Of transdev VIA EMAIL October 4, 2016 Dwight Ferrell CEO and GM Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (602 Main St., Suite 1100 Cincinnati, OH 45202 Dear Mr. Ferrell; 1 am in receipt of your lotter today indicating your concerns about the on-time sand headway performance of the Cincinnati Streetcar. We share these concerns ‘and understand their importance to the travelling public and SORTA. While the cause of some ofthe issues can be attributed to start-up, in which both the driving public and our operating staff are getting acclimated to an operating streetcar on the streets of Cincinnati, there are other issues which we can address more immediately, as we have been doing from the beginning. The good news, as you know, is that many of the concerns you raised are a result ofthe significant (but unprecedented!) suscoss SORTA has had with the Streetcar. ‘The biggest factor resulting in these delays has beon the overwhelming ridership, Large crowds on platforms and in the cars have caused streetcars to depart lave, as the ridership projections have exceeded estimates, resulting in longer boarding and alighting times. There is little time built into the current schedule to account for these delays, and equipment capacity for passengers and speed provides further limitation. ‘Trunsdev has undertaken significant efforts to alleviate “bunching” of streetcars (erving stops in too-quick of succession, leading to unpredictable wait times) though it continues to be a challenge which we are managing. As our operations control and management personnel have become more familiar with the system, they have developed better judgment as to when to slow individual streetcars down to eliminate bunching. We will also be exploring additional use of GPS devices to bettor track and manage the streetcars. ‘There are additional factors beyond the service provider's control, including: un- sequenced traffic signals; unanticipated vehicular traffic in the downtown area (increasing congestion and road blockages at intersections); and vehicles ‘consistently parked in the right of way. As you know, these are City