By James Robert Deal, Attorney
 
Traffic is bad and getting worse. Our population and our economy are growing. Finishing Link Light Rail, widening the freeways, eliminating choke points will take decades and cost billions of dollars. After decades there will be more cars and new choke points, and we will have to spend billions more.
 
Park & Ride lots are maxed out. Lynnwood Park & Ride, with 1,368 stalls, is maxed out at 7 a.m. Late-comers have no choice but to drive on into the traffic jam. Even in the HOV lane it can take 90 minutes to go from Lynnwood to Bellevue. And traffic it is getting worse every day. The Everett Boeing parking lot, with 6,000 stalls is maxed out at 6 a.m. There would appear to be no solution.
 
I believe there is a solution: It is door-to-door transit using a flex van system.
 
Assume I am going from my home in Lynnwood to a deposition in Bellevue. I would take out my iPhone and go into my Regional Transit UberX-like app, and request a van. A van would pick me up at my front door and take me and three or five others to the Lynnwood Transit Center. I would take a fast bus to the Bellevue Transit Center, where I would board another van which would take me and three or five others on to my ultimate destination.
 
Regional Transit could sub-contract with UberX to set up the cell phone app. Vans would be driven by responsible, well-trained union drivers. This could all be set up in three months. If UberX can provide door-to-door service on a single passenger basis, public transit could do so on a multi-passenger basis.
 
We know what the problem is. Look around as you drive the freeway. Most cars are driven single-occupancy. If half of those now driving SOV switch to the flex van system, there will be half as many cars on the freeway. There would be no traffic problems, so those who really do need to take their own car will be able to do so. There would be fewer drivers parking at Park & Ride lots, so those who really need to park there will be able to do so.
 
And we would make real progress in reducing CO2 emissions.
 
This service would be provided as an add-on to regular freeway bus fees. A daily user might pay from $100 to $150 per month on top of what he currently pays for bus fares on the freeway. That would be a bargain, considering that it costs around $745 per month to own and operate a car. The more people who sign up for the flex van system, the more vans would be on call; the faster the service would be; and the more financially successful it would be.
 
The flex van system would initially target two populations, first, those who commute on the freeways. It would deliver tens of thousands of additional riders to transit centers and take tens of thousands of cars off the freeways.
 
Second, it would target those too poor to afford a car, those who cannot drive (maybe because their eyesight is bad), and those who would just rather not drive, like me. I hate to drive. Most people hate to drive. Large numbers of people would sign up for such a service. I would. It would mean that I could leave my car at home and not worry about avoiding wrecks, finding parking, and filling up the gas tank. It should be feasible for a person to get around well without owning a car.
 
The problem with our current transit system and the reason why more people do not use it is that it delivers a fragmented, disconnected, incomplete set of services. A person has to get to the bus stop or transit center on his own, and that usually driving and/or taking a hike. At the other end, the bus drops the rider off short of his destination. It is up to him to research bus schedules, wait in the rain for a local bus, and then take a final hike to his ultimate destination. This is just too inconvenient, and so most people do not use public transit.
 
Why do we put up with this inefficiency? First, because the flexibility I propose would not have been possible before smart phones came along and before UberX and Lift proved that such flexibility is feasible. Second, we put up with it because we presume that the way things have always been is the way things ought to be. Trains ran fixed routes, so buses run fixed routes. It is because we are creatures of habit.
 
There is nothing wrong with buses running fixed routes and schedules, provided they run full. Late at night, even on routes where buses are packed during the day, most buses run mostly empty. On most local routes here in Lynnwood, most buses run mostly empty most of the time. The sales tax we pay to subsidize the buses is mostly wasted. A flex van system would help fill up the buses and make our sales tax transit dollars go a lot further. If we implement a flex van system, we would probably be able to complete Link Light Rail to Everett and Tacoma without raising the sales tax rate.
 
For more details go to www.Comprehensive-Transportation.Blogspot.com.