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SDOT

First Hill Streetcar Resumes Services Today, March 20: It has been out of services since March 1, when one of its streetcars lost power on Broadway and slid backwards for two-and-a-half blocks. Leilani Polk, this paper's managing editor, is one of the few true fans of First Hill Streetcar. She uses it all of the time because one of its stops is near her place. But for many, the train is too slow and often gets stuck in traffic. The thing needs its own lane. That said, SDOT made electrical modifications to the brake system of the streetcars and plans to "implement an operating speed limit of 7 M.P.H. and two safety stops on the section of track where the issue occurred and steep gradient exists." (A note: If you are on a date in the ID and need lots of time to make a move on your date, the streetcar will give you that time.)

Happy Birthday Capitol Hill Station and University of Washington Station: When these stations opened on March 19, 2016, the whole city was in transformed in an instant. Or, put another way, a new city arrived in a big way. Ridership jumped into another dimension of capacity. Seattle Times: "39,000 people each weekday on average used light rail. Now, about 65,000 people do." Sound Transit: “In February alone, 1.5 million people rode light rail — a 78 percent increase for the month compared to February last year.” Numbers of this kind transform the way a city is directly and indirectly experienced.