Last month, the South Lake Union Streetcar had record ridership, finally breaking the 2,000 mark with a weekday average of 2,193 boardings and a weekend/holiday average of 1,459. This is about a 15% increase over June’s weekday ridership, and a 9% increase in daily ridership over the same period last year. Weekend/holiday boardings were actually lower this year, likely due to the construction at Lake Union Park, which limited the number of fireworks viewers in the areas. You can view the full day-to-day breakdown here.
One observation to point out here is that historically, July tends to be the peak of streetcar ridership with summer tourists flocking into town. While the numbers have followed a curve in years past, Amazon’s continued move into the area may help buck that trend– two phases of the campus have now been completed with three more to go.
H/T: Michael Arnold
I rode the SLU on the 4th – they were going to stay open until the crowds died down. That isn’t reflected in the numbers? It was significantly more crowded that time then most others I’ve ridden.
Dwayne, ridership on the 4th was indeed higher than the average July weekday, but it was only roughly half of last year.
From a political strategy context, now is the time to move forward with extending the SLUT to the Roosevelt Bridge.
It’s one project that would have instant support from this city council, and get them to allow a larger transit bond issue to move forward.
I believe you must be referring to the University Bridge which is on Eastlake.
But, yes, I agree that now is the time to extend the SLU both north and south.
On the north extension I’d go all the way to a tie in with U Link at the Brooklyn Station. On the south end I’d extend it through downtown to a tie in with the First Hill SC and Central Link in the Pioneer Square/ID.
Only by integrating our transpo resources and providing for multiple inter-modal transfers are we going to get the most out of our transportation investments. Now’s the time.
Question: What was the original ridership estimate used to justify building the SLU?
I seem to remember it was in the low 1000’s, but I’m not sure. In any case, the current ridership is very good news and I suspect it exceeds original ridership estimates – all good.
extending this line to the Roosevelt Bridge might make it worth riding, but in reality a healthy adult can walk the distance end to end faster than waiting the average time between cars plus the ride time. And riding a shorter section is easily beat by walking. A surface street car needs at least a 5 mile track and 10 minutes between cars before it begins to be useful.
What/where is the “Roosevelt Bridge”? I’ve never heard that term before. Do you mean the University Bridge on Eastlake?
Before it ever reaches the University Bridge, the Fairview Bridge (at Zymogenetics) will need to be retrofitted to carry the weight of the cars. I’d rather see the line head up Westlake over the Fremont Bridge, thence to Ballard. Could be built long before light rail reaches Ballard via Interbay and will connect Ballard to Fremont to SELU (my term for South Lake Union).
How much of a barrier does the Fremont Bridge represent vs. the University Bridge? The Fremont Bridge used to support (old and probably lighter) streetcars and the Interurban, and the approach structures have recently been rebuilt and upgraded, so maybe it’s not that difficult to add a streetcar to it.
If we do construct a streetcar up Westlake, a bicycle lane/path sure would be nice.
would be better to run up dexter … you know where people live … than on Westlake
Ah, but someone is clearly planning a massive rebuild of Westlake. Notice that at least half of the buildings on Westlake have become empty in the past few years, and almost all of them have become run-down. This likely means somebody has been buying up all of the land. I’m sure they’re just waiting for the real estate market to recover.
That being said, I agree about Dexter. All of this new construction could still access Dexter from Westlake if they design the buildings right.
[Comment deleted: off-topic]
If it is extended along Eastlake to the U District, it will almost certainly have better headways, and it will definitelybe faster than walking to get from the U District or Downtown to apartments along Eastlake.
lazarus brings up a good point in his last statement…what was the estimated ridership of the SLU line? I believe I saw graphs over the next 20 years showing trends at one time.
If the streetcar was estimated for 1,000 riders and is now getting 2,000 riders, that’s nice and everything but what is the break-even ridership for the SLU line that would tilt it in favor of expansion? Does anyone know if the council (in this new world of little money), would be up to allowing an extension proceed?
While the Central Streetcar along 1st Ave sounds good, I can see a couplet route (linking it with the Waterfront and First Hill lines) up and down 4th and 5th Aves as more do-able and possibly less expensive and with less interruptions.
According to the Times article,
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20060707&slug=streetcar07m, it was supposed to be 300,000 riders it’s first year(about 1,000 per weekday avg.). So it looks like it’s double that.
Does anyone know the metric Metro uses to arrive at a 15 minute headway? Assuming that headway is intentional (and not just because they don’t have enough vehicles, the third sits as a backup in the garage) it must be because of some cost/benefit analysis. The lines initially low ridership may not have supported another train, but if the line keeps growing its ridership won’t it make sense at some point to bring the headway down? Seems like there that could potentially create significantly more demand. (And make the line actually useful, IMHO) Ideally, when the area is fully developed, one should be able to look down Westlake from one end to the other and see a streetcar at any one time.
More operational. Cars need maintenance, and a good spare when one is in the shop or broke down.
The third *needs* to sit in the garage. You have to have a backup.
Be nice to get one of those new Oregon Iron Works streetcars on a promotional basis like the Portland Streetcar did. I’m sure it would be hard to return it though.
When are we buying the trains for the FHSC? Could we get some early to test out increasing frequency on the SLUT?
The spreadsheet, linked above, shows an original estimated ridership of 1,350 per day, but it doesn’t clarify when that “original estimate” was made.
Has the City ever looked into building an extension of the existing SLU to the Seattle Center by overpassing Aurora Avenue at either Harrison or Republican Street? From Westlake, going to the Seattle Center, the streetcar would head north to Harrison/Republican and turn west towards the Seattle Center. After passing 9th Ave a bridge would have to be built to carry the streetcar over Dexter and Aurora and onto the Seattle Center grounds. I know the bridge would be expensive and it might be difficult to gain enough elevation from 9th Ave to clear Dexter, but if the bridge is built for streetcars, pedestrians and bicycles it would do a better job of connecting South Lake Union to the Seattle Center area. Currently those neighborhoods are only connected by Denny and Mercer Streets, and neither of those streets are very pedestrian friendly. Also, I don’t know how the Mercer Mess reconfiguration project and deep bore tunnel plans would work with this “Streetcar over Aurora” dream.
Several streets that are currently disconnected because of Aurora will be reopenes when the deep-bore tunnel opens, as the portal will be north of I believe Republican, while currently the Battery St tunnel has its portal north of Denny. In the streetcar network report from a few years ago the studied a line from Seattle Center to SLU to Capitol Hill, replacing the 8, but found that the grades going up Denny were too steep. A spur from just the SLU wouldn’t be justified because there wouldn’t be enough ridership.
what about a SLU connection from the existing line to Seattle Center, then follow Broad down to the waterfront and tie into to the (I believe proposed but not funded) Broad street Sounder station. This would Server the Seattle center area, nad give aditional Intermodal connections
Wow, looking at the XLS hardly anyone rides on Sunday. For example:
Fri 7/23/09 2569
Sat 7/24/09 1669
Sun 7/25/09 919
Mon 7/26/09 2040
That’ll change when the park’s done, and when MOHAI moves in.
Sweetness! I really wish they would extend this thing! It would explode in ridership. Glad to have it, but we need more of it.
You go, girl!
Does anyone know how they count ridership?
I ride it every day (to/from work) and I do not see anyone counting.
They rarely check tickets/passes.
Love the SLUT.
There are automatic counters above the doors in every car.
Back in 2008 at least, the driver had a clipboard to keep track of how many people got on/off at each stop.