After more than a decade of planning, construction and testing, Mayor Muriel Bowser and District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Director Leif A. Dormsjo announced that the DC Streetcar will open for full passenger service on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 10 am, following a brief ceremony.
“I’m proud to announce that Streetcar is ready for passenger service,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser. “I want to thank the residents of the H Street and Benning Road communities for their patience during the construction and testing of the system. As a way of saying ‘thank you,’ fares will be free on the system for an initial period of time.”
The opening ceremony took place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 27 on 13th Street, NE between H Street, NE and Wylie Street, NE (intersection of 13th/H). Members of the public were invited to attend the ceremony.
The DC Streetcar standard hours of operation will be:
Monday-Thursday: 6 am – 12 am
Friday: 6 am – 2 am
Saturday: 8 am – 2 am
Holidays: 8 am – 10 pm
No Sunday service
Early in the Bowser Administration, DDOT contracted with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the streetcar program. The review found that while the system had numerous issues, there were “no fatal flaws,” and the streetcar system could move forward once the issues were addressed. Leif Dormsjo, the Director of DDOT, assembled a team of consultants and managers to fix the outstanding issues and get Streetcar up and running.
“Mayor Bowser charged my team with taking a failed Streetcar program and making it work for District residents. After years of overspending, mismanagement and lack of direction, we made it happen,” said Dormsjo.
H Street/ Benning Road Line is the first segment of the DC Streetcar system. The Mayor has committed to expanding the line current line east and west.
