The Streetcar is Back

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell's solution to revitalizing downtown includes reviving the City Center Connector streetcar ($). Where the pitch for the line was once purely transit-based, its new title as a Culture Connector' bestows a loftier purpose of injecting life into a part of town lacking it in recent years."

The article says transit advocates still want it to move forward" but that's inaccurate. Transit advocates are divided, including on this blog. Some editors want the City Center Connector to move forward, while others like myself want the city to focus on other transit priorities instead.

The article calls it a third line" but I'm not sure the operational plan is changing. The original plan had two lines overlapping on First Avenue: Lake Union Park to Chinatown/International District, and Westlake to First Hill.

Jarrett Walker, international transit consultant, says in the article, Cities must look seriously at what they're hoping to accomplish with a streetcar and whether that's more valuable than a bus."

I'll leave it at that for now.