In the waning weeks of summer, Seattle will see whether people notice the absence of its South Lake Union streetcars, which are locked in the maintenance base.
The 1.3-mile line’s sudden closure, triggered Aug. 9 by electric substation failures, raises the question of whether the city should keep paying millions each year for a route that serves, on average, just 500 daily passengers, about half as many as in 2017. A related topic is whether the hope of extending streetcar tracks someday to serve First Avenue and Pioneer Square crowds is reason enough to keep the low-ridership SLU route afloat.