Washington’s lone streetcar is ending service Tuesday after a decade of low ridership and high costs.
The 2.2-mile line northeast of the Capitol opened to much fanfare in 2016, but its roughly $10 million annual cost and deviation from best transit practices led to its ultimate failure. While the streetcar encouraged development along its route early on, its failure to significantly improve transportation over its lifetime is an experience cities nationwide should learn from, transit experts said.
“There are many flaws that made this particular streetcar investment far less effective than it could’ve been,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of ...