in late fall through winter, the streetcar still achieved monthly records in November 2023 with 82,509 passengers and in December with 88,995 passengers.

“We were really happy to see such positive weekday momentum throughout 2023 and record performance to finish the year in November and December,” Burchett said, adding that she is looking forward to assessing the results of an upcoming survey to learn more about ridership trends. 

Details about the survey, which will poll riders and non-riders, will be announced closer to its launch later this month.  

Please see the following chart, which shows annual ridership since the streetcar began passenger service in September 2016.

For monthly highlights, visit our ridership records page. 

The streetcar travels 3.6 miles between OTR and The Banks via the Central Business District. It operates 365 days a year and has been free to ride since September 2020.

Information Updates 
For more information about the streetcar and other news from the Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering, follow @WeMoveCincy on X (formerly Twitter).