First DC streetcar delivered for testing.

[MyNameGoesHere]

WASHINGTON -
D.C. is one step closer to putting its first streetcars back on the road.

The streetcar was loaded on a flatbed at the Anacostia testing facility and then transported to H Street in Northeast D.C. The delicate maneuver was threatened by a scraping incident at the 11th Street Bridge.

"It was just a scrape. Our engineers have said it is operable, so we go on as planned," said Reggie Sanders, Communications Director for the District's Department of Transportation."

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/24212656/dc-to-test-new-line-of-streetcars#axzz2nYX4XMxF

Ok besides the normal set back this is a disaster in the making. But they do it in Europe you say? Yes, and in Europe, public transportation has almost exclusive right of way rights. In DC even busses have to fight just to get in and out of drop off lanes. The only reason it works in Europe is drivers know and obey the rules of the road. Not so much here.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Link:

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/24212656/dc-to-test-new-line-of-streetcars#axzz2nYakLkqt

I love the idea! When my SO and I visited Washington in April, we walked our asses off.

[MyNameGoesHere]

2. Yes in theory it sounds great

But without some serious traffic rules, it will never work efficiently. And thanks I forgot the link edited.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

4. Then impose serious traffic rules.

Sheesh, such negativity. If drivers/pedestrians can maneuver the numerous circles in DC (ah, Dupont in rush hour...), they can handle freakin' streetcars.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Hey, it works in the foreign land of San Diego

A little enforcement will go a long way.

[MyNameGoesHere]

7. San Diego is no DC

I have lived in both cities and what they call traffic in San Diego is 2 AM in DC on a Sunday night. Now granted your interstates are a mess, as our ours. It isn't a very good comparison.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Will Mexico City work then?

Jesus, a little enforcement will go a long way.

[MyNameGoesHere]

16. You have no idea and that is cool

Enforcement? You mean like the police that stand around and watch traffic violations happening one upon the other? Why waste time enforcing traffic when there will be a robbery, stabbing, murder in a few minutes? Look, I lived in San Diego, on it's best day, it is a dream to get around in. I compare it to midnight in DC when there is less traffic. San Diego is wonderful, and I wouldn't think of using public transit because heck it is just as easy to use a car. Yeah yeah you have your interstate issues, and so do we. WE have a transit system that is the ping pong ball of congress to smack around. We have Northern Virginia to the south that refuses to participate in budgeting because public ridership is some kind of a commie plot. And don't get me started on the rich plantation owners that won't even capitulate to allow one of the main arteries to be widened to 3 lanes. However they do seem ride the hell out of the system.

This is a gimmick. 6 cars and 34 miles. Money would be better spent in adding more stations and tracks to the existing nightmare. We are #2 in the nation for ridership based on trips. San Diego is not. Mexico city is not. We don't have the mental makeup or enforcement mentality to pull this off.

At best this will be a shiny new tourist trap that will fleece people into using it. So for that I suppose it isn't the worst idea ever, close but not worst.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Alas that is exactly how the SD trolley started.

It was meant to cater to the tourist trap that is downtown. Then it went to the border. Now it has three lines with a fourth in planning stages. I use it often actually. I guess I have a little more trust on government and lord knows I am a confirmed cynic since multiple city halls are part of my beat.

And trust me, the worst of DC traffic pales to Mexico City, that does have a metro system that works, and works well. Now LA, Naples Italy and NYC (I guess Chicago too) get close to Mexico City traffic.

[MyNameGoesHere]

19. I love the border run

brings back fond memories. Well the disappearing into Mexico for a few days does anyway. Never enjoyed the heading back to America part.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Yeah, but now we have a line that goes to Santee

Another that goes to lemon grove and other east county communities.

They are planning a line to La Jolla, one of these days to the Airport and Balboa Park. Trivia, why the downtown line first? They had some old tracks from the time we had them, and the Right of Way. I am willing to bet that the DC lines has something similar going for it.

Personally a line to the airport almost means I can take the trolley all the way.

Oh and when I have to go downtown, I take the trolley. It beats parking.

[madinmaryland]

12. LOL! We still have an operational overhead cable car system here in Dayton!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Yup, but apparently they rolled out the streets at ten

Unlike DC.

For the record, in 1984 when I got here, they used to.

[Cooley Hurd]

6. Driving around DC is a major PIA. We parked and walked. When our legs gave out...

...we took cabs. I know there are buses, but there's something more... reliable and regular about a streetcar.

[Warpy]

27. They'd have to close some streets in DC for it to work

I've driven in DC and too many of the drivers are blinded by their own importance to the running of the universe to follow any silly old traffic laws.

I considered covering my van in fake brick to see if they'd keep on trying to drive into me if it meant driving into a brick wall. Well, that was impractical, so I settled on the stuff they paint marine buoys with for maximum visibility. That almost worked.

They'd better paint those streetcars in cinderblock trompe l'oeil.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

3. They work in San Francisco, they'll work in DC.

Doesn't Portland have them, too? Drivers just need to get used to them, like they did/are doing with the bike lanes.

Hardly a disaster.

[Lizzie Poppet]

10. Yes, we have them in Portland, too.

The lines run through parts of the city center, on both sides of the Willamette (and they cross over). They're not at all a fast way to get around downtown, but they're convenient and a nice alternative to walking when it's rainy (which, obviously, happens a lot here). I live downtown and I use them fairly frequently. I buy a monthly Tri-Met pass that's good for the streetcars, buses, and the light rail...it's a pretty good deal, given how often I can leave my car at home.

[MyNameGoesHere]

15. HAHA

Well recently bike lanes have been added in DC as well. And now cars, trucks, taxis, motorcycles, and just about everyone uses them except bicyclists who prefer to ride down the middle of the streets. You don't know DC.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

30. You're wrong.

Last edited Sun Dec 15, 2013, 06:28 PM - Edit history (2)

I lived there for nearly 40 years, and still get back a couple of times a year. Properly plan and execute these alternate forms of transportation, enforce the laws... they'll work.

In other words, don't do stupid shit like this driver:

I was in Nuremberg doing what people do, drinking beer, and I parked with about 4 inches of my car in the Strassenbahn lane, blocking the street car. We saw a commotion of Polizei and a traffic jam so we figured something was up. This was about 5 minutes after we had parked. By the time we got to the car, the tow truck was hooked up, and there I was explaining it was a horrible mistake and I would move the car. They let me move the car and fined me on the spot around 700 Marks. They don't mess around with traffic violations. I can still remember taking my drivers test in Germany, 140 or 150 DETAILED questions and you could miss 3. Try knowing the right of way rules for a bicycle, a horse cart and a car at a traffic circle. Holy crap.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4181710

Oh, wait, that's you!

[Laughing Mirror]

24. They worked in DC 100 years ago

Why couldn't they work again?

There were more than 100 miles of streetcar track in DC 100 years ago. They were phased out over the years in favor of buses.

My mother has a picture of my grandfather in his uniform as a motorman on the old Capital Transit streetcar, where he worked in the heyday of DC streetcars back in the 1910s, 20s, and 30s. I remember riding them as a child. The station in my neighborhood Congress Heights closed in the 50s, but the last lines I remember into early 60s were the ones to Rosslyn Circle and out to Glen Echo.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

29. I bet that's a great photo.

And they could work again if properly planned and executed. But someone always comes along and poo-poos alternate modes of transportation... reminds me of Republicans and their pathological hatred of trains.

[MyNameGoesHere]

8. I suppose if the purpose of the street cars is to

whiz tourist around then the comparison to San Diego, San Francisco is good. I wonder if people know that there are more than monuments and cherry trees in DC?

[FarCenter]

9. "Eventually, there will be six cars covering some 34 miles around D.C" !!!!!!!!!!!!

Building 34 miles of track for only 6 streetcars to run on can't be even remotely economical.

The District of Columbia has purchased modern streetcars manufactured by Skoda-Inekon in Plzen of the Czech Republic.

http://dc.about.com/od/transportation/a/DC-Streetcar.htm

[MyNameGoesHere]

11. Metro is 106 miles and is packed

during rush hours. I mean get a stick and push them in packed. If anything needs expanded it's Metro. Not to mention it's been falling apart for years. Looks nice still but you can see the seediness starting to creep in at a fast pace. This is some stupid tourist market they are trying to cater to, it isn't going to relieve the dismal state of public transportation at all.

Now if we are talking a car every 15 minutes and covering the whole city let's do it.

[Laughing Mirror]

25. When the Metro opened in the 70s

we were stunned there was a stop at Arlington Cemetery, and train always made the stop even though nobody ever got on there or got off.

Why put a stop at Arlington Cemetery? Nobody lives there. Do you think such a stop could have been built for tourists in mind?

[Jesus Malverde]

18. Standard oil, General Motors and Goodyear must be pissed!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

[Egalitarian Thug]

21. Not at all, this is DC. They made sure this would be so wasteful, ineffective, and badly run

that it will figure prominently on the future lists of why mass transit is bad.

[Jesus Malverde]

22. .

Sounds like High Speed Rail in california. The first leg spends billions to connect nowhere to nothing.

[Egalitarian Thug]

23. Exactly. Big Business will not be disturbed.

I got pretty depressed as I saw what those parasites did to that project. C'est la vie...

[Kingofalldems]

26. I used to ride the streetcars in DC back in the 50's.

Lots of fun and they made a unique sound as they traveled.

[Chan790]

28. My understanding is that none of the proposed lines run in high-traffic major-streets.

The initial phase is actually entirely in the suburban parts of the city.

They're not intended for tourist travel or for long-distance regional transport but to connect neighborhoods more efficiently in order to spur development along the streetcar lines, ease transportation into parts of the city poorly-or-not-served by transit and ease some pressure off Metro by connecting points inconveniently served by Metro. (such as the long Red-line ride through downtown for people going from Far NE to Far NW) It is in some sense, in the same vein of thought as the DC Circulator buses.

I found this handy map of the long-term proposal for the unified transit system, including the Purple and Silver lines and ten of the initially proposed Streetcar lines, not just the "6" (I count 7 in the studies and reports put out by DDoT) in the initial three stages. (Three stages of development is all that is slated for construction at this point, with expected ridership studies through 2030.)

[jmowreader]

31. In Germany, streetcars have to follow the same rules of the road as autos

You are very correct, though: the only reason streetcars work in the cities that still have them (most of these lines were removed in the 1950s) is that Germans are fastidious about obeying traffic laws.

[MyNameGoesHere]

32. Tell me about it

I was in Nuremberg doing what people do, drinking beer, and I parked with about 4 inches of my car in the Strassenbahn lane, blocking the street car. We saw a commotion of Polizei and a traffic jam so we figured something was up. This was about 5 minutes after we had parked. By the time we got to the car, the tow truck was hooked up, and there I was explaining it was a horrible mistake and I would move the car. They let me move the car and fined me on the spot around 700 Marks. They don't mess around with traffic violations. I can still remember taking my drivers test in Germany, 140 or 150 DETAILED questions and you could miss 3. Try knowing the right of way rules for a bicycle, a horse cart and a car at a traffic circle. Holy crap.

[jmowreader]

33. And you have to be 18 years old to get a driver's license there

18 also happens to be the age you are eligible to enter the police academy, so one of the things you have to be taught there is how to drive. 'Tis a bit unsettling to see a Polizei car running around with "student driver" signs on it.

[MyNameGoesHere]

34. Ha, yeah

but after I got my German license I actually felt like I knew what the hell I was doing. Then I went about tearing up the autobahn at ridicules speeds in my Renault Alpine A610. Loved that car.