Will Cranley ride the streetcar?

You've been wondering: Will John Cranley ride the streetcar?

"If it's a convenient and affordable way for me to get to where I'm going, sure," Cincinnati's mayor told The Enquirer on Monday. "I use Red Bike a lot, but in the winter, it might make more sense (to take the streetcar)."

Cranley, of course, is a long-time opponent of the $148 million streetcar project and doesn't miss many opportunities to criticize the Downtown and Over-the-Rhine rail system.

Whether Cranley will ride the streetcar has been a recurring question asked by Enquirer readers and on social media.

Many also want to know whether the mayor will attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the streetcar, which is scheduled to open to passengers in mid-September 2016. Cranley said he'll wait and see what his schedule will be like then.

Make no mistake, Cranley isn't coming around in support of the streetcar. He continues to be concerned about what the annual operating costs are going to be and whether they'll bust the projected budget.

To help cover operating shortfalls, Cranley wants Over-the-Rhine residents to pick up some of the costs of the streetcar through a residential parking permit – a move that some view as the mayor exacting revenge on streetcar supporters.

"Why is one neighborhood being singled out?" said Ryan Messer, president of the Over-the-Rhine Community Council. "It's obvious that other neighborhoods will benefit as well from the streetcar. Will they also be held to the same standard?"

Said Cranley: "I think the streetcar was a mistake, but since we're building it, I want it to be successful. That's why we're trying to get the residents who live in Over-the-Rhine to pay more for the streetcar."

Meanwhile, Cranley and city administrators are pushing forward with trying to find money to pay for a $42 million bridge spanning Interstate 75 and connecting I-74 traffic in South Cumminsville to the Cincinnati State campus in Clifton. All direct highway access to the community college is scheduled to be eliminated as part of the massive I-75 overhaul.

The city and state are splitting the cost of the project, and city officials plan to ask the federal government to cover most of its share through the TIGER grant program, which this year has $500 million available for projects across the U.S.

"It's a pretty big ask, but we think that's a really good project and (TIGER is) a good avenue to get that funded," said Michael Moore, city transportation director.

Cincinnati State president O'dell Owens started working on keeping direct highway access to the campus soon after arriving there in fall 2010, and Cranley has pushed the project forward.

But transit advocates are questioning whether the bridge is necessary, considering it may only save Cincinnati State commuters about 5 minutes of commute time and it's uncertain how many motorists will use the bridge.

"We haven't seen any studies showing the ROI of this project, nor any funding plan for future maintenance needs to justify its financial viability," said Derek Bauman, regional director of transit advocacy group All Aboard Ohio.

State officials say they will begin a traffic-count study this week to help determine how many commuters might use the Cincinnati State connector.

The city also plans to request $10 million from the TIGER program to help pay for the Wasson Way bike trail on the East Side. The grant application deadline is June 5, and the city does not plan to include any other projects in the TIGER application.

That means the city will not seek federal money right now to help toward expanding the streetcar to Uptown.

"We're not committed to (expanding) the streetcar," Cranley said. "Even if you get a TIGER grant, you have to have a (20 percent) local match, and I'm not going to support a local match for Phase II. Phase I hasn't been proven a success yet."