New ST Board Members, Same Incompetence

The video of the February 5th Sound Transit Executive Council followed by that of the Rider Experience and Operations Committee continues to portray the results of a board made up of well-meaning elected officials who have no idea what constitutes effective public transit.

The executive council "For Recommendation to the Board" portion of the meeting dealt with the 2026-2030 Sustainability Plan.  Their action plan to "Strengthen fleet decarbonation" was to “Sunset purchases of  fossil fuel-powered revenue fleet vehicles by 2030 and achieve GFG-neutral Link light rail service" and “Update Climate Resilience plan for the existing system”. The presentation concluded with the executive council approving Motion No. M2026-06 directing CEO to implement decarbonization goals and fleet management commitments

 

All the concern about the need to reduce Sound Transit CO2 emissions seemingly ignored the benefit of reducing emissions by reducing the emissions from cars..  The WSDOT 8:00 a.m. average travel times for the 26.86-mile  Everetts to Bellevue took 63 minutes and.the 24.13 miles from Federal Way to Bellevue took 61 minutes. Reducing those travel times for fossil-fueled cars would reduce their emissions.  Reducing  travel times and congestion requires reducing the number of cars on the road.  Thus, adding a bus route, even fossil-fueled, could reduce cars and emissions far more than any Sound Transit fleet reductions.

 

The "Reports to the Committee" portion dealt with the Enterprise Initiative, Economic Development, and 2026 Executive Committee Work Plan.  All detailing plans to spend millions attempting to reduce the costs of implementing ST3 extensions. As usual, the executive committee unanimously approved them, ignoring the possibility of saving billions by simply terminating them instead. 

 

The Rider Experience and Operations Committee meeting raised questions involving the following motion.

 

Motion No. M2026-07: Authorizing the chief executive officer to execute a contract modification with Insight Public Sector, Inc.to provide additional Microsoft software, support, and related maintenance services in the amount of $8,400,000, for a new total authorized contract amount not to exceed $18,255,000 plus applicable taxes.

 

Why was the committee allowed to authorize spending more than $18 million rather than just recommend the spending to the board?  Last year the board passed Motion No. M2025 approving Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC) with 22 companies for up to seven years and $1,000 million. It stipulated orders exceeding $10 million required Executive Committee or Board approval.  Why was  Insight Public Sector Inc, a Business management consultant in Chantilly, Virginia, approved to spend up to more than $18 million this year by the Rider Experience and Operations Committee?

 

The bottom line is the new Sound Transit Board attempts to reduce carbon emissions and  their Enterprise Initiative attempts to reduce costs for ST3 extensions continue to reflect their failure to recognize what’s needed to reduce the area’s transit system cost and congestion.