The Austin Area Research Organization (AARO) urges voters to approve the City of Austin’s Proposition A to support implementation of the 2020 Project Connect System Plan. Central Texas will continue to be an attractive place to live, work, play and visit in the post-pandemic world. The regional population is projected to reach 4.7 million people by 2045, traversing the region in ways we can only imagine. While an increasing number of these people will be able to work from home, the vast majority will need to leave home for work or school. Ride sharing services, buses in managed lanes and planning for proximity between jobs and housing can all help, but the sheer volume of people moving into, and communting daily through, the region requires transit-at-scale — an integrated system of rail and high capacity bus lines — to make our transportation system work. The 2020 Project Connect System Plan (Project Connect) represents a wise investment in transit-at-scale. It is a well-crafted system with layers of service types appropriate to current and anticipated ridership density in each corridor. It establishes …