Light Rail

Streetfilms: Take a Ride on the Seattle Streetcar

Seattle's South Lake Union Streetcar is a 1.3-mile line that opened in December 2007, the first leg in the city's commitment to new transit and light rail. It passed the half million passenger milestone in its first year, surpassing ridership projections.

By Clarence Eckerson Jr.

11:31 AM EDT on March 10, 2009

Seattle’s South Lake Union Streetcar is a 1.3-mile line that opened in December 2007, the first leg in the city’s commitment to new transit and light rail. It passed the half million passenger milestone in its first year, surpassing ridership projections.

The streetcar features many top-of-the-line tech amenities, including real time arrival message boards, solar-powered ticket vending machines, and human-activated doors to save energy while the train is in layover mode. If you go to the Seattle Streetcar web site, you can find out the next arrival time and actually watch the streetcars moving via GPS trackers.

As you’ll see in the film, development is booming along the South Lake Union corridor. “If you build it, they will come” certainly seems to apply here.

Clarence Eckerson Jr.

Clarence Eckerson Jr. is the Director of Video Production for NYCSR's StreetFilms and producer of bikeTV. He loves the color purple, chocolate chip cookies, and enjoys walking, biking, and taking transit. He has never owned a driver's license.