It seemed like a scene from the future: Step onto a bus, find a
good seat, crack open a laptop, log on to the Wi-Fi and stay
connected for however long it takes to get to wherever you’re
going. But a few years later, the actual reality is much
different — with public transit riders instead thumbing through
their smartphones, reading their Kindles or browsing on tablets
connected to mobile broadband networks. The increased adoption
of smartphones, coupled with the emergence of iPads and other
tablet computers, means that the need for available Wi-Fi while
commuting is dissipating. That decline in demand is also
reducing the supply. Seattle and King County transit officials
seem to agree: the availability of Wi-Fi on public
transportation has actually decreased in recent years. In 2005,
King County announced the testing of Wi-Fi services on Metro
buses, which has since been cancelled. However, Sound Transit
has adopted a free Wi-Fi service on 34 of its express buses, but
only on buses which primarily service tw