Waterfront Streetcar - History

History

Service began on May 29, 1982, which was the first streetcar run in Seattle since April 13, 1941. The first three streetcars had been brought to Seattle from Melbourne, Australia, by George Benson (1919–2004), a former pharmacist, who was a Seattle City Councilman from 1973 to 1993. They had been Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board cars 482, 512 and 518, and they kept those numbers in Seattle. Two more Melbourne streetcars were acquired between 1990 and 1993. All were W2-class trams that had originally been built between 1925 and 1930. In 1990, the line was extended by one-quarter mile, along Main Street and 5th Avenue, to Jackson Street, to connect to the International District/Chinatown Station of the then-new Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. The extension opened for regular service on June 23, 1990. The line's fourth ex-Melbourne streetcar, No. 272, entered service earlier that month. A fifth car of the same type, No. 605, entered service later.

The streetcar ceased operation on November 18, 2005, when the maintenance barn was demolished to make room for the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park. A new maintenance barn was proposed to be built at Occidental Park to allow the resumption of operations as early as summer 2007. However, Metro cancelled involvement after delays made the new facility unlikely to be completed before the demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct began. An alternative proposal by the Port of Seattle was to extend the line northward along Myrtle Edwards Park to Smith Cove, where a new maintenance barn would be built on Port property. This proposal was not pursued. Due to a portion of the line's close proximity to the viaduct, service may need to remain suspended during construction. Service may not be able to return to the line until the completion of construction of the new Alaskan Way Tunnel, projected to be in 2018.

Currently, there is no set plan for returning the line to service at any date. As Seattle Mayor, Greg Nickels suggested that a proposed First Avenue streetcar line may be considered a replacement of the Waterfront line, and the Melbourne cars may be used for special occasions. However, current mayor Mike McGinn has expressed reluctance to build a First Avenue line and has suggested that a return of the Waterfront line may be considered.

In 2007, two years into the suspension of service, the route was named by National Geographic Society as one of the 10 Great Streetcar routes.

On June 19, 2012, Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat suggested that the Seattle streetcar line be saved and put back into service as part of a private investment group's proposal to build a National Basketball Association and National Hockey League arena south of Safeco Field.