This story feels like we're being sent chasing the rabbit as to how this affects Sound Transit and not: (1) The impact on especially low-income people; and (2) The ethical aspect of using an unfair depreciation schedule that the lawmakers replaced in 2006. Those two items deserve at least equal attention in this story. Nobody should feel sorry for the agency!

I'd rather the agency trim $6 billion by being forced to be ethical. They had to adjust when sales tax revenues weren't what they thought they would be during the Great Recession. Save $1 billion by going directly to Everett via I-5 and get there 5 years sooner. Add on the loop to Boeing using bus rapid transit, which could be up and running by 2020, before Northgate Link, for $1 million by using the existing BRT line's stations from Casino Road/Evergreen Way to downtown Everett, meaning no right-of-way acquisition time/costs. The other, south, part of the loop is already underway. Therefore, the only costs are drivers and buses.