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Seattle's original streetcars were replaced with trackless trolleys and motor buses in 1940. Now the streetcar is making a comeback with the South Lake Union line and a whole new network proposed by the city.

Despite naysayers' claims that the streetcars run empty most of the time, in 2008 ridership on the Seattle Streetcar reached 347,000 riders on Oct. 1, surpassing first-year ridership three months ahead of schedule. Ridership is set to increase next year when Vulcan's Enso and Rollin Street Flats at Westlake Avenue and Denny Way add 343 housing units to the neighborhood followed by Amazon.com's headquarters the year after.

The Seattle Monorail opened for the 1962 World's Fair and was heralded as the future of transportation. It was never extended throughout the city. The Seattle Monorail Project came really close to building a citywide system until it was canceled by voters in 2005 after the financial plan did not work out.

Past, present, and future

Fri, Oct 10, 6 a.m. 2008

The monorail and streetcar.

by Flickr contributor Oran Viriyincy

Seattle's original streetcars were replaced with trackless trolleys and motor buses in 1940. Now the streetcar is making a comeback with the South Lake Union line and a whole new network proposed by the city. Despite naysayers' claims that the streetcars run empty most of the time, in 2008 ridership on the Seattle Streetcar reached 347,000 riders on Oct. 1, surpassing first-year ridership three months ahead of schedule. Ridership is set to increase next year when Vulcan's Enso and Rollin Street Flats at Westlake Avenue and Denny Way add 343 housing units to the neighborhood followed by Amazon.com's headquarters the year after. The Seattle Monorail opened for the 1962 World's Fair and was heralded as the future of transportation. It was never extended throughout the city. The Seattle Monorail Project came really close to building a citywide system until it was canceled by voters in 2005 after the financial plan did not work out.