00625616

Component

http://onlinepubs.trb.org...trr/1992/1361/1361-046.pdf

https://scholar.google.co...nson&publication_year=1992

The Seattle Waterfront Streetcar currently operates along a 2-mi (3.2-km) route through the city's central waterfront and Pioneer Square historical district. The Waterfront Streetcar uses a former freight line of standard-gauge track running north-south along the central waterfront and then proceeding east-west on new rail to Seattle's International District, where it links with the southern portal of the city's new downtown transit tunnel. Development of the initial 1.6-mi (2.6-km) leg of the system cost $3.6 million. A 0.4-mi (640-m) extension in 1990 required new track and special engineering at a cost of $6.5 million. The system operates five double-ended Melbourne Class W-2 streetcars dating from 1924 with up to three cars running at one time. The cars are electrically powered through overhead lines, and each can carry a total of 93 seated and standing passengers. The initial leg of the system entered operation in May 1982 and was extended in 1990 as part of a comprehensive downtown Seattle transit project. In 1991 the system recorded a ridership of 174,000 fares (during 6 months of operation) and generated revenues of $130,000 against operating costs of $863,000. Conceived in 1974 as an easily implemented tourist amenity, the system's development quickly encountered a series of political, regulatory, financial, and technical obstacles. Among these were obtaining permissions for use of a former freight line from multiple owners and contract users; locating suitable rolling stock; upgrading the route; soliciting financial participation from local taxpayers; and overcoming the skepticism of local and federal transportation planners. Although ridership has declined from a peak of 278,000 fares in 1983, the system is deemed a success. Use of the streetcar has suffered to a degree from the failure of the new downtown transportation system to reach planned operating capacity. Market research shows that streetcar use would benefit from active and sustained promotion. Developing vintage rail systems is probably never as easy as it seems at first blush, but the results can provide an attractive visitors' amenity and useful component in a comprehensive transit circulation system.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1361, Light Rail Transit: Planning, Design, and Operating Experience (Papers presented at the Sixth National Conference on Light Rail Transit, held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, May 24-27, 1992). Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved

01405036

English

p. 330-336

1992

Transportation Research Record

0309054001

Figures (2) ; Photos (3) ; Tables (2)

Bus transit; Costs; Light rail transit; Market research; Operating costs; Revenues; Ridership; Systems analysis; Tourists; Trolleybuses

Seattle (Washington)

Seattle (Washington)

Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation

TRIS, TRB

Dec 22 1993 12:00AM