Sometime in the next few weeks — or months, since the District government now refuses to offer a hard start date and has recently suffered a technical setback — the H Street Corridor Streetcar will begin its regular service of congesting traffic and slowing existing bus routes.

City officials dream of an extensive streetcar network eventually linking transit-poor neighborhoods into D.C.’s fairly impressive public transportation infrastructure. Unfortunately, the streetcar is a legacy technology, far more costly to implement than equivalent bus service. The likely failure of this line will be a black eye for transit advocates, in yet another setback for thoughtful public investment in transit.

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