Frustrations Mount With New Doubts About D.C.'s Streetcar Launch

Life along H Street Northeast has taken on a strange repetitiveness for restaurant owner Howard Frampton.

Every 10 minutes or so of every day of every week, a gleaming red and gray streetcar slides past his Jamaican eatery at the corner of H and 6th Streets, its electric whir distinct amid the urban din. It comes to a stop at a newly built platform at the end of the block, rings its bell, waits for the light to change, then continues on.

There is only one thing missing: passengers.

“Hopefully it will start soon, but when? When? When? Everybody keeps asking when. They are doing test runs every five seconds, but when?” an exasperated Frampton asked.

Endless test runs

As D.C.’s new streetcar fleet continues seemingly endless test runs in what is supposed to be the final phase of safety testing along the 2.4-mile corridor of H Street NE and Benning Road NE, the clock is ticking on the District’s pledge to open by the end of the year Washington’s first streetcar system since 1962.

While the District Department of Transportation says it is making progress toward completing the required safety certification — in concert with safety oversight officials within the D.C. Fire and EMS Department — there are new doubts about whether the streetcar will carry its first passengers in 2014. With only three-and-a-half weeks left in the year, it appears increasingly possible that the long delayed streetcar line will enter its third mayoral administration without picking up a single commuter or tourist. Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser will be sworn in Jan. 2.

“There is ambiguity there and if it pushes into the new year, I won't be surprised,” said D.C. Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), the chair of the transportation committee.

The reason DDOT cannot guarantee a 2014 opening is because the agency does not know precisely how much longer it will take to settle disagreements over safety documentation with the State Safety Oversight office (part of D.C. FEMS), the body that ultimately will decide when the $160 million streetcar line is ready.

Once the District completes its documentation, the paperwork will be sent to the Federal Transit Administration. Federal officials have said they will work with DDOT on an expedited schedule to return the documents for final approval by the safety oversight office, not the usual 60-day window.

Safety certification has fallen on an uncertain timeline because this is the District’s first go-round in establishing the process that will be used for future streetcar lines. That is the main reason why DDOT has offered only vague assertions about a grand opening date “by the end of the year.”

What gives?

But the public — especially merchants and residents along H Street — wants answers. WAMU 88.5 requested interviews with both DDOT director Matt Brown and D.C. Fire Captain Kelton Ellerbe, who heads the safety oversight office. DDOT turned down the request. D.C. Fire did not respond to multiple phone calls seeking an interview.

When DDOT director Matt Brown provided an update to WAMU 88.5 in early November, his agency was in the process of obtaining car and body frame certifications from Oregon Iron Works, a subsidiary of United Streetcar, for three of the six streetcars in D.C.’s fleet. The documents should have been obtained weeks, if not months, earlier. Those streetcars also needed to undergo brake testing.

One month later, there is apparently some positive news to report. “Both underway today and this weekend. In progress,” said DDOT spokesman Reggie Sanders in an email sent Friday.

Director Brown did speak to Council member Cheh, a frequent critic of what she calls DDOT’s “ad hoc” approach to building a streetcar line. She did not come away confident the system will be ready in 2014.

“I’ve had concerns all along the way,” said Cheh. “It’s very frustrating. That’s all I can say. I have been in touch with the director and he says aiming at the end of the year might still work.”

“He said to me that there is a path to be able to open by the end of the year, but when someone tells me there is a path, that also tells me there are other paths. So I’m at the point where I will believe it when I see it,” Cheh added.

Businesses, residents fed up along H Street

Howard Frampton said his business is getting clobbered by the disruptions caused by the streetcar testing and related construction on H Street.

“It cut my business in half,” he sighed.

Frampton lost all the parking in front and along the side of Taste of Jamaica. The spaces out front were eliminated by a new bus stop moved to his block because of the ongoing construction of a Whole Foods at the opposite corner of 6th and H. The development is the result of the corridor’s accelerating, streetcar-fueled gentrification.

The parking spaces along the side of his restaurant on 6th Street were gobbled up by a new loading zone. Delivery trucks must now use such side streets to avoid blocking the streetcar tracks in front of businesses on H Street.

Frampton said he would not mind the loss of parking if the streetcars that are stopping every few minutes dropped off people.

“Everything changed,” Frampton said. “Right now it is messing me up on both ends.”

His frustrations are echoed all along the corridor. At a pet store a couple doors down, a clerk, who asked not to be identified by name, said the changes brought by the still empty streetcars are causing a disruption.

“At night it is a big inconvenience because a lot of people are getting off from work, there is a lot of traffic out here, and people don’t know where to park, so I am assuming a lot of people just pass by and don't come in, or go to our other location, because they can't park out here anymore,” the clerk said.

Dean Hayes, a long time neighborhood resident, said he would like more information from public officials about when the streetcar will open.

“I’m a dog walker up and down the street, and I’ve seen the streetcars break down four or five times where they couldn't even make it to end of the street,” Hayes said. “They had to get a tow truck to come and the lanes shut down.”

Better cooperation with Metro buses

Before the streetcars arrived, H Street Northeast already was one of the busiest regional bus routes in Metro’s system. Since test runs began, the streetcars and Metro’s X2 buses have had a strained relationship; both modes use the same lane to drop off and pick up passengers.

The two agencies are cooperating better recently, according to Metro.

“DDOT, under Mr. Brown's direction, has opened up a constructive dialogue that includes development of operating protocols, as well as coordination with our operations and training departments,” said Metro spokesman Dan Stessel.

“For example, Metro staff is will get access to film training videos for bus operators aboard the streetcar. DDOT has also agreed to consider engineering solutions for curb "bump-outs" that would facilitate bus boarding and alighting and improve operations for bus riders.”