South Lake Union Streetcar
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- The acronym SLUT (written in capital letters) redirects here. For other uses, see Slut (disambiguation).
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The South Lake Union Streetcar (colloquially the South Lake Union Trolley or S.L.U.T) is a 1.3-mile (2.1 km) streetcar line connecting the South Lake Union neighborhood to Downtown Seattle, United States. Service began on December 12, 2007.
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[edit] History
The line was originally envisioned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to help improve the South Lake Union neighborhood, in which his venture capital company, Vulcan Inc., is heavily invested.[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 majority of property owners along the alignment supported the project, despite being asked to pay increased taxes to fund its construction. Only 12 of 750 affected property owners formally objected to the proposed "Local Improvement District" tax.[4] The project was modeled after the Portland Streetcar, a similar modern-streetcar system that had opened in Portland, Oregon, in 2001.[5] Construction began in July 2006.[5]
Service was inaugurated on December 12, 2007, and all rides were free until the end of the month.[6] Streetcars run every fifteen minutes, seven days a week. The line uses three Inekon 12-Trio three-section articulated streetcars: one red, one purple, and another orange.
The system is owned by the City of Seattle, but currently is operated by King County Metro (Metro Transit) under a contract with the city government.[7]
Local residents claim that during construction it was originally known as the South Lake Union Trolley, which abbreviates to S.L.U.T. While there is no evidence that this name was ever used as an official name, the acronym's popularity has caused it to become an unofficial one.[8]
The streetcar was involved in minor collisions with motor vehicles and experienced several service stoppages when it first began service.[9][10][11]
[edit] Ridership
After an initial free ride period, the city predicted 950 riders per day, or only 7.5% of the system's capacity of about 12,600 per day.[12] On its one year anniversary, the city announced that 507,000 people had ridden the streetcar,[13] or 428,675 after the free ride period. That is 1,283 per day and 10.2% of capacity.
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, was later increased to $1.75, and is $2.00 per trip as of June 2009[14]. 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. The streetcar was again free to ride in the latter half of December 2008.
[edit] Stops
[edit] Proposed network
On December 8, 2008 the Seattle city council voted in support of creating a larger multi-line Seattle streetcar network of which the South Lake Union Streetcar would be a part, though no funding was approved. Possible construction would include extensions of the South Lake Union line to the Fremont and Ballard neighborhoods, and to the University of Washington, and a central line from Seattle Center to the Central District via downtown. The First Hill Streetcar line to the First Hill and Capitol Hill neighborhoods was approved and funded as part of the Sound Transit Proposition 1 package approved in November 2008.[15]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Todd Bishop (2002-06-14). "Allen envisions streetcars serving South Lake Union". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/74602_vulcan14.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
- ^ Neil Modie (2003-01-25). "Lake Union streetcar plan has council skeptics". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/105841_streetcar25.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-03-05.
- ^ Kathy Mulady (2005-10-05). "South Lake Union streetcar cost shocks neighbors". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/243439_streetcar05.html. Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
- ^ George Howland, Jr. (January 18, 2006). "Vulcan's Inside Track". Seattle Weekly. http://www.seattleweekly.com/2006-01-18/news/vulcan-s-inside-track/. Retrieved on 2009-06-10.
- ^ a b Mike Lindblom (2006-07-06). "Seattle breaking ground today for South Lake Union streetcar". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003110164_streetcar07m.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-10.
- ^ Seattle Times Staff (December 12, 2007). "Streetcar starts service". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004067638_webstreetcar12m.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-10.
- ^ "About the Division (section: 2007 in review)". King County Metro Transit. http://www.metrokc.gov/kcdot/news/myr/myr2008metro.htm. Retrieved on 2009-06-10.
- ^ Kery Murakami (2007-09-18). "SLUT -- Streetcar's unfortunate acronym seems here to stay". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332081_slut18.html. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
- ^ Seattle Times Staff (2007-12-19). "Streetcar hits SUV that ran red light". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004082238_webstreetcar19m.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
- ^ Seattle Times Staff (2008-04-02). "South Lake Union accident takes red streetcar out of service". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004323202_webstreetcar02m.html?syndication=rss. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
- ^ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008072157_race25m0.html
- ^ Aimee Curl (January 23, 2008). "Won't You Ride the S.L.U.T?". Seattle Weekly. http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-01-23/news/won-t-you-ride-the-s-l-u-t.php. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ^ Office of the Mayor (December 10, 2008). Seattle streetcar: Half million riders and counting…. Press release. http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsdetail.asp?ID=9117&dept=40. Retrieved on 2009-06-10.
- ^ http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/about/
- ^ Heffter, Emily (December 9, 2008). "Seattle council supports streetcar expansion". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008484982_streetcar09m.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-09.
[edit] External links
- Seattle Streetcar, official site
- Build the Streetcar
- Seattle Streetcar Alliance
- Inekon Trio, official site
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