Friday Video: RIP, The D.C. Streetcar
Advocates are mourning the loss of the D.C. streetcar ... but they'e not entirely sad to see it die.
By
Streetsblog
12:02 AM EDT on April 10, 2026
The streetcars stopped running in our nation’s capital just over a week ago, after barely a decade in service. But it’s not too early for a post-mortem report on one of America’s most fraught transit projects … and maybe a victory lap?
Check out this deep dive from Cities of Lions, which offers the most thorough recap we’ve seen of Washington, D.C’s doomed attempt to add a whole new mode of transit — and why even some urbanists say it wasn’t worth saving. It’s a well-researched object lesson from the Obama era of streetcar build-outs, with some fun jokes and Futurama clips thrown in for good measure.
Stay tuned for lion masks, Godfather memes, and a Tears for Fears ukulele cover (oh my!) Watch it below or on YouTube.
This story is the work of the Streetsblog staff.
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