As the Milwaukee Hop sets to take to the rails with passengers this Friday, operators are hoping motorists share the road.
Daryll Simpson, the General Manager for Transdev, the company the operates the streetcars, says, "We've seen a lot of near misses with motorists trying to race around the train using the bike lane as a travel lane."
Simpson launched the streetcar system in Detroit and has seen problems with motorists and streetcars sharing the road before.
Simpson says, "If we just obey the regular traffic laws because the streetcar also has to obey those laws, we're fine. A lot of time we see motorists doing things that are very unsafe."
Operators of the streetcars who have been logging hundreds of hours testing say they have seen drivers not wanting to wait their turn.
"A lot of impatience, there are a lot of drivers that feel like they can beat the streetcar. So they are driving in front of us, switching lanes and turning in front of us. We've had bicyclists holding on to the streetcar," said Nicole Martin.
That's right, people on bikes holding on to the streetcar to hitch a ride.
"A lot of the messenger guys in downtown that like to hold on to the back of the streetcar... I've had it happen to me about three times and last night I saw another one of the streetcars as we were passing each other" said Operator Danielle Hamilton.
Drivers also need to be aware of the solid white lines along the curb line of the road. Vehicles must part inside of those lines or they risk blocking or being hit by a streetcar, an issue reported during the testing phase. Intersections where the streetcar makes turns are controlled by what are called "bar signals." Those signals are dedicated exclusively to the streetcar and makes turning on red illegal for car and truck drivers.
The Milwaukee Hop opens to the public Friday, November 2nd.
