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Monday, April 14, 2008

Lines vs. Loops

posted by on April 14 at 10:25 AM

trolley1.jpg

I finally got a chance to ride the South Lake Union Trolley this weekend.

Rode the loop from Westlake Center through South Lake Union to the waterfront and back…

Well, not a loop actually. Much to the driver’s chagrin, it’s a line.

So, when the driver gets to one end, he (our driver on Saturday was a he) has to get out of his cab, walk through the trolley, and get into a cab at the other end. “About 30 times a day,” he said. “It’s pretty boring. I guess they didn’t have the money to build it so there were two tracks.”

And given that there were only about seven people on the trolley (including us) during our jaunt, his walk seemed even more Sisyphean.

Seattle and transportation. Tragically Keystone Cops to the last detail.

trolley2.jpg

RSS icon Comments

1

Those pictures make it look like 2001: A Space Odyssey

Posted by John At Work | April 14, 2008 10:27 AM
2

I keep saying no one rides that stupid thing. It would have been cheaper just to put a coupld of electric trolley busses on that route and use the extra money to improve metro service for ALL of Seattle: not just Paul Allen.

But what the fuck do I know...

Posted by Andrew | April 14, 2008 10:30 AM
3

I think they were a waste too, but I'm wondering if the reason no one is riding them yet is because a lot of the south Lake Union development isn't finished and that the thinking here is once the condos and office buildings are all finished they will have more riders.

Posted by PopTart | April 14, 2008 10:37 AM
4

WEll, you won't have the waterfront trolley to kick around anymore.

Add to my complaint about how slippery the tracks are for bikes and scooters, I almost ran into the back of that thing, shouldn't it signal stops somehow? It just stops in the middle of the street.

Posted by left coast | April 14, 2008 10:37 AM
5

Why do folks think Seattle is so green, if we don't have good transit?

Posted by unPC | April 14, 2008 10:45 AM
6

During rush hour it's often standing room only, and that's usually at 4:05PM. My office is in South Lake Union and generally the SLUT has encouraged many people to bus in that otherwise wouldn't because it provides that elusive last-mile transportation to the office from the Westlake transit hub.

Given the further development of the area and the proposed extension of the line to UW I think the streetcar will eventually be an important part of our inner-core transit network. But that's my optimistic appraisal.

Posted by Sir Learnsalot | April 14, 2008 10:50 AM
7

But wait until summer! There was no one in town to ride it this weekend! And the weather sucked! Oh, wait, Green Festival, Dalai Lama, Mariner games, 80 degrees.

Thanks, Mayor Nickels, can we have another? Maybe up Eastlake this time...

Posted by DOUG. | April 14, 2008 10:52 AM
8

I ride that thing all the time since I work and live down there, and just wait until amazon moves to SLU, loads more people will ride it.

Posted by Andrew | April 14, 2008 10:53 AM
9


The SLUS never will be part of the regional multimodal system. However, light rail construction is well under way. Those projects are on time, and under budget. Per Ahmad Fazel, head of LRT implementation: "we are on track to build this project on time and on budget.”

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002181534_soundbudget16m.html

Clean and roomy service between the Downtown hub and SeaTac Airport will be operating in short order. The agency always receives clean audits, including from the State Auditor. Those prove it is under budget and fully transparent.

The only question is: if not more in November, then when?

Posted by we_need_real_transit | April 14, 2008 10:56 AM
10

@9,

Um, light rail service to the central U-District in 2018 is hardly "on time".

(And the SLUT was an incredible perversion of public transportation priorities and misuse of funds that could have addressed existing transit demand).

Flame away, true believers....

Posted by Mr. X | April 14, 2008 11:17 AM
11

So, wait: There's only one trolley running on the whole line in any direction at any given time?

I suggest we all get out with pickaxes and shovels this weekend and tear the stupid piece of crap out of the ground.

Posted by K | April 14, 2008 11:20 AM
12

I wish I was a mega-rich, meglomaniacal, autocrat/developer so I could get the city to build me a fun toy that would help me raise the value of my new urban slum!

The SLUT: Helping cancer patients, tourists and a few wonks travel in style over 15 city blocks for half a year!

Posted by michael strangeways | April 14, 2008 11:28 AM
13

@6: Uh... what about the 17, it runs right up Westlake! And the 70, and the 71/72/73 non express which run just three blocks over on Fairview.

Posted by Anon | April 14, 2008 11:29 AM
14

Since the driver hides in a little booth, who makes sure riders pay? Is there a conductor on it too? Then at least 2 people are always riding it.

Posted by Ticket, Please | April 14, 2008 11:31 AM
15

The state ferries also have two cabs. Oh, the humanity!

Posted by Greg | April 14, 2008 11:39 AM
16

It's 1.3 miles long, right? Like a brisk 15-20 minute walk?

Posted by Dawgson | April 14, 2008 11:40 AM
17

@11 - no. This post is misleading; there is double-track (one for each direction, sometimes on different streets) on most of the route; for a block or two at each end it narrows to one track, so the train does indeed reverse direction to go back. Which seems simpler than navigating a big loop at the end, really, even if it means the driver has to walk the length of the trolley car at each end...

None of this is to say the trolley was a worthwhile thing to do, given the city's other transit needs...

Posted by cdc | April 14, 2008 11:43 AM
18

@11

There are three trains which run concurrently. They have two tracks which run in a loop but terminate in a single track switch. It's a loop but it's not a nice little round circle.

Posted by Sir Learnsalot | April 14, 2008 11:44 AM
19

@4: LOL... Imagine that. Bikers (who never signal stops) want the SLUT to signal stops. Ah,,,, sweet karma! (Loving the image of some ass hole on a fixed gear bike without a helmet barreling into the back of a stopped SLUT. Just made my day!)

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | April 14, 2008 12:02 PM
20

@18: Only two trains run at any given time. The third train rides the bench, waiting for some playing time once one of the others runs into a pick-up truck.

Posted by DOUG. | April 14, 2008 12:08 PM
21

Most light rail is set up this way, with a front car on each end, and the driver switching from one end to the other each pass. It just seems ridiculous here because the trip is so short.

Posted by Dougsf | April 14, 2008 12:20 PM
22

If they built a loop, they would've had to tear Eastlake Avenue to shreds, even moreso than they already had to just to build it.

I'm not sure the space is there to do such a thing anyway. Having the driver get some exercise at each end isn't a bad consolation.

Posted by Gomez | April 14, 2008 12:25 PM
23

the SLUT current route is only part one. it WILL be extended up eastlake to the U District. i don't know when, but i know that at that time you bitches will stop bitching.

it WILL get more crowded in the summer. if you don't like the SLUT, don't fucking ride it. i don't remember my property taxes going up to pay for it.

Posted by max solomon | April 14, 2008 12:40 PM
24

For a second--just a second--I thought those photos were of the hallway of Princess Leia's ship at the beginning of Star Wars IV: A New Hope...

Posted by Andy Niable | April 14, 2008 12:45 PM
25

people hate everything. it's just a little trolley car line.

Posted by superyeadon | April 14, 2008 12:52 PM
26

know what other train system uses the same model of the driver switching from the front to the back instead of turning the whole train around?

The TGV in france, the Shinkansen in japan, and the ICE trains in Germany. Turns out nobody builds a loop for trains to turn around. Instead, they have locomotives on both ends.

When you're in Garre du Nord in Paris or Waterloo in London, the train pulls into the station, you get on, and the train pulls out. voila, the train is magically pointed in the right direction again because it's more efficient to move a single driver instead of the whole train.

I'm pretty luke warm on the SLUT, but your post is hilarious. if you're going to try to denigrate something, at least don't make yourself look ignorant in the process.

Posted by some dude | April 14, 2008 12:55 PM
27

The SLUT is packed during rush hour. I don't know how taking a picture when it's empty proves anything. I could do that with the NYC subway as well during the right times.

Posted by Ashley | April 14, 2008 1:00 PM
28

My partner works at the UW in Bio Genetics and has to go to the SLU area fairly often and then often jumps on the streetcar after and heads downtown. She has reported to me that it is always standing room only.

If they extend the streetcar to the UW it will really be hopping between the biotech and medical hubs at SLU and UW. But right now you can catch a pretty decent # 70 bus.

Posted by Busy SLUT | April 14, 2008 1:58 PM
29

@26,

The PATH between New Jersey and Manhattan does the same thing.

Posted by keshmeshi | April 14, 2008 3:08 PM
30

It only goes for a MILE. It's not reasonable mass transit at all! It's like an amusement park ride!!!

Ok. Sorry. Carry on.

Posted by Dawgson | April 14, 2008 3:32 PM
31

@14, I rode it for the first time last week, and it was basically empty. Certainly there was no no conductor, and I had no idea how to pay so I just rode for free. I thought maybe those yellow modules had something to do with paying, but since the few other people who got on with me didn't pay, either, I didn't know for sure.

Posted by spencer | April 14, 2008 5:04 PM
32

#29 - and the MAX, and BART, and MUNI, etc. etc. etc. The only "loop" I can think of is Detroit scarcely used downtown train.

Posted by Dougsf | April 14, 2008 5:20 PM
33

FWIW, I think the beef is not that it's a trolley line, but a $25 million trolley line. $25 million can buy a lot of things and do a lot of good at the civic level.

Posted by Gomez | April 14, 2008 5:34 PM
34

I know what you mean Josh. I walked past the Columbia tower at 3am on a Sunday morning once, and there was no one around. That proves that It's a real waste.

Posted by Seattle built a trolley and all I got was a lousy Josh Feit post..... | April 14, 2008 5:39 PM

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