Tacoma Link

The Tacoma Link (now called "Line T" or "The Orange Line") is a streetcar or light rail system located in Tacoma, Washington, and operated by the regional transit agency, Sound Transit. Although considered to be part of the Link Light Rail system that connects downtown Seattle with SeaTac Airport (and in fact, is 15 miles south of where the line ends), the line is not connected, and uses a different type of car, and for a different purpose. But despite being disconnected and serving a smaller city, the line was the first part of the Link system to open, in 2003, as opposed to the Seattle section, which opened in 2009.

The Tacoma Link currently has six stations, starting at the Tacoma Dome, and going to downtown Tacoma, a little over a mile away. The line is fareless, and runs from morning to late evening during the week, and during the day during weekends. The main purpose of the train is to help people make the short trip between the train and bus station around the Tacoma Dome and Tacoma's downtown arts and entertainment district. In 2023, the line is expected to be extended to residential areas of Tacoma. In 2032, it is expected to be connected with the rest of the Link network, and in-between 2039 and 2041, it is expected to continue to Tacoma Community College, which is a long time to wait for a train.

In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, about one million people rode the Tacoma Link. This is compared to 25,000,000 people who rode the Seattle to SeaTac Link Line, or about 40,000,000 who rode the TriMet MAX system in Portland, Oregon. One million riders is not a small amount, but it shows that the Tacoma Link is not a robust part of a large scale mass transit infrastructure, but is instead a street car system with limited utility. As with many other places in the United States, transportation infrastucture suffers from both geographical and jurisdictional problems, and sometimes piecemeal solutions, while good enough on their own, fail to form a coherent system.