Streetcar won't cut bus routes

U-District residents who fear losing bus service to the South Lake Union Streetcar shouldn't worry.

The streetcar, which will trek from downtown Seattle to South Lake Union beginning mid-2007 will not affect bus service in the U-District, as some residents feared, according to the city council's Web site. The route will be operated by Metro.

But the streetcar's cost has exceeded Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' anticipations, left the city $7.7 million short of the project's construction costs, and left Nickels searching for a way to fill the deficit without tapping into the city's general fund, which provides both police and fire protection.

Furthermore, the estimated cost of operating the streetcar from 2008-2011 is $1.6 million per year. Streetcar fares, federal grants and money the city hopes to earn by selling naming and advertising rights of streetcar stations would bring in an estimated $600,000 per year.

Metro would provide the rest of the money, at the cost of sacrificing extra money it might have used to expand bus service elsewhere when its routes were taken over by Sound Transit service.

Because Sound Transit may add similar bus lines to those Metro services, the redundant Metro bus lines would be eliminated, said Phyllis Shulman, a legislative assistant to Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin.

Many residents worried this meant Metro was cutting back its services in other areas, including the U-District.

"We got a lot of calls from senior citizens [wondering if the bus was going to stop running past their houses]," Shulman said. "Yes, those hours would not be available for new or additional bus service anywhere else, but there's also a strong feeling that some hours would be going to South Lake Union anyhow. This is going to be a connecting service in a connecting center where there is job growth."

The Seattle City Council authorized funding for the $47.5 million streetcar on June 27 by a vote of 7-2. Council members noted that providing transportation to South Lake Union would facilitate jobs and interest in the area.

In a statement released the same day, Councilmember Richard Conlin, head of the council's transportation committee, assured residents that "no current neighborhood bus service will be will be affected by this project."

When Sound Transit takes over a Metro bus route, Metro bus hours are freed up for redistribution, Shulman said.

"Metro then takes those hours and decides where they would put new service or additional service. The goal is to focus that new service or add service where there are feeder lines into transportation hubs," she said. "It either extends a new service or adds a current service...where they can feed into the major transportation or job areas."

Approximately 15 percent of the hours that would have been put into improving, expanding or creating Metro routes will now be channeled toward the cost of operating the streetcar.

According to buildthestreetcar.org, "Streetcars are a proven catalyst in rejuvenating urban neighborhoods, providing quick, accessible transport to the resources and amenities that attract people to those districts. They also remedy a 'missing link' by effectively connecting existing South Lake Union residents (including those in low-income housing) and those commuting there, to jobs and services -- making it easier to live and work in Seattle."

The region south of Lake Union is in the process of being developed into a hub for the biotech industry, led by Paul Allen's company Vulcan, which purchased a large tract of land from the city for $20 million in 2001.