[Makid]

The speed and efficiency that can be gained with a double tracked and electrified FrontRunner cannot be replaced with BRT.

Standard flow for transit:

Local Route (City)
Bus
BRT
Streetcar/LRT
Subway

Small Regional Route (County)
Bus
Express Bus
BRT
LRT

Large Regional Route (Multi-County)
Express Bus
LRT
Commuter Rail

Very Large Regional Route (Inter-State)
Express Bus
Commuter Rail
HSR

In no situation that I am aware of has BRT ever replaced an operational LRT or Commuter Rail line, ever.

The costs of a full length, bi-directional BRT line from Brigham City to Payson, even using the existing FrontRunner ROW would be close to $2.5 Billion to construct.

To double track and electrify FrontRunner would be approximately $2 Billion, IIR.

So in initial costs, it is cheaper to double track and electrify FrontRunner. It would also be cheaper to operate FrontRunner than BRT. While, ideally you could use driverless trains vs driverless buses for the route, that just isn't going to happen today. With FrontRunner having been operating at Standing Room Only for the past year multiple times each day, it would take 4 to 5 times the operators and buses to equal what rail can move. This gets even more out of scale when you can add a car to the FrontRunner train to move more people where for BRT you need another bus and driver.

Lastly, there is the ability to expand and enhance the routes. FrontRunner could be expanded down to Nephi, Fillmore, Moab, and even St. George if there was a need or desire. FrontRunner would also be able to move trains at 90 MPH with just double tracking. It would require minimal upgrades to reach maximum speeds of 110 MPH once electrified. BRT tops out at what 75 MPH maybe? This is still slower than the current max speed of 79 MPH for FrontRunner today.

It is sad that this ever needed to be a thought that someone wanted to discuss.

I will say though that as part of the States COVID 3.0 process, there will be State bonding for construction ready projects. I have heard previously that at least double tracking FrontRunner was in the top 5 infrastructure projects along the Wasatch Front. To my knowledge, the only thing needed to begin double tracking FrontRunner is funding. All the environmental work has been done previously.

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There are also 2 items that are on the Interim Study list that are of interest:

Amount and use of recently imposed second, third and fourth quarters by UTA and other transit districts.
Probable use of 5th quarter by transit districts, if imposed.

It looks like they are looking at more information for the additional 0.25% Sales Tax increase. I know that Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, and Tooele Counties are all able to access the additional sales tax increase starting in 2022 with just a County Council approval. I am not sure if Utah County has enacted all of the increases or not.

This additional sales tax increase has been eyed up by some members of the State Legislature as a way to pay for the Trax extension to Utah County and the double tracking and electrification of FrontRunner.