MidPoint Music Festival Offers Fans Free Rides on Metro’s New Hybrid Buses

CINCINNATI, Ohio – MidPoint Music Festival has a few advantages over other festivals. Despite having 25 different stages throughout Cincinnati’s Downtown and Over-the-Rhine, most venues will be easy to walk between. But for those times when you have to jump more than a few blocks it’s nice to know your MidPoint pass will keep your feet off the street.

During the three-day festival, September 23–25, MidPoint pass holders will gain free, unlimited ride access to the MidPoint Transit Authority, which simply consists of a small fleet of Metro’s new hybrid buses. These new diesel-electric hybrid buses will not only provide the festival with a clean, fuel-efficient transportation option, they’ll also move a lot more people.

“We’ve been really seeking that public transportation option that can handle the thousands of people who come out for the bands,” said Dan McCabe, the festival’s executive producer. “Where in the past we might have only been able to handle about 3,000 riders overall, the Metro hybrids will handle considerably more.”

Go Metro and get there
Buses will be available each day of the festival from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The route will loop heading north on Main Street, south on Walnut Street, between 5th and Liberty Streets.

Depending on traffic, riders can expect to see a bus every five minutes.

Anyone may ride, but if you don’t have a MidPoint wristband, the fare will be $1.75 each time you board the bus. The festival is picking up the fare for those wearing wristbands.

Stops will be in Cincinnati’s Downtown and Over-the-Rhine including:
5th Street at Government Square Area E; Main Street at 9th Street, Reading Road, 13th Street and Orchard Street; Walnut at 12th Street, Central Parkway, 8th Street and Gano Alley (near 6th Street).

Look for prominent markers indicating a MidPoint stop on the street.

Taking the show on the road
People paying good money to live music want to see live music, so MidPoint will risk no chance for down time. Traveling MidPoint acts, sponsored by the Fine Arts Fund, will be assigned different slots to play acoustically right on the bus.

Representatives from the Fine Arts Fund will also be on hand to tell people about its “Paint the Street” initiative right after MidPoint on Sunday, September 26, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This event is where people can come out to…you guessed it…paint the street. It is 12th Street, to be exact, and they hope to draw attention to the artistic neighborhood developing around this stretch in Over the Rhine.

www.mpmf.com