Photo by IamJomo

Photo by IamJomo

Did you plan on riding on the streetcar this year? You should make other plans, because it’s looking like the system’s operation in 2015 is a dream deferred.

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s spokesperson Michael Czin told WAMU today that it’s all about safety, and “pre-revenue operations” (meaning testing that will take 21 days) is slated for the coming weeks. This testing “brings us one step closer to passenger service beginning,” Czin said.

After this final test, D.C. Fire and EMS has to grant final approval to open the line to the public, WAMU reported. But we still don’t know when the testing will begin because the office of Fire Captain Kelton Ellerbe, who will give the go ahead, “continues to grapple with project managers inside the District Department of Transportation over the approval of documentation for the line’s safety systems.”

The prolonged delay shouldn’t really be a surprise, though. In an interview with WAMU a couple months ago, DDOT Director Leif Dormsjo said he wouldn’t commit to the streetcar carrying passengers by the end of the year.

This was after Mayor Muriel Bowser made headlines saying she would ride the long-delayed boondoggle by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, parking fees related to the inactive trolly continue to pile up. According to The Post, officials have “towed more than 300 cars and issued roughly 1,300 tickets at $100 each for streetcar violations.” The project is projected to cost taxpayers around $200 million.

Filed Under: streetcar,