Sound Transit’s expansion will be obsolete before it’s built

An OpEd I wrote for the Seattle Times regarding Sound Transit’s proposed $54B expansion in the Seattle area.  :


AS Puget Sound taxpayers weigh Sound Transit’s $54 billion proposed expansion — a plan calling for 10 times the investment spent doubling the Panama Canal’s capacity — it’s important to ask whether it will be obsolete before it is done?

The light-rail and rapid-ride bus proposal called ST3 will be on the November general election ballot. As proposed, it would be constructed over the next 25 years and is projected to provide transit an additional 1 percent of daily trips by 2040. Some say “we must do something” to address the growing traffic congestion in the Puget Sound region and that ST3 is our best bet. But several major trends are fundamentally changing the nature of mobility around the world and will likely cause ST3 to be obsolete before the ribbons are cut.

 At INRIX, we call these trends ACES, which stands for “autonomous, connected, electric and shared” vehicles. These four megatrends already are having a big impact around the world.
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About Bryan Mistele

I'm Bryan Mistele, the founder & CEO of INRIX, the leading provider of traffic information, connected car services and transportation analytics. I’m a Microsoft, HBS and UofM alum. Father of two great kids, one lovely wife and a very time-consuming company. Passionate about boating, politics and Christianity.

Posted on July 10, 2016, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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