Link at Convention Center – Tacoma, WA by Dave Honan
Link at Convention Center – Tacoma, WA by Dave Honan

TCC will be talking Tacoma Streetcar:

How much rail can $80 million buy? What’s the difference between streetcars and light rail? What are the benefits of rail?

For the event’s location and directions, Click Here.

Officials from Sound Transit, the City of Tacoma, and the Transportation Choices Coalition are holding a public forum on Friday, July 23rd to discuss the future of Tacoma Link, expansion plans for Tacoma Link, and streetcars in general. Various officials will be present to answer any and all questions.

What: Tacoma Streetcar Friday Forum
When: Friday, July 23, 12:00pm – 1:30pm
Where: University of Washington Tacoma, Garretson Woodruff Pratt Building, Tacoma Room (Room 320)


16 Replies to “What’s Next for the Tacoma Streetcar??”

    1. Don’t look at me for that one — the title on my photo at Flickr (not sure why it wasn’t linked in the first place, they usually are) reads, “Link at Convention Center – Tacoma, WA.” I’m really stumped about why so many people capitalize the services’ name — ST’s own homepage lists “Central Link Light Rail” and “Tacoma Link Light Rail.” Ditto CT’s Swift service, which I’ve seen written in all-caps on the blog although it’s shown in mixed-case italics at CT’s site.

      1. It should’ve been linked to. Flickr Community Guidelines require that you link back (or provide a URL of) the photo page

      1. Yes, thank you. I think the STB is an important and widely known enough resource for people interested in transit in this region that it should practice proper capitalization.

  2. Critics always point out the safety issues with the SLUT and Central Link, how about Tacoma Link? Since it opened in 2003 (if I remember correctly), there hasn’t been any major safety issues i’ve heard or read about. Would such a perception be more friendly towards the expansion of Tacoma Link?

  3. What they really need to do with Link is to take it up Sixth Ave to TCC. It is such a perfect corridor for that.

    1. Completely Agreed, I hope they get it up to TCC ASAP.

      I ride it every weekday morning and most afternoons (during the summer) I hope they get it going soon as it would create a nice one seat ride up the hill, and taking bikes on trams is muchhhh easier than on busses. Although my job may not be in North Tacoma in future summers, I’m sure I will continue to use it to visit numerous friends who live there.

  4. Any news on the extra station Tacoma was gonna build there? I thought they said they were going to build it pretty quick, but I haven’t heard anything about it in several months.
    I suppose that if they extend Tacoma Link they’ll have to charge for it. I wonder if they’ll use TVMs like the ones that ST uses on Sounder and Central Link, or smaller ones like on the SLUT and Swift. Also, it would be great if they could make a route that directly takes over for one of the more frequent PT routes, to take some pressure off that struggling agency.

      1. why would they add a station at 11th St. they already have one at 9th and one at 15th!
        11th would just unnecessarily slow the line down.
        I can already beat it on my bike despite the hills end to end.

  5. Re your “What’s the difference between streetcars and light rail?”, if you mean “Tacoma Link light rail”, the difference is None. Tacoma Link is streetcar service, plain and simple.

  6. How about charging fares? With Sound Transit an estimated $4 billion underfunded due to the downturn in the economy, it makes no sense to be giving away free rides on Tacoma Link. At the same time, consider raising the Central Link’s fares a bit, as they’re purportedly a faster ride than buses are and could command a premium, that is if they could improve their reliability.

    1. No, Central Link fares should be the same as buses. If not, people will get fed up by the inconsistencies and stop riding. I think it would be better for everyone if they made Central Link fares exactly the same as Metro, with the zone boundary at the city line.

Comments are closed.