<p><span>It only seems like Washington, D.C., has been building the&nbsp;</span><span>H Street and Benning Road streetcar</span><span>&nbsp;line since the Dutch owned Manhattan. During its development over the&nbsp;</span>past decade<span>, this project has suffered&nbsp;</span>numerous false starts<span>, not to mention a handful of&nbsp;</span>collisions with cars<span>&nbsp;during test runs. </span></p>
<p><span>The latest word has service beginning in&nbsp;</span>early 2016<span>&nbsp;following pre-revenue operations. At this point you have to wonder whether the poorly conceived line&mdash;the streetcars not only run in mixed traffic but adjacent to on-street parking&mdash;is still worth the trouble. After all, the economic benefits it was supposed to deliver to H Street&nbsp;</span>have already arrived<span>.</span></p>
<p><span><span>A far more critical project from the perspective of urban mobility is the opening of the second segment of the&nbsp;</span><span>Expo light rail line in Los Angeles</span><span>. Phase II, which extends the route from downtown to Santa Monica at a cost of&nbsp;</span>$1.5 billion<span>, is about to enter&nbsp;</span>final testing<span>, with an expected service launch in spring 2016. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>All told the Expo is expected to carry some&nbsp;</span>64,000<span>&nbsp;daily riders by 2030, following the city&rsquo;s general timeline for giving residents a network of reasonable non-car travel options&nbsp;</span>by 2035<span>. The Expo line might not have done much for&nbsp;</span>traffic on I-10<span>&nbsp;so far&mdash;thank you,&nbsp;</span>induced demand<span>&mdash;but there&rsquo;s evidence that it has indeed&nbsp;</span>reduced car-reliance<span>&nbsp;along the corridor.</span></span></p>