Streetcar Companies Balk at City Lighting Mandate
Seattle's transit operators claim they cannot afford to install lights along their tracks as ordered by the City Council.
The Union Trunk Line, the Seattle Consolidated Street Railway Company, and the Third Street Suburban Railway Company yesterday received formal notice from the city that they must erect lights along their lines. Representatives of the roads when seen were unable to say whether or not they would comply with the city's order. 'We will have a directors' meeting,' said J. D. Lowman, of the Union Trunk Line, 'and we will then take such steps as we deem proper. The truth is that to comply with the city's demand will necessitate the outlay of from $5,000 to $10,000. And I don't believe that we could raise that sum at this time, even if a judgment was recovered against us. I think that if the city insists on the lighting up of our lines it will simply mean that our road will be driven into other hands.' Receiver Backus, of the Seattle Consolidated, said, 'I have made what I consider a very fair proposal to the city authorities. I agreed to erect lights along our line if the city would give our company a franchise to furnish light to outside parties. The council, however, did not consider it; otherwise it would have consented to it.'
“I don't believe that we could raise that sum at this time, even if a judgment was recovered against us.”
This 1895 dispute over infrastructure costs and municipal mandates mirrors modern Seattle debates where transit agencies and private developers often clash with the city over the financial burden of public improvements. The threat of the lines being 'driven into other hands' highlights the precarious nature of early private transit monopolies in a growing city.
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