> In multiple cities ridership is down even as more money has been spent on rail.

In other cities maybe, but not in Seattle. Ridership on the Link Light Rail has gone way up since the UW extension opened.

> Transportation options are becoming more personalized with Uber, Lyft, and autonomous cars around the corner,

Uber and Lyft exist in Seattle today, and they clearly aren't enough to solve the problem, since commute times are still increasing (2x since 2010). Autonomous cars can't fix it either - the only way autonomous cars can actually decrease congestion is if ALL the cars on the road are networked and there can be a computer somewhere doing birds-eye planning on the whole fleet. That scenario is many decades away if it happens at all.

Also, as another commenter pointed out, Sound Transit is specifically investigating how to incorporate autonomous vehicles into their planning as part of this proposal.