In a recent meeting with several Sierra Club transit activists, Gabe Klein, new Director of the District Department of Transportation, said that he wants to bring the three streetcars owned by the District government to Washington to show them off even before the streetcar tracks are in place.  He suggested they might put them on display at Union Station where they could be visible to the public as a way to get D.C. residents excited about streetcars before they actually go into service.  D.C.’s streetcars have remained in Ostrava, Czech Republic, were they were manufactured by Inekon Trams Company.

In another development, a Sierra Club volunteer recently found on the Internet and obtained permission for us to post photos of D.C.’s streetcars in the Czech Republic.

Photo of D.C. streetcar in Ostrava, Czech Republic (taken by Michal Rusek, a Czech transit enthusiast, and available on his website).

Photo of D.C. streetcar on a test track in Ostrava, Czech Republic (taken by Michal Rusek and available on his website).

Up until these photos surfaced recently, the only known photo of a D.C. streetcar appeared on DDOT’s website.

DDOT promotional photo of a D.C. streetcar in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

In the process of searching further, the following photo of what appears to be one of D.C.’s streetcars during manufacturing appears on Inekon’s website (although the photo file name indicates this is a Seattle streetcar, the tell-tale D.C. paint scheme seems to indicate otherwise).

The Atlas Performing Arts Center has joined the H Street-Benning Road Streetcar Alliance, a coalition of community groups, environmental organizations, businesses and other organizations that support the streetcar line planned for H Street and Benning Road NE.  The Atlas, a community-based performing arts center with four theatres, three dance studios and rehearsal space, is located in a historic movie theatre complex on H Street.  It serves as home to a diverse group of resident arts organizations, including theatre and dance companies, symphony orchestras, choral groups and arts education programs.

Even prior to formally joining the streetcar alliance, The Atlas Peforming Arts Center has been supportive by donating meeting space to the alliance for its meetings.  The most recent meeting with Councilmember Wells was attended by several Atlas staff, including Executive Director Patrick Stewart, who has worked hard to bring better transportation options, including a new shuttle, to the H Street corridor as a temporary measure while the community awaits the streetcar line.

Speaking before the H Street-Benning Road Streetcar Alliance on Monday night, Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), a leading advocate for the H Street streetcar line, updated members of the community on the streetcar project.  He began his remarks by telling the audience that streetcars are a “transformative investment” for communities and one that he believes will be important for the H Street corridor.  As part of the Great Streets Initiative streetscape project that is underway, the H Street-Benning Road corridor’s streetscape will be completely redesigned and rebuilt, incorporating streetcar tracks, over the next 2-3 years, but the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) must resolve a number of additional issues before the streetcar line can begin operating there.  One of the key issues that remains to be answered by the city is how the streetcars will be powered — by overhead wires, an underground power source or possibly batteries.

Councilmember Wells described his travels in Switzerland where he investigated their transit systems.  He highlighted Basel, Switzerland, an old city dating to Roman times – calling it one of the most beautiful cities he has ever seen — where the city has chosen streetcars (also called trams) over buses, and they power their streetcar network using overhead wires (as do the vast majority of cities with streetcars around the world).  Wells urged those who are skeptical about using overhead wires in D.C. to look at streetcar systems in other cities that use minimal overhead wires.  He allowed that the city government could put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking proposals to power D.C.’s future streetcars without using overhead wires to see what options may exist and how much more they would cost.  However regardless of which of these options is selected, Wells stated unequivocally “I support electrified mass transit” because it is better for the environment than buses and cars. 

DC for Democracy (DC4D), an all-volunteer grassroots community of over 400 members who work for progressive change both nationally and locally, is the latest organization to sign on as a supporter and member organization of the H Street-Benning Road Streetcar Alliance. DC for Democracy’s support for improved mass transit service and community-based economic development in the H Street-Benning Road corridor is part of the group’s “Sustainable DC” campaign. The local group is the Democracy for America (DFA) affiliate in the District of Columbia.