In May, the Sound Transit Board of Directors shared an updated Sound Transit 3 (ST3) System Plan that outlines the next phase of transit expansion. ST3 is a voter-approved $54 billion mass transit expansion program for the central Puget Sound region.
KIRO host John Curley, a longtime skeptic of public transportation and its ballooning costs, brought on Charles Prestrud, the director of the Coles Center for Transportation and transportation policy expert for The Washington Policy Center, to discuss where Sound Transit went wrong.
“I forget the psychological condition, but we have a real problem with sunk cost. ST3 and Sound Transit, as you have shown, the money was how much?” Curley asked. “When will it be delivered? How much will it cost? How many people will it carry? Where will it go? The sunk cost problem on this thing. They continue to spend more and more money. What happens, Charles? Does it ever run out of money? Are they ever asked to pay the piper on this stuff?”…