In April 1997, the line was extended from its north end, to the RiverPlace district,Goetze, Janet (April 25, 1997). "Trolley gets new platform, new track". The Oregonian, Metro South edition p. D2. increasing its overall length to about . Charlie Hales, then a city commissioner, opined in 1998 that the line had an important future as part of the MAX light rail system. Because of major construction in the then-new South Waterfront district, the new section of track was last used in September 2003, and service was thereafter cut back to a new terminal located immediately south of Bancroft Street. The Blackpool double-decker was taken out of regular use on the Willamette Shore Trolley in late 2003 and was moved in May 2006 to OERHS's museum, the Oregon Electric Railway Museum, in Brooks, Oregon. After that, the 1932 Portland Brill streetcar, No. 813, became the only streetcar serving the WST line.
