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Streetcars were the main form of public transportation in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century.〔Singer (2003), p. 19.〕 The first electric streetcars began operation in 1889,〔 and at its maximum, the streetcar system had of track and carried more than 100 million passengers per year. A very unusual feature of the system was that cars on some of its routes traveled via inclined railways to serve areas on hills near downtown. With the advent of inexpensive automobiles and improved roads, transit ridership declined in the 20th century and the streetcar system closed in 1951.〔〔 Construction of a new streetcar system, the Cincinnati Streetcar, began in 2012. Consisting initially of a single route, the new system is projected to open in September 2016. ==Original system== Cincinnati's first settlers made their home on the large flat basin that now includes downtown, Over-the-Rhine, and the West End.〔NKU History and Geography Department. (Historical Atlas of Cincinnati: The Relationship Between Transportation and Urban Growth in Cincinnati ). Accessed on 2009-04-05.〕 By the 1850s, the city's population was too large for the basin alone, and people started moving to the city's surrounding hills.〔 Horsecars were the first form of public transportation, with operation beginning on September 14, 1859.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.go-metro.com/uploads/pdfs/HistoryHI_web1.pdf )〕 Although horsecars had been running in New Orleans since 1835, very few other cities introduced rail transit – in the form or horse- or mule-drawn cars – until the 1850s, and in 1859 Cincinnati was still one of the first few U.S. cities with such transit service.〔Middleton, William D. (1967). ''The Time of the Trolley'', pp. 15–16, 221. Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0-89024-013-2.〕 However, horse-drawn vehicles were inadequate because the animals would fatigue and the hills were impossible to climb in bad weather.〔 Cities with hilly terrain such as Cincinnati and San Francisco began adopting cable cars, because they were faster and more reliable than horses. The first cable car routes in Cincinnati were on Gilbert Avenue, Mount Auburn, and Vine Street.〔 Cable cars require that the car be pulled by a constantly running cable hidden under the street.〔 〕 Electricity proved to be cheaper and more reliable than cable cars, which required that the cable be replaced periodically. Consequently, starting on August 17, 1889, the first streetcars were introduced,〔 and the existing cable cars were converted to electric streetcars or abandoned.〔 The lines grew until there were of streetcar tracks in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.〔 The track gauge was (Pennsylvania trolley gauge).〔Singer (2003), (The Schemes ), p. 35. Retrieved January 3, 2014.〕 Some of the interurban lines serving Cincinnati also used this gauge, while others used standard gauge track.〔 For decades Cincinnati's streetcar system consistently carried over 100 million passengers a year.〔 Comparatively, in 2000 approximately 25 million people rode Cincinnati's Metro bus system.〔 Cincinnati was one of only three cities in North America whose streetcars used ''double'' overhead trolley wire (two wires for each track) and twin trolley poles on each streetcar, the only others being Havana, Cuba, and the small Merrill, Wisconsin system.〔Sebree, Mac; and Ward, Paul (1974). ''The Trolley Coach in North America'', pp. 61–68. Los Angeles: Interurbans. LCCN 74-20367.〕 All routes used double trolley wire, the only exception being on route 78, a portion of which outside the city limits had only a single wire for each track.〔Schneider, Fred W.; and Carlson, Stephen P. (1983). ''PCC From Coast To Coast'', pp. 67–71. Glendale, CA (US): Interurban Press. ISBN 0-916374-57-2.〕 On all other North American streetcar systems the rails served as the return path for the electric current collected via the trolley pole, but this requires proper bonding of the rails to prevent stray current from escaping and interfering with nearby utility lines, such as telephone lines. In Cincinnati, the primary early streetcar operating company, the Cincinnati Street Railway, chose to install double-wire from the beginning, to save money.〔 The city was also home to one of the country's larger streetcar manufacturers, the Cincinnati Car Company, which produced street-, interurban and rapid transit cars from 1902 until about 1931.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Streetcars in Cincinnati」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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