Seattle Tram

Seattle Streetcar
Route map
Basic information
Country	United States of America
city	Seattle , WA
opening	December 12, 2007
operator	King County Metro
Infrastructure
Route length	6.1 km
Gauge	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system	750 V = overhead line
Operating mode	Bidirectional operation
Stops	7th
Depots	1
business
Lines	2
Line length	6.1 km
Clock in the peak hours	10 - 15 min
Clock in the SVZ	12 - 18 min
vehicles	Inekon 12-Trio: 3rd

Inekon 12-Trio in the terminus Pacific Place

The tram Seattle ( Seattle Streetcar ) used in its present form the skid trails of urban development area in South Lake Union and is an urban transport of the city of Seattle to be developed (as of February 2015). A second line, the First Hill Streetcar Line, has been in use since January 2016 .

history

First tram system from 1884 to 1941

After the horse-drawn tram in 1884, due to the hilly topography of Seattle, cable cars were initially built as motorized public transport from 1887. The first electric trams ran in 1889 and quickly replaced horse-drawn trams. In 1892 the track length of the electric trams was already 77 km, that of the cable cars 35 km.

From 1898, the 22 independent companies were bought up by the Seattle Electric Railway Company - a subsidiary of Stone & Webster . The Seattle Electric Railway received a 35-year operating license from the City of Seattle in 1900. Overland routes (Interurbans) to Tacoma (1902) and Everett (1910) were subsequently created . Due to capped fares, multiple strikes and increasing competition from road traffic, the Seattle Electric Railway ran into financial difficulties. The city of Seattle, which had operated its own tram lines since 1914, took over - ratified by plebiscite - in 1918 for 15 million dollars. The purchase price was financed through a loan with which the newly created Municipal Street Railway was charged. The resulting financial burdens led to permanently inadequate maintenance of the system.

In 1936, the Municipal Street Railway operated on a track length of 372 km with 410 vehicles 26 electrical lines and 3 cable cars. As the company continued to make losses and was also burdened with part of the purchase credit, the city of Seattle looked for a way out of the financial dilemma. This was in the form of a federal loan of 10 million dollars, which the city received in May 1939 to pay off the remaining debts of the Municipal Street Railway and to convert the tram network to trolleybus and bus operations with the remaining funds. The cable cars were then closed in 1940, the last electric tram of the first system ran on April 13, 1941.

Waterfront Streetcar 1982 to 2005

Waterfront Streetcar 1982-2005

Based on a project idea from 1974, a tourist-oriented 2.6 km long tram line north of the city center on the coast to Elliott Bay was opened on May 29, 1982 under the name Waterfront Streetcar . To connect the line to the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel , it was expanded to 3.2 km in 1990. On the line from five were Melbourne acquired W2 vehicles built between 1925-1930 used. With the abandonment of the depot, which was located on the area of ​​the newly built Olympic Sculpture Park , the line was stopped on November 18, 2005.

Modern tram system from 2007

Following the example of Portland , which was the first major American city to reintroduce a modern tram system, plans began in 2002 in Seattle to use new trams for the revitalization of urban districts. The first quarter to be named South Lake Union , which went through an urban development process from the 1990s onwards.

South Lake Union Streetcar

route

Tram at the final stop, Fairview and Campus Drive

The South Lake Union Streetcar line, 1.3 miles long, is owned by the City of Seattle and operated by King County Metro . It runs from the Westlake junction ( Pacific Place stop ), where the light rail, monorail , tram and various bus routes meet, northwards into the South Lake Union district, flush with the street, and ends at the Fairview and Campus Drive stop at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center . Part of the route leads through two parallel streets. The Harrison Street depot is reached via a short branch line.

The planned costs of 47.5 million dollars increased to 56.4 million dollars by the time the entire project was completed.

business

The South Lake Union Line operates every 15 minutes from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Friday and Saturday until 11:00 p.m., Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.). With the help of sponsors, the cycle is reduced to 10 minutes during the afternoon rush hour, Monday through Friday. (Status: February 2015)

Three Trio-12 vehicles from the Czech manufacturer Inekon were purchased for operation. The 20.13 m long and 2.46 m wide three-part vehicles have a floating low-floor middle section between the bogies and have 27 seats and 113 standing places.

The South Lake Union Streetcar has its own tariff system at a price of $ 2.25 per trip (reduced $ 1.00, $ 1.50 for children and young people aged 6 to 17) . However, the streetcar is also integrated into the ORCA system of the Seattle metropolitan area and recognizes transitions from or to the light rail system and the bus routes operated by King County Metro. (As of March 2015)

Traffic performance

year	Car kilometers in thousands	Passengers in thousand	Passenger-kilometers in thousands
2008	91.1	413.3	608.7
2009	96.8	451.2	667.2
2010	96.5	520.9	758.9
2011	99.3	714.4	1,016.5
2012	100.6	750.9	1,046.1
2013	101.8	760.9	1,051.7

With an average of 2,500 daily passengers (as of: 3rd quarter of 2014), the traffic performance of the South Lake Union Line is significantly below the transport figures for new European tram lines, despite steadily increasing use.

First Hill Streetcar

Car 403 on Yesler Way, towards Capitol Hill (2016)

Since January 23, 2016 there has been a second tram line in the city. This is a total of 4.0 km long and has 10 stops in each direction. The tram takes 18 minutes to complete the route.

The line connects Pioneer Square and Chinatown (connection to the Link Light Rail ) with First Hill and Capitol Hill, where there has been a connection to the light rail since March 19, 2016. In addition, the is Seattle University directly to that line.

At rush hour there is a train every ten minutes, otherwise every twelve to 18 minutes. One reckons with 3,000 to 3,500 passengers a day.

Future development

In Seattle there are plans to develop the tram into a comprehensive inner-city mode of transport. A northern extension of the First Hill Streetcar line by two stops to Roy Street is currently planned.

In the political discussion, however, there is strong criticism of the cost-benefit ratio of the South Lake Union line and the further construction of the tram.

Web links

Commons : Streetcars in Seattle  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Seattle Streetcar Official Site

Individual evidence

1. ^ Seattletimes.com, Seattle's streetcar history, December 11, 2007. Retrieved November 9, 2014
2. ↑ www.historylink.org, Walt Crowley, Street Railways in Seattle ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 9, 2014 
3. ↑ www.seattlepi.com, Todd Bishop, Allen envisions streetcars serving South Lake Union, June 13, 2002, accessed November 10, 2014
4. ↑ seattletimes.com, Danny Westneat, Streetcar ridership, revenue still off track, October 10, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2014
5. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 11, 2014 
6. ↑ National Transit Database ( Memento of the original dated February 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 9, 2014. 
7. ^ APTA, Ridership Report Third Quarter 2014, December 10, 2014, accessed February 22, 2015
8. ↑ http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/seattles-first-hill-streetcar-to-open-saturday-with-free-rides/ (English), from January 22, 2016; accessed on March 1, 2016
9. ↑ Danny Westneat: Streetcar ridership, revenue shut off track . October 11, 2014. Accessed January 31, 2019.