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 Linda Thomas
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StreetCar.JPG
During a commute in the late afternoon, the South Lake Union Streetcar still has plenty of room for passengers. It's averaging about 2,500 riders a day. (Linda Thomas photo)

Lonely Seattle streetcar riders don't know how lucky they are

November 20, 2012 @ 7:10 pm (Updated: 7:43 pm - 11/20/12 )

In contrast with the spacious commute riders of Seattle's South Lake Union Streetcar enjoy, passengers on Tokyo's subway trains barely have space to breathe.

You'll never think of your commute the same way after you see a series of shots photographer Michael Wolf has captured.

Wolf has been capturing the cramped conditions of Japanese subway for 15 years. He's just published a third book of photos of Tokyo's Compression. It's worth a click here to see some of the sweaty, exhausted, smashed-up-against-the-glass passengers.

Standing on the platform as the train doors close, Wolf captures passengers' facial expressions. Most of them seem to surrender to the situation.

He spent 20 days, every morning from 7:30 until 8:45 at the same subway station shooting portraits of people on their way to work.

"The images create a sense of discomfort as his victims attempt to squirm out of view or simply close their eyes, wishing the photographer to go away," Wolf says on his website. "Tokyo Compression depicts an urban hell."

That wouldn't be his experience on Seattle's Streetcar.

The system, which is owned by the City of Seattle but operated by Metro Transit, has been around for almost three years and averages about 2,500 riders a day.

Ridership on the city's one streetcar line has increased from about 400,000 passengers in 2008 to more than 700,000 last year.

Construction started in April on the First Hill Streetcar line. When finished, that 2.5 mile route will connect Capitol Hill, First Hill, Central Area, Yesler Terrace, the Chinatown International District, and Pioneer Square.

While it's unlikely Seattle's streetcar system will get crowded enough to feature faces pressed against the windows, the city wants to spend as much as $10 million to study or design more streetcar lines, including one to Ballard.

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (6)


  • Add A Comment

  • hpygolkyone wrote...
    Hahahaha...........
    November 20, 2012 9:19 pm
    #77 gets my vote for what it must be like to be packed into a Tokyo subway.

    Unless you go to the link, you won't have any idea what I'm talking about.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Tracy White wrote...
    #77 translates to #22 in the URL
    November 21, 2012 6:28 am
    If you hover over the pictures the address for that one shows up as photo 22.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Mavila wrote...
    "Lonely Seattle streetcar riders don't know how lucky they are"
    November 21, 2012 7:27 am
    To have their empty little toy's operating costs largely paid for in full by people who've probably never even seen the streetcar.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    "While it's unlikely Seattle's streetcar system will get crowded enough to feature faces pressed against the windows, the city wants to spend as much as $10 million to study or design more streetcar lines, including one to Ballard. "
    November 21, 2012 9:13 am
    At taxpayers expense....that won't have enough ridership to make it viable....much like the train comming down from everett
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • grow up/get real wrote...
    Streetcars and light rail have done NOTHING
    November 21, 2012 11:05 am
    to improve traffic flow or getting the majority of the masses around any more efficiently. As Mavila wrote, they are a "feel-good" toy of politicians thinking they know what is better for us than we do. How about just putting some effort into building one darn 520 pontoon that doesn't have a hole in it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Mavila wrote...
    2500 People a Day
    November 22, 2012 12:22 pm
    There's no way they get 2500 riders a day. I live in the neighborhood and see it routinely with fewer than a dozen people. MAYBE during peak summer tourist season but I'd doubt even that.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }