SLUT -- It's a totally free capital improvement!!
Now that's what we call creative accounting!!

And no, I don't buy the line that it'll get better as passenger loads decrease. At best, no one's using a $2 million a year transit line, and at best, you've still got crowds and it still goes slow. Funny how no one, during the SLUT's construction, discussed how slow and inefficient streetcars are, and that there's a reason the damn things were phased out decades ago.

Fun fact: I never once rode the Waterfront Streetcar when it was in service. Do they ever plan to bring that thing back online? Should they even bother?

i lived in freiburg for a while, and it's an ideal manner of efficient and user friendly tram system.

but yeah, that $50 million was spent for a 2 mile line that doesn't even connect anything significant in the city reeks of outlandish bullshit. niiiiiice.

I took the last SLUT south. Crossing the last two streets, Stewart & 6th took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Should have de-boarded at Virginia and walked.

I can't wait to see the ridership levels in Jan 2008 when they start charging money.

I propose a tagging flash mob. Who else is in? I'll bring the sharpies you bring the blades.

Like everyone else, I want to want to ride the bus. I just don't want merca...

So we'll have to wait a few days to see exactly what the travel speed is like - but he said that end-to-end will be around 15 minutes. Traffic is, of course, unpredictable, and makes most of this irrelevant.

Why is it so damn hard for Seattle to do this?

He also said that not all of the streetcars have the tracking software set up properly yet, which may explain why the times were inaccurate.

I rode for two stops and got off because it was faster just to walk.

Ridiculous!

I see. So the potential for extendability - the one remaining upside I saw to the SLUT - isn't really there after all. Why the fuck did we shell out tax dollars for this piece of shit, exactly? And is there any mass transit project that we can't screw up?

On KUOW earlier this week, Mayor McCheese did not know whether or not the windows would be wrapped for maximum view obstruction.

The idea of killing the 70 because the streetcar extends to the U District is ridiculous. The 70 runs all the way down to King St Station.

It connects to light rail and an aerial tram that goes another mile across a freeway and to a relatively inaccessible hilltop area. http://trimet.org/schedules/r193text.htm
The aerial tram was $50 million, like SLUT.

But being out of traffic and providing a trip that is faster than alternatives, it gets some 4000 trips a day ("A total of 125,158 people rode the Portland Aerial Tram in February," at $2 per ride; http://www.portlandtram.org/news_item/Tram_Ridership.htm), compared to 1000 trips a day for the slow SLUT which can be stuck in traffic.

In Seattle, why not look at an aerial tram up to Capitol Hill or West Seattle? And yes, we may want to extend the streetcar through downtown. But we didn't need a $50 million gift to Paul Allen to "prove" that streetcars are viable in general.

What we need is better planning.

Perhaps the naming of the stations deserves its own post. I'm guessing Pacific Place bought the naming rights to that station? I've talked to some people who are confused as they think that the SLUS stops right outside of Pacific Place mall.

fall 09 at the earliest, i'd wager.

The Portland Streetcar also operates with traffic and traffic lights and also has to wait for Portland MAX light-rail trains. It's Weekday ridership for the 8 mile loop is nearly 10,000 riders during Summer 2007, not 4,000 unless your thinking Sunday but it is still closer to 5,000 daily riders.

http://www.portlandstreetcar.org/pdf/daily_ridership_graph.pdf

The issue with the Red Seattle Streetcar was nothing serious, they simply just didn't need the third Streetcar. The power across Fairview Avenue is not activated yet and requires a tow across Fairview because the batteries onboard the Streetcar are not strong enough to pull it up the hill. I watched this practice happen several times during testing. The Streetcars are able to go down the hill with no issues on batteries.

You also can not compare the Portland Aerial Tram to the Portland Streetcar or Seattle Streetcar. The Tram is operated on a cable guide way to the Oregon Health and Science University/Hospital from South Waterfront completely out of traffic and uninterrupted and travels at 22mph and for it's short existence, it already has topped well over 1 million passengers and it's been in operations since January 27th, 2007

We can bitch, moan, and complain that this is a toy for Paul Allen but we all need to open our eyes and realize thsi $50 million "toy" will head to the University of Washington and Fremont and sooner than you all may realize. This is a trial route, nothing more should be looked into this.

The Waterfront Streetcar should be back in 2009 once the construction starts on Greg Smith's building which will house the Streetcars. The Notice to Construct signs have been up for a while now.

At least, for now.

It was the very first day of operation. Let the operators figure shit out before we all run to the bus stop screaming and crying.

http://www.200occidental.com/features.htm