It’s a time of big changes for Seattle’s Pike Place Market.
Last month, after decades of debate, the Market announced the test run of a ban on some types of cars. Vehicles needed for vendor deliveries, emergencies and some customer pickups are still allowed, as are cars with disability parking permits. But the tourist vehicles that once crawled through summer crowds at the pace of a burrowing geoduck are now banned.
The vehicle restriction marks a new era for the century-old institution, following the opening of several new and revitalized public areas local leaders hope will make the neighborhood more connected than ever — and more inviting to the local residents.
“A stroll on Pike Place is different than it has been,” said Rachel Ligtenberg, executive director of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority. “If we’re doing things well and we’re doing things right, it will really feel like there’s even more reason for our local community to spend more time in the Market.”
A visitor to the Market can now begin their journey at the new Waterfront Park, entering its first summer after a lengthy redevelopment and the 2019 demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Walkers can cross Elliott Way through the new Overlook Walk and enter the Market through Victor Steinbrueck Park, which reopened in March after a lengthy closure tied to a dispute over totem poles.
After making their way through the newly pedestrianized Market, visitors can make their way downtown through a revitalized pedestrian-only plaza on First and Pike, which opened last month with new furniture, planters and daily programming.
The entire trip will be almost completely car-free.
“There’s some real beauty about all those interconnected pieces that just make for a really inspiring and pleasant journey,” Ligtenberg said. “It is vastly more walkable.”
The new car ban covers only the first main block of Pike Place, between Pike and Pine Streets. It’s subject to tweaks and slated to last only through the summer, but could become permanent. The decades-old debate over whether banning cars would help or hurt the Market — and its broader role in the city — is ongoing.
Learning curve
Like all big changes, the new car policy has taken some getting used to.
Panos Koutlas works at Tiny’s Organic, an apple cider stand on Pike Place near the intersection with Pine Street with a front row seat to the Market’s rhythms.
“It’s been … confusing,” Koutlas said as he served customers apple cider on a recent weekday. “Lots of people making U-turns right there, clogging up the Market.”
While he was talking, a Prius driving down Pine Street took a wrong turn and started down the one block of Pike Place now closed to cars. Someone whistled, and it took the confused driver a minute or two to make a U-turn amid the moving crowds. A delivery truck had to back up to make way.
“See?” Koutlas said. “And then that creates a whole issue.”
Koutlas said something like that happens about “every 10 minutes” now. Regardless, he thinks the new car policy is a great idea, and that any initial confusion will eventually work itself out. He also thinks the new skybridge will bring in more foot traffic during the summer.
The car ban, which the Market is describing as a “limited vehicle access pilot,” began April 23. Flaggers with the Seattle Department of Transportation are now stationed next to a “street closed” sign at the Market’s main entrance on Pike Street and Pike Place.
The idea of closing Pike Place to cars has been floating around for decades. It gained steam in recent years amid vehicle attacks on pedestrians worldwide, pandemic recovery and a broader push for walkability. In his February state of the city address, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell publicly endorsed the idea, describing his vision for a “connected waterfront and Pike Place Market as one of the greatest pedestrian experiences in the country.”
Backed by groups like Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, the new car ban is tied to construction on Pike Place and Stewart Street. But Ligtenberg said it probably would have happened regardless. She said Market leaders had come to view the construction as an opportunity instead of a liability.
“It was a shift of mind like, ‘Oh my goddess, that is our moment,’ Ligtenberg said. “There is almost visual justification” for closing the street to traffic.
Local access
Inside the Market arcade, Casey Ford was helping to pass out salmon samples at City Fish. He’s been working on and off in the market for nearly two decades, and supports restricting traffic. It’s a “pain in the ass” when cars clog the street, he said.
“In the summertime, there’s too many people down here for cars to be driving through,” Ford said. “We get a little jaded to it.”
Prior to the car ban, it was common to see tourists in vehicles inching through the crowds, seemingly confused and in a situation they hadn’t intended. Ligtenberg said SDOT is working to “geofence” the street so rideshare apps will stop directing drivers there when people type in “Pike Place Market.”
The dense mix of cars and people sometimes caused safety issues. In 2022, a road rage incident in the Market sent one pedestrian to the hospital.
“I don’t think there should be cars down here because it’s pretty dangerous,” said Camilla Holman, co-owner of Seattle Hairwraps, a business her mom started in the 1980s.
Holman said cars often drive too fast down Pike Place, and she’s seen drivers and pedestrians yelling at each other on multiple occasions. She thinks banning cars is the right approach, and would support making it permanent and expanding it to cover the entire street.
“There’s other ways you can get down here, it’s pretty walkable, you could use bikes, scooters or buses,” Holman said.
Some vendors were more ambivalent about the change.
“I think we need a little bit more time to see how it’s going to affect business,” said Tess Kittleson-Fry as she passed out Autumn Crisp grape samples at Choice Produce and Peppers. “I see both sides of it.”
Ligtenberg said the new car policy, in tandem with new connections to revitalized pedestrian areas, fits into a broader question the Market has recently been grappling with: how to re-energize relationships with locals.
Last year, the Market adopted a new master plan that identified declining local attendance as a problem. Cell phone data showed that fewer than one in three visitors were from the Puget Sound area, and the master plan warned that an increasing skew toward tourists risked stripping the Market of the authenticity that made it an attractive destination in the first place.
Going forward, Ligtenberg said the Market is putting locals “at the center of everything we do.” She said the Market already saw an increase in local visitors during the opening of the Overlook Walk last fall.
‘Moment of beauty’
Not all vendors are happy about the Market’s new direction.
Last week, Johnny Hahn was playing the piano at his usual spot outside Cinnamon Works on the corner of Pine and Pike Place. He’s been busking in the Market for nearly four decades.
“Horrible, 100% horrible,” Hahn said when asked about the car ban. “It’s really bad for a lot of the commercial activity in the Market.”
Hahn thinks the new policy has pushed foot traffic into the road — and away from the sidewalks where he and other performers make their living.
“As an environmentalist, as a humanist, I get the value of there not being cars here,” Hahn said. “But I also get, as someone trying to make a living here, it sucks. Because the history of the Market is vehicles go through the Market. I don’t know, it’s a messy thing.”
Hahn acknowledges that some of the downturn in business is attributable to construction. In addition to the street repair work, several storefronts next to Cinnamon Works are closed to accommodate second-story deck repair work. Hahn’s piano now battles the sound of jackhammers and construction trucks.
Ligtenberg said the Market is monitoring foot traffic during the car ban, and hasn’t seen “anything that causes great concern” in the policy’s first week. Still, she said the Market is planning to listen to feedback from vendors like Hahn and tweak the policy as necessary.
“We have a lot of confidence that, as we create these enriching experiences in all corners of the Market, our visitors will continue to find their way to these businesses,” Ligtenberg said.
Overall, Ligtenberg said feedback from vendors has been positive.
The pilot car ban is slated to last through the summer. After continuing to gather stakeholder feedback, Ligtenberg said the goal is to “adopt a comprehensive street management plan” well ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Seattle. She said the mayor’s office and SDOT have indicated that they’ll look to the Market PDA for final decision-making.
Pike Place Market saw 20.3 million visitors last year, and Ligtenberg said visitor traffic was up 6.5% in the first quarter of 2025. She’s expecting a busy summer. The new Waterfront Park is planning to host more than 270 free public events, and she hopes attendees will pair their visit with a trip to the Market.
As part of the drive to increase visits from local residents, the Market PDA is also expanding farmers markets on Wednesdays and working on other partnerships and events that “give our locals even more reason to be here,” Ligtenberg said. At the end of May, the Market is planning to significantly expand outdoor seating on the newly pedestrianized street.
“This is a non-comparable moment of beauty,” Ligtenberg said.
Balancing a need for change while also preserving the legacy of a century-old institution can be tricky, Ligtenberg said. But she’s confident the fundamental Market experience will stay the same. Gum will continue to be bought, chewed and stuck to walls. Fish will keep flying. As for Hahn, he plans to keep playing his piano.
