What's Happening in Kirkland, WA…

Kirkland is teaming up with Bellevue to bring self-driving vans to the area.

Staff members from both cities drafted the ‘CommutePool’ program, a grant request they submitted recently to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The cities requested $3m, which they will use to partially fund the $9m project.

The idea of creating pools of self-driving vans is becoming increasing attractive to employers in the area, who are concerned about gridlock in the region. They point out that low- and moderate-income workers are being forced to live further and further away from job centers like Bellevue and Kirkland. In turn, this creates more congestion and longer commutes.

There has been a van pool program in operation in King County since 1991, but pick-up times in both directions are already set, and patrons have to sign up if they want to use the service. As workers' schedules grow more flexible, a service with rigid times does not work for them. The fleet now being proposed would allow commuters to schedule their own rides using an app Amazon is currently developing.

If all goes well, officials believe a fleet of as many as 200 self-driving vans could be operating in the region by Spring 2019.

Officials dealing with measures like this often use flyer printing to disseminate information to interested parties.