I am all for new rapid rail transit around the city, but slow street cars sitting in traffic is NOT the answer.

i agree with joey. this is a bit more of a now and again novelty thing than a solution i think.

it will be a nice way to get to freemont and back. but i don't see it solving any traffic/transit problems.

Although I will admit it would be nice to have a convenient Ballard to Fremont connection.

Elevated rails (or... monorail) avoid traffic! Rails at street level are the exact same thing as buses.

I would love a bus route that goes through Fremont and then into downtown. Why don't we have that? If we don't even have that bus route, why are we contemplating an expensive novelty there?

I would love more transportation options, the streetcar included.

i would say though, if it made it all the way down shilshole to golden gardens. that would alleviate A LOT of that traffic at market and 24th in the summer. it is a nightmare on the weekends.

I really have to cringe at the sight of that thing running through historic Ballard. I prefer that street to keep its mellow feel.

Two words: GRADE SEPARATION

Putting a slow-moving streetcar in traffic is not the solution. Build something above or below the street.

Or just add more buses. Seriously!

Hey! I voted for it (a couple of times), have been taxed for it, businesses were displaced for it - where is it? I want my monorail!!!

I love streetcars and trolleys - but they aren't the answer.

Will someone please call the old Portland City Council ? They did their transit/traffic resolution right!

This is fantastic news. I am in a wheelchair and there is nothing that I hate more than using the hydrolic lift, have everyone groan as I get "strapped down". It takes forever and I hate feeling handicapped. We currently live near the SLUT and will be in Ballard come '09. Perfect.

You know what? I am for this!! I am usually a monorail person, but lets face it, that ain't happening. Not any time soon. I live an work in Ballard. I would love to get to fremont and downtown more easily. I currently avoid fremont because of parking. And drive downtown for work once a week. If it could get Googlers to work easier, etc, it would displace traffic. I want to keep things local, and can If getting there is easier. Something is better than the nothing we have now!

Trizzle:

The #46 goes to Fremont, and the #17 takes you just south of the Fremont Bridge. Routes 15, 17, and 18 go from Ballard to downtown. Not sure I'd call that the "nothing we have now".

Why does it have to be red?

Red = fire truck
Yellow = school bus
??? = street car

I'll support it if they keep Licata's natural constuency, bums, off of it.

I like the idea of street cars, especially if they have their own lane so they can bypass car traffic. But do we really need another public transportation route going from Ballard to downtown? That's my main problem with Seattle mass transit - everything is focused on going from a neighborhood to downtown, without connecting neighborhoods.

What if the street car connected areas like Ballard, Fremont and Green Lake, that are difficult to access by public transportation. My bus commute from Ballard to Green Lake takes two buses and over40 minutes, compared to a 15 minute drive. Ridiculous!

Rapid transit is the proper long term solution. Every other major city in the US (with the exception of LA, which is a joke) has figured this out. Its never worked out poorly in Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, Boston or Dallas.

If we can get it, lets follow the Canadian model where we try to work with local businesses and neighborhoods to integrate transportation into the area. Lets not do what some cities have chosen with "park-and-ride" or putting the transit line in the median of roadways.

Street cars and bus-only-lanes are only a short-term temporary solution. Portland MAX is somewhat interesting, but its not what Seattle needs.

Also, we need to address commuters from greater distances. We need much more heavy-rail ridership and frequency on Sound Transit, similar to how Chicagos Metra, San Franciscos Caltrain and Torontos GO Transit has.

Simply opposing street carts as a solution is not a good enough answer from anyone on the city council. The fact is, Ballard has been handling a disproportionate share of the Seattle's population growth for the past ten years, and the infrastructure--particularly for transportation--has not kept up.

If Nick Licata and Tom Rasmusan want to oppose street cars as a solution , they needs to offer another answer that can handle the capacity, the they will get behind.

Tis neighborhood needs an answer that does not rely the goodwill of the county. King County Metro has shown an unwillingness to let ridership demand dictate where resources go, and continuing to wait for the county to adequately serve the population density here is pointless. Street cars aren't ideal, but the Monorail is dead, and more buses aren't coming any time soon. The 18 express i spacked every morning from 7 am through 8:45. I've frequently seen people left behind at Market and Ballard ave because the bus is too full. At that point it's too full for safety. Waiting for the perfect solution is a ridiculous approach at this point. Licata, if you're reading this, please show some leadership, or get out of the way.

I think the key is integrating regional rapid transit with neighborhoods. San Francisco does this with trains that run underground in the financial district and then branch out to individual neighborhoods. I'm not an engineer, but it seems like it would make sense to design the street car lines so that trains could run from streets into the tunnel - Sound Transit could share the tracks with neighborhood trains.

If Seattle could just get an infrastructure in place, we could build and expand as needed.

In order for street cars to be effective, they've got to have their own right-of-way where possible and preferential traffic signals where they must share the road, otherwise they're no better than buses.

First of all, why aren't there any lines that don't go through downtown Seattle? There is usually a huge benefit to lines that have some interconnection outside of a centralized area. Look at most other transportation systems in the last few decades - they realized forcing people to go downtown to go across town is stupid.

Anyhow, theres no doubt that any rapid transit system is going to need to be at grade, elevated as well as underground. Seattle, unlike many midwest and east coast cities does not already have legacy right-of-way trackage that is decayed and could be acquired.

In my opinion, I'd think we'd need at least the two lines when looking north of downtown Seattle:

1)
Something East-West from Ballard to U-District via Freemont and Wallingford with the future option to extend across the 520 (tunnel or something else).

2) Something from Ballard that egresses south into Interbay along 15th then curves south onto Elliott and into downtown. Not only could this satisfy Magnolia via a short bus ride, this is a fairly large transportation corridor of commuters entering and leaving Seattle. Ideally, this could extend further north, eventually to North Gate mall.

the MAX in portland is extraordinarily convenient at street level, their street car only marginally less so. why is seattle having such a problem with this concept?

If it isn't elevated it is a waste to do anything other then add more buses. I gave up on mass transit in this city when the monorail was killed. Worst mistake this city ever made.

They need to focus on the existing mass transit - buses. It's not glamorous or cool but if they added neighborhood to neighborhood dedicated bus lines that would be a huge benefit. Aside from the fact that they don't have money for street cars, there is no space for the street cars on the street. There's already cars, buses, bikers (and what the hell is with the sharrows?!!! Are they TRYING to get bikers hurt or killed?!!), pedestrians and scooters trying to share the roads and it's not going well. Why add more opportunities for accidents.

talk about traffic on ballard ave

Buses = bums. Give me a tram. .

I want my monorail!

I have found a transcript from the Seattle city council meeting regarding this topic:

Greg Nickels: We will now hear suggestions for the disbursement of the two million dollars.

Dan Savage: Don't you mean three million dollars?

Greg Nickels: [nervously] Of course... how silly of me.

Lyle Lanley: Y'know, a town with money is a little like the mule with a spinning wheel. No one knows how he got it and danged if he knows how to use it.

[audience laughs]

Tim Eyman: Heh heh heh... Mule.

Lyle Lanley: The name's Lanley. Lyle Lanley. And I come before you good people tonight with an idea. Probably the greatest... Aw, it's not for you. It's more of a Portland idea.

Greg Nickels: Now wait just a minute! We're twice as smart as the people of Portland! Just tell us your idea and we'll vote for it!

Lyle Lanley: All right, I tell you what I'll do. I'll show you my idea! I give you the Seattle Monorail!

[audience gasps]

I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum, it put them on the map!

[unrolls a U.S. map where Brockway, Ogdenville and N. Haverbrook are the only cities labeled, having been crudely scrawled in]