Tacoma Link

History

A century ago Tacoma, like many American cities, had an extensive rail transit system. The first two streetcar lines in Tacoma were constructed in 1888 along the lengths of Pacific Avenue and Tacoma Avenue. A pair of horses pulled each of the yellow streetcars. The lines were a success from the start, carrying many passengers, and were very soon thereafter extended. From these few lines others sprang up, each emanating from Downtown Tacoma into the surrounding areas, allowing for houses and business areas to develop. At its peak the Tacoma Railway and Power Company was transporting in the range of 30,000,000 passengers a year, a number still not reached by the modern Pierce Transit. However, because of increasing government subsidies for road construction (some of which were paid for by transit riders) the trolleys were finding it more difficult to operate in an environment increasingly dominated by personal automobiles and taxis. The year that US 99 was completed commuter traffic between Tacoma and Seattle via the electric Interurban fell off nearly 40%, signaling the end of the trolley era. The last streetcars in Tacoma ran on June 11, 1938. The system was replaced with brand new rubber-tired buses that could more easily move in and out of the growing amounts of traffic in downtown. However, the system failed again and was eventually acquired by Tacoma, becoming the precursor of Pierce Transit.

Operations

Tacoma Link takes about 10 minutes to traverse its entire 1.6 mile route from the Tacoma Dome Station to the Theater District/ S. 9th St. Station. Tacoma Link service begins at 5AM on weekdays, 7:48AM on Saturdays, and 9:48AM on Sundays. Service ends at 10:10PM on weekdays and Saturdays and 5:48PM on Sundays.

Tacoma Link currently operates with the following headways:

Fares

As of 2016, fares are not charged on Tacoma Link. A $1.50 fare is planned to be collected after the opening of the Hilltop extension in 2022, delayed from earlier plans to begin collecting fares in 2014 and 2016 through subsidies from the Tacoma Business Improvement Area.

Stations

The 1.6-mile (2.6 km) line runs from the Tacoma Dome through downtown to the Theater District. This allows users to park, or transfer from buses or Sounder and ride Link into downtown destinations. Each station also features artwork that reflects the history of the surrounding area.

Tacoma Dome

This is the terminus of the line. It allows connections to Sound Transit and Pierce Transit buses, Sounder trains, plus Greyhound. The Tacoma Dome is only a couple blocks away. Freighthouse Square, an indoor shopping mall, is located across the street.

Artwork at the station reflects the areas history with the railroads (Freighthouse Square, for example, was an actual freighthouse for the Milwaukee Road) and the large amount of lumber mills that existed in the area. Art consists of the following:

South 25th

Right before the line turns on to Pacific Avenue and heads downtown, we find the South 25th Station. This is a single track station on one side of the street. This station's primary purpose is to serve bus lines on Pacific, but it also targets an area ripe for redevelopment and is close to the Brown and Haley candy factory.

Artwork at this station consists mainly of large fishing lures on the roof of the station platform that move in the wind. This is to reflect the fishing lure manufacture that used to take place in the area.

Union Station

This station serves many museums and other locations in the heart of downtown Tacoma. It is a double-track station in the median. The station serves University of Washington, Tacoma, Museum of Glass, Washington State History Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Union Station, a former train station that is now federal courts, local restaurants and businesses, and new condo and apartment developments. During major events on the Foss Waterway, such as the 2005 Tall Ships Festival this station serves as a major transfer point. Many Tacoma School of the Arts students also use this station to get to their classes around downtown, such as those classes located at the Broadway Center for Performing Arts.

Artwork at the station reflects the area's American Indian culture, and the manufacturing and shipbuilding that took place in the vicinity (including in many of the buildings used by UW Tacoma). Artwork includes:

Convention Center

This station serves the new Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center, the Hotel Murano and major downtown employers such as Rainier Pacific Bank and Davita. The station platforms are split on either side of the street.

Artwork at the station includes colored panels in the roof and towers of rocks, evoking a Buddhist temple that used to exist in the area.

Commerce Street

In September 2011, Sound Transit and the City of Tacoma opened the new Commerce Street/ S. 11th St. Station in downtown Tacoma. An infill station, the Commerce Street station is the latest addition to the Tacoma Link. The orientation of the station is similar to others on the route with two 40-foot platforms on each side of Commerce Street.

Theater District

The theater District station is the current terminus of the line. This station serves the Theater District, Antique Row, City Hall, Pantages Theater, and several clubs and businesses. It is a single-tracked station on one side of the street.

Artwork at the station reflects the Theater District:

Rolling stock

The line is served by 3 partially low-floor articulated Škoda 10 T rail cars made in Pilsen, Czech Republic in 2002. These rail cars are 66 feet long, about 8 feet wide, and have two articulations in the middle. They are unable to be coupled and have a maximum capacity of 56 passengers. The cars draw their power from 750-volt overhead wires.

Hilltop Extension

Sound Transit is planning a 2.4-mile-long (3.9 km), 6-station extension of Tacoma Link to the Hilltop neighborhood west of Downtown Tacoma, scheduled to open in 2022. The line was approved by voters in 2008 and will run north on Stadium Way to the Stadium District, west on Division Street to Tacoma General Hospital, and south on Martin Luther King Jr. Way to South 19th Street near St. Joseph Medical Center. The Hilltop Extension is estimated to cost $175 million and begin construction in 2018 after federal funding is secured. As part of the project, the South 9th Street/Theater District station will be relocated one block north and headways on the entire line will be lowered to 10 minutes.

Tacoma Community College Extension

An extension beyond the Hilltop neighborhood to the Tacoma Community College campus in western Tacoma is funded by the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure that was approved by voters in 2016. The draft plan estimates that the 3.5-mile-long (5.6 km) line could open in 2041 with 6 stations at a cost of $447–478 million to serve 13,000–17,000 daily riders.

Other proposals

In 2004, the Puyallup Tribe commissioned a study to determine the feasibility of extending light rail to their planned casino resort complex near Interstate 5 and State Route 167 in eastern Tacoma. The extension would've added 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and three stations to the line, at a cost of $38 to $75 million depending on the chosen alignment.