Replacing the South Lake Union Streetcar

The SLU Streetcar rolls toward Westlake, sharing stops with RapidRide C and Route 40. Photo by SDOT.

It's quite common in Seattle to see bikes and transit compete for the same limited street space. Once in a while though, we have the opportunity to improve both transit and cycling at the same time. This is one of those times.

South Lake Union Streetcar

The South Lake Union Streetcar opened in 2007. Unlike most modern streetcars, it was not built because of increased transit demand along the corridor; it was meant to help redevelop the neighborhood. Local historians can argue whether it was key to the neighborhood being redeveloped or largely irrelevant. It is hard to argue that it matters much now as it carries about 500 people a day. It is owned by the City of Seattle but operated by King County Metro, and recently it was out of commission for a few weeks. Rather than run substitute service, Metro did nothing. This is telling - the streetcar contributes so little to transit mobility that neither the City nor Metro thought it was necessary to provide a substitute. We can do better.

Transit Replacement

The South Lake Union Streetcar provides service in South Lake Union that is is quite similar to the 40 and RapidRide C. It shares several stops, which means that riders simply wait for the first vehicle to arrive. The effective frequency for those stops is better as a result. But there are several streetcar stops that are quite close to bus stops, but not identical. This is bad. Effective frequency is much worse while riders have to walk just about as far to a stop.

The obvious replacement for the streetcar is the RapidRide H. The C and H would then share all of the stops from Alaskan Way & Jackson to Fairview & Valley. With both buses running every ten minutes in the middle of the day, that could mean buses running every five minutes (more or less) along a fairly lengthy corridor. Riders from Westwood Village would have two ways to reach South Lake Union. Riders along Delridge would benefit from having more one-seat rides. Unlike other RapidRide extensions, the cost would be minimal since the Rapid Ride stations" (with ORCA readers) are already there. You would probably save a little bit in terms of operations (the distances are similar but it is more expensive to operate the streetcar). From a transit standpoint, this would be a huge improvement - at no additional cost - even before we improved the right-of-way situation.

Biking (and Transit) Improvement

But there is another aspect to this that is easy to overlook. As part of the RapidRide J project, the Eastlake Corridor - an essential corridor for cyclists - will be getting a major upgrade. Along Eastlake Avenue there will be bike lanes on both sides of the street. But at Fairview the bike path changes - there will be a bidirectional protected set of bike lanes (on the side closer to the lake) along Fairview Avenue all the way to Valley Street. But at that point, the bike path changes again. Rather then continue to hug the shore, cyclists are expected to cross the streetcar tracks and work their way over to the bike lanes on Valley Street. This is less than ideal from a cycling standpoint and it means that the RapidRide C (which carries about twenty times as many riders as the streetcar) is left without any right-of-way on Valley Street.

If the streetcar is removed, the tracks can be removed or paved over. That way the two-way bike lanes can continue around the southern part of the lake and connect to the bike lanes on Westlake. Thus riders of all ages would have a safe and straightforward way around the lake. With the new bike lanes closer to the lake, the bike lanes on Valley Street could be removed. Bus and BAT lanes could be added here, greatly speeding up the C and H. This is a rare win-win" for transit and cycling.

This would not be the only area made safer (and faster) for cyclists. With the streetcar gone from Terry Avenue this would become a great corridor for cycling north-south through South Lake Union. It is well suited for this. Terry is a minor street. Cars are not allowed to cross Denny Way on Terry although pedestrians can. Cyclists can as well, although the crossing could be made better without spending much money. Once across Denny, Terry is again well suited for bike lanes and bike travel in general. It is a relatively flat street with very little car traffic (and no buses). It would help form an excellent set of bike paths around Lake Union and through the heart of South Lake Union to the Convention Center (where the street ends).

CCC

Hovering over all of this is the proposed CCC Streetcar extension which would add transit service on First Avenue. But like the South Lake Union Streetcar, we can do better. There are a number of different alternatives, including ones I proposed years ago. It's hard to say what the best option is (I'm currently leaning towards adding bus lanes and moving the 1 and 14). Like the South Lake Union Streetcar it is relatively easy to provide far more functionality (at far less cost) than the poorly designed streetcar route.

Costs

Paving over the streetcar tracks would cost some money. Fortunately, there are several ways in which removing the streetcar would save money for the city. Not only in terms of operations, but also by selling off the assets. The streetcars themselves are worth money. The land beneath the streetcar depot is worth a lot of money. It was bought when South Lake Union property wasn't worth much - now it sits in the middle of skyscrapers. It is quite likely the city would come out ahead financially in both the short and long term, even after adding new infrastructure for the bikes and buses.

It is rare that we have this opportunity; we should take advantage of it. Remove the South Lake Union streetcar and make the area much better for people riding bikes and taking transit.