Real Seattleites ride the SLUT. Or at least real Seattleites who work for Amazon and live near Westlake ride the SLUT. All 2.6 miles of her.
SLUT, according to local knowledge, internationally famous T-shirts, and major news sources (including Ellen!), stands for South Lake Union Trolley. Poorly named? Maybe, but it’s the best advertising you could ask for. People who have never set foot in Seattle know about the streetcar named SLUT.
Here’s the thing: SLUT isn’t real.
The streetcar is real, that’s for sure. And so are the t-shirts and the fame—but it’s not really named SLUT. Officially, it’s the South Lake Union Streetcar, or even more officially, it’s the South Lake Union Line of the Seattle Streetcar (SLULSS). Yeah, there’s a reason no one calls it that.
The name isn’t the only controversy. Some say the streetcar is useless, and they have a point. It only runs from Westlake 
to South Lake Union—eleven stops on a 2.6-mile loop. Unless you’re commuting to Amazon or Fred Hutchinson, it’s not exactly a life-saver. And it’s slow, too. People have raced the SLUT on foot, usually with a close finish. The SLUT has to stop at stoplights, as well as those eleven stops, and it moves slower than the other vehicular traffic. If you check Yelp, you’ll find some fierce opinions.
Here’s our two cents: SLUT might not be great now, but it does have its benefits. And it’s a step in the right direction.
1) Reducing traffic
A surprisingly large number of people ride the SLUT. Each streetcar can hold 140 riders—twice as many as a city bus. On an average weekday, 2,500 people ride it throughout the day, which adds up to three-quarters of a million riders in one year. Three-quarters of a million riders who did not take three-quarters of a million cars between Westlake and South Lake Union, which frees up parking spaces and saves our clean air.
Plus, having public transportation like this is an upward spiral. If people can walk instead of drive, some businesses will cater to pedestrians, so more people will walk, so more businesses will focus on pedestrians, etc. Sometimes, that’s just a pipe dream. But it worked in South Lake Union. The Atlantic praised the SLUT as one of the key reasons for “How Amazon Got the Urban Campus Right,” giving the area a Walk Score of 98/100 and a Transit Score of 90/100.
2) Reconnecting with our roots
Seattle used to have 410 streetcars and 26 streetcar routes. The first one–a horse-drawn streetcar!–appeared in 1884. Streetcars expanded throughout the first half of the 20th century until, in 1941, automobiles and debt forced them out. SLUT pays tribute to that history, and in a way that also helps out the present.
3) Not wasting (too much) taxpayer money
The SLUT cost a lot. $56.4 million. But businesses along the streetcar line paid for half of it, because that upward spiral we talked about earlier helps businesses. Out of the 750 businesses who had to help pay for the streetcar, only 12 didn’t like it.
4) Stepping forward
Remember that official name? South Lake Union Line of the Seattle Streetcar? SLUT is just the beginning. In 2008, voters approved a mass transit expansion plan that will add a whole network of streetcar lines to the city. One streetcar line? Not that great. But when you get a network, that’s when things get useful.
Seattle is building a second streetcar line right now to connect Capitol Hill, First Hill, Central District, Chinatown, and Pioneer Square. You’ll be able to test it out this autumn. That’s right—autumn of 2014.
To make it short, we like the SLUT. That might have something to do with the t-shirts, but the streetcar really does make Seattle a little bit greener. And when it expands, who knows? Maybe those Yelp reviews will get better. Our options for getting around the city certainly will.
Plan for the completed Seattle Streetcar system:
More REGals info on South Lake Union/Eastlake.
