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First Hill Streetcar: 300 miles or so to go

Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 4.20.13 PMNow that we’ve gotten to the bottom of what, exactly, is holding up the First Hill Streetcar, the information from SDOT is starting to flow faster than a 7 MPH trolley on Broadway.

The department’s promotional team for the streetcar system has posted two hope-filled updates after months with almost no information about the long-delayed line.

“The streetcar manufacturer finished the initial ‘qualification testing’ for all six First Hill streetcars earlier this month, after taking quite a bit longer than expected,” a recent update reads.

“They are now wrapping up ‘acceptance testing’ that applies and tests the approved settings to each streetcar for verification. Stay tuned for more on the First Hill Streetcar start-up process.” Earlier last week, an SDOT official told CHS that SDOT was waiting for the two streetcars to complete the requiring up to two weeks of preparation and one to two days of track testing. Once the acceptance phase is completed, the cars have to go through another round of testing that will require running the 2.5-mile Capitol Hill to Pioneer Square route multiple times — around 300 miles — during normal operating hours. By our math, each car will need to travel the route round-trip around 60 times.

Here’s a new timeline, of sorts, posted along with the update last week:

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Meanwhile, a video showing testing on the First Hill Streetcar line was posted Monday along with this hopeful update: “Our manufacturer recently completed acceptance testing for another of our First Hill cars. Five of six have now completed these dynamic tests, bringing us a step closer to launch.”

Our manufacturer recently completed acceptance testing for another of our First Hill cars. Five of six have now completed these dynamic tests, bringing us a step closer to launch.

Posted by Seattle Streetcar Network on Monday, October 5, 2015

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Mark
Mark
8 years ago

Will you just hurry up and launch these. I’d love to not have to walk downtown to get to work in the morning.

dale allen
dale allen
8 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Take a Metro bus

Jason
Jason
8 years ago

I’m glad to hear the update. Hopefully with future projects, we can get updates before the huge delays, not during.

Ryan
Ryan
8 years ago

Can a brother get that extension? Yeah, it’s only a 15 or 20 minute walk each way, but still. I can take the 60, swap at 12th & Jackson, and get in the same area in just a little more time, and with much less walking.

br
br
8 years ago

I wonder how many hundreds of buses could have been purchased to actually improve the awful state of transit in Seattle instead of being wasted on this.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
8 years ago
Reply to  br

Three. Probably about 3.

le.gai.savant
le.gai.savant
8 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

Let’s see, $130 million for this turkey, that would mean, $43 million a bus! I’d like to see those buses! We do have to admit, if anyone could find $43 million buses it would probably be Sound Transit!

However, at a high-end $500 K per bus, we could buy about 260 buses. However, operating all these buses would be quite a bit more expensive than operating the six (6) streetcars that our $130 million is buying. We could be very conservative and say, we’d spend 60% of the money for ops and only 40% for buses. In that case, we’d have 100 buses instead of the 6 streetcars. Which would mean maybe 15 or so more routes. Let’s say each bus only moved 1/2 as many people as a streetcar (giving streetcars benefit of the doubt, to put it mildly). That would mean we’d serve maybe 7 or 8 times as many riders a day.

But hey, who’s counting?

Zach L
Zach L
8 years ago
Reply to  le.gai.savant

Broadway was totally redesigned and improved with a bike lane. Lots of moneys was spent fixing up the road, and not just on the car. The same with the SLUT.

If you’re going to do the accounting, then be complete.

Sounder
Sounder
8 years ago
Reply to  le.gai.savant

Your estimate is way off for a modern bus. KC Metro’s new trolleybuses were $800K (40′) and $1.2M (60′), and their diesels were around $800K (60′).

Still would’ve been cheaper to build a Broadway electric BRT, but what’s done is done.

David T.
David T.
8 years ago

As I understand it the trolley was a compromise to not building an expensive underground light rail extension to serve the hospitals (the vast majority of rush hour traffic up here seems to be surburbanites who work on pill hill). Hence the light rail stop on either end of the trolley line.

Personally, as a long time Seattle bike and bus commuter and 1st hill property owner I will probably never ride this thing, and I will walk in any weather than take the f-ing horrible #3, #4, #60 or #2 buses. This trolley will just be part of the constant gridlock that is this corridor. But trains have a certain appeal to middle/upper class commuters.

I love the cycle track though.

RWK
RWK
8 years ago
Reply to  David T.

You must be one of the few who love the cycle track. Even after all these months, it is getting very little use.

citycat
citycat
8 years ago
Reply to  RWK

I agree about the cycle track getting very little use. In fact, it has become a joke at our house. Over the summer, my partner walked by the south end of the track every day on his way home from work. He noticed that he never saw anyone using it and started actively looking. He didn’t see one person. To be generous, I will say that he crossed at the far south end, and it was a very quick crossing that was usually between 6:30 and 7:00 PM, but not one person was on that part of the track all summer!

SeattleCarol
SeattleCarol
8 years ago
Reply to  citycat

I’ve noticed the same thing. However, 12th ave is busy during rush hours with bicycle traffic. I also prefer 12th, even with car doors I feel safer.
Nothing but crickets on Broadway. Awaiting the bike count though that tells us that Broadway is super busy.

Joe
Joe
8 years ago
Reply to  SeattleCarol

I don’t think it’s fair to judge the cycle track until it is actually connected to a real network.

Right now we just have a few bits and pieces, not really connected to each other, which hardly encourages use.

AbleDanger12
AbleDanger12
8 years ago
Reply to  jseattle

Pathetic usage. Was definitely worth taking a lane of traffic for, eh?

RWK
RWK
8 years ago
Reply to  jseattle

It’s always nice to have one’s anecdotal observations backed up by hard data!

Maybe, at least, this failure of the cycle track will result in reconsideration of extending it to E Roy St.

andrew taylor
andrew taylor
8 years ago

GRAND OPENING: “one week of ride-free operations”.

Does that mean a week of empty trolleys (as the grammar suggests) or a week of empty fare-boxes (as is, I expect, the intent of the writer)?

Derek Kiel
Derek Kiel
8 years ago
Reply to  andrew taylor

empty trolleys, otherwise it would be “free-ride.”

Wells
Wells
8 years ago

Since 2003, I’ve repeatedly submitted a trolleybus reconfiguration design to City Hall that’s still waiting for a fair review. It’s a part of a complete transit system design called “The Seattle Circulator Plan.” Circulators require the least number of vehicles to match demand most simply. Trolleybuses are great hillclimbers, so the design locates 10-minute frequency routes east/west on couplets between 1st and 12th. Couplets minimize overhead wire. Straightening of routes minimizes complex turns. A separate trolleybus circulator runs at 5-minute frequency north/south on 1st and 3rd Aves between Jackson and Mercer/Roy.

I locate the Streetcar ‘Connector’ on a 4th/5th couplet because curbside trolleybus service on 1st Ave is safer. From Pioneer Square, the streetcar in this plan runs along a 1st Ave median but turns to Alaskan Way at Yesler according to Sdot’s Waterfront Streetcar design.

Wells
Wells
8 years ago

The east/west trolleybus couplets are:
Washington/Yesler, Cherry/James/Jefferson,
Spring/Madison/Seneca. These couplets reach an Alaskan Way Turnaround. Olive/Denny from Western to 12th with SLU detour on Thomas/Harrison. These, plus a couplet on Pike/Pine all terminate on 12th which becomes the east turnaround and north/south route. A couplet on Bell/Blanchard reaches the SLU detour. A couplet on Virginia/Steward leads to Fairview and UW. A Bellevue/Summit couplet ties into this matrix.
The Pike/Pine, Bell/Blanchard and Virginia/Stewart couplets turnaround on 1st Ave.

Anyway, it’s complete downtown coverage of all-electric transit at frequent intervals should make transit more intuitive, reliably convenient and emission free.
Still blacklisted in Seattle.

Peter
Peter
8 years ago

I use the cycle track for my daily bike commute from Capitol Hill to Swedish. Guess I’m the only one but I love it. Nice not to worry about being sideswiped or “doored” by the car people. Plan to use the streetcar for evening excursions to the I. D. or Pioneer Square for dinner, except Sunday when it stops at 7 PM (bummer). I can shop at Uwajimaya while I’m down there too. So much negative buzz about these things but gee, they’re a done deal so why not quit griping and enjoy them.

123A_D123
123A_D123
8 years ago
Reply to  Peter

Yes to this! So much Monday morning quarterbacking on these projects. If people really want to grouse about these projects failing… they should direct their attention to the request for nearly a billion dollars for more of them on the November ballot.

j-lon
j-lon
8 years ago

Why not wait until the Yesler Terrace re-development is complete before writing off the cycle-track. I suspect it will see more use once that’s in place. The same is true of the Trolley. Think about the future and not just the here and now.

Joe
Joe
8 years ago

There’s a long-term vision with the cycle track that includes the Yesler redevelopment, extension to Roy, better connections with downtown and eventual connection to the new Portage Bay bridge bike lane. I think we need to give it a few years before we can really tell if it is a waste of money or not.

Same for the streetcar — it’s weird to build the two ends of a system first instead of the downtown part that is most cost-effective, but that’s what we’ve done.