Photo courtesy DDOT.

Michael Neibauer has some exciting news for those anxiously awaiting the operation of streetcars along H Street NE: the city has taken the first step towards procuring a private operator for the vehicles.

Here are the basic details: the District Department of Transportation released a request for information (PDF) on February 23. Based on the responses DDOT receives back from that request, they will craft a request for proposals and release it sometime in the next few months. According to Neibauer, we should know who will be running the District’s new streetcars by August. DDOT is apparently looking for an initial five-year commitment.

Who ever eventually ends up winning that contract will be in charge of operating a total of six streetcars, both wired and unwired, along the two-mile stretch of H Street beginning (hopefully) in 2012.