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The underperforming South Lake Union Streetcar in Seattle may soon close.
Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka is proposing amendments to the 2025-2026 budget package that include plans to retire the 1.3 mile-long South Lake Union Streetcar line and transfer the existing funding used to operate the streetcar in favor of other transit service options.
Potential options for transferred funds could include more buses serving the South Lake Union area near downtown Seattle.
Saka’s plan would include a proposed timeline for ending the streetcar service before the anticipated multi-year shutdown of services in order to accommodate for the upcoming Sound Transit link light rail construction project.
The plan would also document the availability of other transit services in the impacted South Lake Union area including bus and rail.
The South Lake Union Streetcar was approved by the Seattle City Council in 2005 and opened in 2007. It was intended to help develop the South Lake Union neighborhood into a biotechnology and biomedical research hub, according to Seattle's website.
The line cost the city $56.4 million to build. Nearly 50% of the funding stemmed from property owners along the alignment and the remainder came from federal, state and local funds.
The most recent streetcar operations report from the city was in 2022. According to the report, the streetcar collected a little over $600,000 in 2022. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the streetcar line collected $1.8 million in revenue in 2019.
The lack of generated revenue is troublesome, considering the South Lake Union Streetcar operations cost approximately $4.5 million a year.
“I’m deeply concerned that residents aren’t getting what they paid for when it comes to the South Lake Union Streetcar,” Saka said in a statement on Monday. “There are much more effective ways we could be investing our transit dollars and that’s why I’m proposing the executive take a serious look at alternatives with my amendment.”
Earlier this year the line was closed for weeks due to electrical repairs.
The Seattle City Council will begin the amendment process on Wednesday during the Select Budget Committee meeting.