I am e-mailing you as a resident or business owner in Ballard, Crown Hill, and nearby areas regarding the potential for a streetcar network in Seattle, how that might be funded, and how it might affect bus service in your neighborhood on routes 17, 18 and 28.

The Seattle Department of Transportation is proposing a potential Fremont-Ballard Streetcar line that would run along from downtown on Westlake to the Fremont Bridge, then over the bridge to 36th, then head westbound on 36th and Leary Way Northwest, then turn onto Northwest 46th, on to either Leary Way or Ballard Avenue, with a turn-back adjacent to the Ballard Commons at 22nd Northwest and Northwest 57th.

The estimated cost of the line is $135 million. As with the South Lake Union Streetcar, likely around half the cost would be funded by nearby property owners. In order to fund 50 percent of construction, property owners near this line would need to pay approximately 2.2 percent of the assessed value of their property. For a $300,000 property, this would total $6,600.

The estimated annual operation and maintenance cost is $5.4 million. In order to fund operations, the Network Development Report proposes cuts in Metro service that could affect bus lines 17, 18 and 28. There are no specifics at this point, but the preliminary operating cost summary assumed that 14,000 of the 80,000 hours in bus service on these lines would be cut.

Any streetcar replacement would likely provide fewer hours of service, because streetcars cost 50 percent more to operate than a Metro bus. On the South Lake Union Streetcar, around 11,000 hours of service are provided at a cost of $2 million annually. 16,500 bus hours could be provided at the same cost. As a Ballard/Crown Hill area resident, I thought you would be interested in knowing about this meeting, and encourage you to attend, find out more, and express your opinion.

Nick Licata

member

Seattle City Council