Metro is seeking a consultant to determine if it should relocate its Downtown hub, possibly to the Riverfront Transit Center at The Banks. The transportation provider is accepting proposals through Aug. 20.
Brandy Jones, chief communications and marketing officer, says as part of Issue 7 — known as "Reinventing Metro" — Metro planned to update its main transit hub located at Government Square.
"We had planned this year to do a renovation. The Government Square is in need of repair, is in need of renovation, and we wanted to freshen it up, improve some customer amenities, give it a face lift, and make some enhancements that would improve the customer experience while they wait for their stop and have their connections at the Government Square," Jones says. "We were in the process of preparing to begin that when the feedback came that some stakeholders had asked us to evaluate (if) it is in the right location."
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Jones says the consultant will be tasked with considering all possible alternate locations in the Downtown area, should Metro be advised to move away from Government Square. The location most frequently mentioned is the Riverfront Transit Center (RTC) below 2nd Street at The Banks.
The RTC was constructed as part of the Fort Washington Way reconstruction. It cost about $18 million, and was dedicated in May 2003. It's been used for big events, such as the light and arts festival BLINK, and for charter bus parking during Reds and Bengals games.
Metro has said the goal of the RTC, which it refers to as its "major event bus staging facility," is to "remove buses from the street grid surrounding The Banks and Riverfront Park."
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Jones says Metro intends to involve stakeholders like riders, community members, employees and others as it goes through the process.
A timeline on a decision hasn't been set. Jones says the planned Government Square renovation hadn't yet gone out to bid, so Metro doesn't have an estimate for what the original plan would cost.
Metro says, on average, 11,000-12,000 boardings take place daily at Government Square.
