These questions are inspired by a good Washington Post story on how D.C. transportation chief Leif Dormsjo, appointed by Muriel Bowser who took office as mayor Jan. 19, is re-evaluating the trolley project. Former Mayor Vincent Gray, who was defeated by Bowser in the 2014 Democratic primary, was hoping to get the trolley running before leaving office, but a series of accident and a fire that mysteriously broke out on the roof of a trolley car delayed the opening. Some $200 million has already been spent on the project, and there will be no way to recover it if the project is halted; but in that case the District will presumably save $2,800 million.
With the exception of one word, Dormsjo’s approach seems to me to make sense: “We’re not planning for failure,” he told Post reporter Mike Laris. “I’m trying to prudently and responsibly prepare the service to be started. But if I can’t get to that point, I’m not going to be enchanted by some philosophy of transit that leads me to do something that doesn’t make sense. There’s been a lot of investment in this thing. It’s not a good outcome for that to be squandered. But at the end of the day, it has to work, it has to be safe, it has to have utility.” The one word I would point to is”transit.”Like most urban trolley projects, this one makes no sense as a transportation mode: It would cost an enormous amount and serve only a few people. Trolleys are not really transportation, they are amenities, aesthetically pleasing (to some people) evocations of the urban past, like old-fashioned lamp posts. The difference is that they’re much more expensive and in this case possibly dangerous, as the Post story indicates. Moreover, trolley routes can’t easily or inexpensively be adjusted, as bus routes can, when traffic patterns change. But buses are so much less romantic than trolley cars.
My suggestion: Drop the trolley line, write off the $200 million and install some nifty-looking retro street lamp posts along H Street and Benning Road. Put the $2,800 million into something useful, like speedier repair and/or replacement of non-functioning Metro escalators, filling in the potholes that are pocking D.C. streets after the recent snowstorms, etc. Or send some of it back to taxpayers (including — disclosure — me).
