Metro planning a transit center for Uptown

The Uptown Consortium's plans to boost growth and investment in the area around UC and the hospital-heavy 'pill hill' could soon get a big boost, in the form of a cutting-edge transit hub. Cincinnati Metro announced it will begin planning this year for an uptown transit hub that could include everything from new express routes to bike storage and connections to hospital and university transit routes.

"We want to work with the community to determine what they want to see in the facility," said Colin Groth, Metro's government relations director. He explained that the motivation to create a transit hub comes both from Metro's experience with similar projects and a desire to make the most of what public transit can offer the city's commuters.

"Like many American cities, we have a traditional hub-and-spoke transit system," Groth said, "and we've long had the vision for a neighborhood hub network."

That network, as envisioned by metro, would feature transit centers in many of Cincinnati's more populous neighborhoods and suburbs. Much like the large hub at Government Square, where 90 percent of Metro's routes converge in a few blocks, these smaller hubs would let users access much of the city and surrounding area without frequent bus changes or long waits at small stops along the way. Depending on demand, some of the hubs may offer new express routes (imagine a direct line connecting Cincinnati Children's Hospital's main and Liberty campuses, for example) and facilities such as bike lockers and showers. Metro is already developing two such hubs, in Anderson Township and Glenway Crossing in Western Hills, and Groth said the transit authority is actively seeking additional funding that could bring more such projects online in the future.

But in the meantime, the Uptown hub is at a fresh, wide-open stage: Funding through the state and OKI has already been secured, and it's time for the real planning work to begin.

"It's important to note that we're moving from that conceptual phase to becoming a real project," said Groth. "We [Metro] don't want to define what it is, we want the community to be part of that process. We want to be sure we're creating value for the community."

That's music to the ears of Beth Robinson, director of the Uptown Consortium. She said the project fits in well with the consortium's efforts to enhance and revitalize the neighborhood.

"Any time you have a link with transit access, it brings in more people," she said. "And when you're trying to attract more development, this is the kind of thing they look for."

Groth noted that Metro, the Uptown Consortium, the Corryville Revitalization Consortium and University of Cincinnati are all working together to identify what should be included in the transit hub, and where it should be located. And while those discussions are just getting started, he and Robinson both noted some tantalizing ideas that could well be part of the finished facility.

"We like the idea of a mixed-use concept," said Robinson, referring to the possibility of integrating the facility in with retail or residential space in the densely packed neighborhood. "We're thinking a bit out of the box on this."

And Groth noted that the combination of these features and multiple access routes could mean better, more affordable access for commuters and Uptown residents alike, giving better access to such community-building features as better housing and job choices.

"We want to do a project that really demonstrates the value of transit: these are the things we can do with a real transit project: make market rate housing a reality and develop retail in the area," he said.

Evaluation and compliance studies for the transit hub are projected to begin this summer, with the possibility that groundbreaking could take place as early as 2012.

Writer: Matt Cunningham