South Lake Union Streetcar

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South Lake Union Streetcar
South Lake Union Streetcar before inauguration at the maintenance facility
Info
Type Streetcar
Status Active
Terminals South Lake Union, Seattle, Washington
Westlake Center, Downtown Seattle
No. of stations 11
Operation
Opened December 12, 2007
Owner City of Seattle
Operator(s) King County Metro (Route #98)
Character At grade
Technical
Line length 1.3-mile (2.1 km)
Gauge Standard gauge (1,435 mm)
Electrification Overhead lines
#98 South Lake Union Streetcar
Stop name
uKBFa
Fairview Ave. N. & Ward St.
uHST
Lake Union Park
uSTRrg uSTRl uABZrf
uHST uSTRu
S Westlake Ave. N. & Mercer Street
uSTRd uHST
N Terry Ave. N. & Mercer Street
uHST uSTRu
S Westlake Ave. N. & Thomas Street
uSTRd uHST
N Terry Ave. N. & Thomas Street
uHST uSTRu
S Westlake Ave. & 9th Ave.
uSTRd uHST
N Westlake Ave. & Denny Way
uHST uSTRu
S Westlake Ave. & 7th Ave.
uSTRd uHST
N Westlake Ave. & 7th Ave.
uSTRlf uSTRr uABZlg
uKBFe
Westlake Hub
Notes:
N Northbound stop
S Southbound stop

The South Lake Union Streetcar, or South Lake Union Trolley (jokingly referred to as the S.L.U.T. by local residents), is a 1.3-mile (2.1 km) streetcar line connecting the South Lake Union neighborhood to Downtown Seattle. Construction on the line began in summer 2006, with service beginning at 12:12 PM PST on December 12, 2007.

The line was originally envisioned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to help improve the South Lake Union neighborhood that his venture capital company, Vulcan Inc., is heavily invested in.[1] Allen's main supporter from the beginning was Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, but he was not universally supported by the Seattle City Council, which was concerned about the lack of public support for the line and questioned if it should be moved ahead of Seattle's other transportation needs.[2]

After heavy lobbying by South Lake Union businesses, including Vulcan, the Seattle City Council approved the development of the neighborhood into a biotechnology and bio-medical research center. Included in that plan was funding to investigate a 2.6-mile (4.2 km), US$45 million streetcar line.

The line was approved in 2005 at a cost of $50.5 million, with $25 million paid by property owners along the streetcar's route and the remainder paid by federal, state, and local funds.[3]

The city is currently considering if the streetcar line would be the first of other streetcar lines that will serve the core Seattle area.[4] Among the proposals are to extend the South Lake Union Streetcar to the University of Washington and connect it to the currently mothballed Waterfront Streetcar.[5]

Local residents claim that during construction it was originally known as the South Lake Union Trolley, which abbreviates to S.L.U.T. Reportedly "the trolley name S.L.U.T. has caught on". While there is no evidence that this name was ever used as an official name, it's popularity has caused it to become an unofficial one.[6]

During its inaugural period, December 12, 2007 to December 31, the streetcar was free to ride. The fare was then increased to US$1.50. When the streetcar was free to ride ridership was 78,325, but once a fare was charged, ridership dropped to 12,369 for the first half of January. According to Seattle's Department of Transportation this drop in ridership was expected and the streetcar is meeting the city's predicted ridership of 950 per day, which is only 7.5% of the system's capacity of around 12,600 per day.[7]

The streetcar has been involved in multiple minor collisions with motor vehicles and experienced several service stoppages.[8][9]

Contents

[edit] Equipment

3 Inekon 12 Trio 3-segment articulated streetcars, one red, one purple, and another orange.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Todd Bishop. "Allen envisions streetcars serving South Lake Union", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2002-06-14. Retrieved on 2007-03-03. 
  2. ^ Neil Modie. "Lake Union streetcar plan has council skeptics", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2003-01-25. Retrieved on 2007-03-05. 
  3. ^ Kathy Mulady. "South Lake Union streetcar cost shocks neighbors", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2005-10-05. Retrieved on 2007-03-03. 
  4. ^ Lange, Larry. "How many streetcars do we desire?", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 7, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-10. 
  5. ^ SDOT: Seattle's Streetcar Network
  6. ^ Kery Murakami (2007-09-18). SLUT -- Streetcar's unfortunate acronym seems here to stay. Seattle Post-Intelligencer\. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
  7. ^ Aimee Curl. "Won't You Ride the S.L.U.T?", Seattle Weekly, 2008-01-23. Retrieved on 2008-01-25. 
  8. ^ Seattle Times Staff. "Streetcar hits SUV that ran red light", The Seattle Times Company, 2007-12-19. Retrieved on 2008-04-02. 
  9. ^ Seattle Times Staff. "South Lake Union accident takes red streetcar out of service", The Seattle Times Company, 2008-04-02. Retrieved on 2008-04-02. 

[edit] See also

List of town tramway systems in North America

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Mass transit in the Puget Sound area
Transit agencies
Light rail
Tacoma Link • South Lake Union Streetcar • Central Link • University Link • Link Light Rail • North Link • South Link • East Link • Waterfront Streetcar
Bus rapid transit
Commuter rail
Monorail
Other
Italics denote proposed or under construction lines
v • d • e
Currently operating light rail and streetcar systems in the United States
MO
/ IL
South Lake Union Streetcar · Tacoma Link