A preliminary plan for a streetcar connecting Ballard, Fremont and downtown was met with both excitement and skepticism at a forum last week.

Chair of the City Council Transportation Committee Jan Drago hosted the event at the Nordic Heritage Museum, but wasn't prepared for many of the questions posed by residents about the benefits of streetcars compared to increasing bus service.

"Each mode of transportation has its strengths and its weaknesses but different modes serve different people," said Drago last week to a crowd of about 80 people. "We need to try to appeal to all of our citizens to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicle trips."

Drago said the council has hired a consulting firm to compare different parameters, such as cost and ridership, between a variety of transit options like rail, bus rapid transit and streetcars. Results from this study are expected by mid-August.

"We need more bus service, but we also need more options," Drago said.

The council began studying the possibility of extending the six-month-old South Lake Union Streetcar line more than a year ago. In May, four of the most feasible routes were presented to the council.

The other three routes being considered would serve the First Avenue corridor, a trolley that travels up Eastlake to the University of Washington and one on Capitol Hill with a connection to the International District.

Drago said the forum was the next step in the process to gauge the level of interest among area business owners, residents and employees. Four meetings are scheduled this month.

Electric streetcars are being considered for several reasons, said Marni Heffron of Heffron Transportation Consulting, the firm hired by the city to study a trolley network. Heffron said streetcars help spur development and are clean and quiet. They are also shown to attract more riders than bus routes.

The 4.4 mile Ballard line will run from Downtown, over the Fremont Bridge then to 36th heading westbound onto Leary Way Northwest, then turn onto Northwest 46th, on to either Leary Way or Ballard Avenue, with a terminus adjacent to the Ballard Commons at 22nd Northwest and Northwest 57th.

The route could be extended to the Woodland Park Zoo in future years.

It's tentatively designed with center alignment and center platforms along most of the trip to reduce conflicts with bicyclists.

Cost is estimated at $29-32 million per mile, plus another $20 million for vehicle procurement. It would operate 18 hours a day, from approximately 6 a.m. to midnight, with 10 to 15 minute headways. Construction is estimated to last around 26 months.

Heffron said the Ballard line is one of the least expensive lines the city is proposing because there are fewer challenges with bridges and underground utilities. However, there is no money available as yet.

Likely sources would be state, city and federal funds and initiating Local Improvement Districts, when business owners agree to tax themselves based on the benefit of a streetcar.

Many people were upset the meeting was planned during working hours, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., but Drago assured there would be several more opportunities to comment on the plan if it were to move forward.

"None of these are done deals yet," Hefron said. "This is really a very early concept plan and map."

One woman said the city should focus on improving east to west travel in the city since that is the most difficult, especially as a commuter.

Another man was concerned small businesses along the routes would get "taxed out" if they were asked to pay. He wasn't convinced it was necessary to spend millions on streetcars when the city could improve the efficiency of buses.

"A bus on a track is what we are talking about here," he said.

Council member Nick Licata believes the cost of operating a streetcar, about 50 percent higher than the average Metro bus, is too high. He also doesn't like that some existing bus service could be replaced with streetcars under a tentative funding plan.

"The city must support cost-effective reliable and speedy transit serving commuters, shoppers and occasional travelers throughout the city," Licata wrote in a statement passed out at the forum. "Only until the public has accurate and verifiable information can they choose whether to pursue more bus lines, electric trolley buses, or build new streetcar lines to meet this objective.

But others were relieved the city was finally making steps to improving mass transit.

"Now is the time to do something because it's only going to get harder, more expensive and take longer," one man said.

Drago acknowledge Seattle is "decades behind" other major cities when it comes to building a mass transit system. Light rail has been voted down twice by the city and there are multi-billion dollar projects on the table like the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and 520 Floating Bridge.

The streetcar plan is a start at filling in transit gaps and preparing for expected growth, she said. Ridership is climbing on the South Lake Union line from about 1,000 a day in January to an average of 1,379 in June, and she predicts the same would happen for new routes.

"It looks to me that Seattle is the little engine that could," Drago said. "It is growing ... it just takes time."

For more information on the proposed Streetcar Network expansion, visit http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/future.asp.

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached at rebekahs@robinsonnews.com.