Crusty Capitol Hill month continues with a streetcar vignette. Capitol Hill lost streetcar service in September 1940. More than 70 years later, Sound Transit approved the budget last week to make a new streetcar linking light rail with the International District Station. The big news is that the City Council is looking to extend the streetcar and link it to the South Lake Union line. Here's some historic context. Maybe it will convince them to repeat history. more ›

The least visited of the lake's four sides, the western shore of Lake Union was first developed as a trolley line in the 1890s, then largely left alone. We happened upon the line by descending a stairway at the south end of the Fremont Bridge. We then followed the decrepit tracks south, encountering a neat mix of houseboats, marinas, and funny signs. more ›

As we were delivering people to the airport on Monday morning--by the power of Subaru!--one of our passengers glanced up at the light rail line under construction and said, "This ought to be the last winter you have to shuttle people to the airport." Which we were pleased about. But then we got to thinking. more ›

The South Lake Union Trolley has struck again! Literally. Yesterday, the trolley struck its fourth car since its December debut. That averages an accident every month of the S.L.U.T.'s short existence, although this is the second accident we've reported in April. Yesterday's accident occurred when a car leaving the Center for Wooden Boats' parking lot hit the streetcar's right front bumper. No one was hurt in the accident. The collision shut down the streetcar for about half an hour, but then it returned to service. more ›

While the printed media may be calling it the "Seattle streetcar" now, it will always be the S.L.U.T. to us. Yesterday afternoon one of the South Lake Union Trolleys struck a parked truck its backend was hanging over the streetcar's path. While the accident did not seriously damage either the streetcar or the parked truck, it did shut down service for 25 minutes, and the streetcar has been removed from service for minor repairs. No one was injured in the accident. more ›