Atlanta Streetcar Driver Training Begins Monday

Atlanta Streetcar is weeks away from beginning passenger service along a 2.7-mile route between Auburn Avenue and Centennial Olympic Park, and will begin training its drivers this week.

On Monday and Tuesday, the streetcars will operate between the hours of 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. On Wednesday and Thursday, the electric streetcars will run from 1 to 11 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, the hours of operation will be 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The different times are designed to give streetcar drivers a feel for vehicle and pedestrian traffic during varied hours of the day.

With the streetcars in operation, Atlanta Streetcar has provided some basic safety tips for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists, They include:

• Be alert. The Atlanta Streetcars are electric and quiet. Please stop, look and listen for streetcars before crossing the tracks.
• Bicyclists should use caution when riding near the tracks and should cross at a 90 degree angle.
• Motorists are reminded that vehicles along the streetcar route need to be parked fully within the white lines of the parking spaces, and that double-parking is not allowed. Illegally parked vehicles along the route will be ticketed and/or towed.

Although no official opening date has been set for passenger service, the training schedule on Atlanta Streetcar’s website extends to Nov. 10. If all goes according to plan, passenger service should begin before 2015.