Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by stayinginformed

Maybe they will have to hire some attendants to help fill the trains like they do in Japan.

• Video Link

Just two words comes to mind. Fire code?

[ajiuO]

That is pure insanity. They should just have a second train running right behind that one... I don't want it to ever get that packed with people here.

[SLCdude]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

I wouldn't be surprised if UTA quickly brought back morning University TRAX trains from the FrontRunner station to the University.

I think figuring out a way to connect the Intermodal hub to the U of U via rail (with no transfers) should be one of UTA's major priorities. I'm sure they've probably done numerous studies on an East-West connection but I'm hoping for the best!


There was actually quite a bit of confusion among passengers when I rode TRAX today. I had to explain to an older woman at Gallivan Plaza station that she would first need to take a Blue or Green train to Courthouse station before she could take a Red train.

[SLC4L]

I was just coming here to say the same things. I got on the train before my normal one because I had a feeling there'd be problems. As soon as we stopped and the driver said we'd be waiting in the same spot for about five minutes, I just kinda nodded to myself as if nothing were new.

Then he started the train up again and 30 people fell onto me.

[farmerboy]

Very frustrating first day of school. The train I was waiting for at Trolley was 16 minutes late. I'm guessing it was broken down, because we could see it just sitting there at the Library station for 10 minutes. Arggghhh! Same thing for my friend riding a train later in the day running 10 minutes late.

[RC14]

I hope people dont get frustrated and stop riding the train.

[i-215]

I'll sit in ANY freeway jam, no matter the financial and emotional cost before I'd ride any subway like that Japan one stayinginformed posted. Geez!

Thank heavens UTA is fairly "empty."

[xseven]

Originally Posted by stayinginformed

Maybe they will have to hire some attendants to help fill the trains like they do in Japan.

I love that video.

What a fantastic way to operate mass transit... White gloves and all.

[Sight-Seer]

I rode the West Valley route for the first time yesterday. I started at the 13th South / Ballpark station and rode to the end of the line. The whole trip took less than an hour. There was a 5-minute wait at the end of the line. The stations are next to something you might want to do. If you want to walk by the river (where I often take my dog), there's a stop a block away. If you're going to the Maverik Center, there's a stop a block away. Or if you are going to the Valley Fair Mall, there's a stop across the street. I'm a real fan of TRAX. It's fast and smooth and mostly on time. It's great if it goes where you want to go.

[i-215]

And the frequency is excellent. I remember waiting 20 minutes for a train in the early days. Now it seems I never wait more than 5 minutes for a train. And they put the upcoming train schedules right up on the electronic boards.

[RC14]

Im sitting on the south bound green line train at Gallivan Plaza. They just said: "Ladys and gentleman, due to a car accident on the tracks up ahead, we will be forced to hold here for a few minutes, till they can clear off."
They just said "we may be holding here for as long as 30min."
Just in case anyone is planning on taking the train right now.

[RC14]

I never realized how many people ride the train everyday. Is anyone else seeing this? It looks like all trains are southbound from courthouse right now. I dont know if they have north or east bound trains further up. Oh they just said there are northbound trains from Gallivan. They were lettingvpeople off the trains in the middle of the street and just minutes ago there were croweds of people at the corner of 4th south and main, which btw is where the accident is. I took lots of pictures, but not many of the crowds.

[RC14]

Tracks are clear, should be back to normal. Sorry for the triple post.

[CountyLemonade]

Okay, here's the thing. I love public transportation. I'm a proponent of Trax expansion. The UTA may have problems administratively, but overall I commend them for what they're doing. However, ever since the Red and Green lines came into service it seems like they've been having continual problems getting trains to run on time, or even at all. Sunday I was in downtown and saw three trains (Red, Blue, and Green lines respectively) lined up on Main Street between 700 South and 500 South. I know that a lot of these operational issues aren't the fault of the UTA, but I feel as if some people will get turned off of public transit if these issues continue to plague the system. I know there are many who rely on transit and won't stop taking it on a whim, but nevertheless.

The mess that occurred on Monday is something I can't blame UTA for, however. People didn't inform themselves well enough. I think it was here that I read the 400 South/Main Street intersection can handle three lines. Well, the line to the U should connect to as large a population base as possible. Hence, the suburbs. Salt Lake City's downtown, as everyone knows, is small population-wise. Yes, there are those taking FrontRunner to Salt Lake and then needing to head up to the U, but that's why the UTA has the 2, 3, 220, and 228 buses that run between Central Station and various places on campus (which, according to the UTA, have always been faster connections to the U even when the University Line existed between Central Station and the Medical Center).

One other thing the UTA has no culpability for is the various auto/pedestrian accidents that have taken place. I have a firm belief that in the United States we don't teach new drivers how to, well, drive at all. Everyone remembers driver's ed. It was a joke. Well, when half the population can't drive effectively there are bound to be accidents. It's a shame. To all those who proclaim that light rail is dangerous, well... they do it in Europe. Heck, they have streetcars that share lanes with cars and somehow everyone lives. As for the recent pedestrian accidents: the 69-year-old man who perished a few days ago was either jaywalking or crossing the street on a "don't walk" signal. You'll never see a "walk" signal when Trax is crossing. You just won't. The teenage girl who was killed in West Jordan a couple months ago also didn't heed the railroad crossing signals. It's just a matter of common sense and consideration toward others, really, and that goes for everything we do (yes, that includes driving). There's nothing else to it.

I know I'm mostly preaching to the choir on this board. But I feel like I had to get this all out, especially after reading the comment boards on the Tribune website every time some story about Trax comes out. Rant's over.

[arkhitektor]

Hopefully service will get better in time. When FrontRunner opened, the service was honestly terrible. Trains were constantly delayed, I remember sitting for long stretches on siding tracks watching cars whiz by on I-15 and wondering why I was even bothering with transit. It took several months, but they made some schedule tweaks, and the service is much better. It's a shame that it takes them so long to work out the kinks and I wonder how many customers they lose in the process.

[Sight-Seer]

You haven't waited until you wait for a bus in a blizzard that never comes because of the weather. I'll take TRAX over buses any time. TRAX isn't affected as much by weather or traffic.

[SLCdude]

I rode the #2 bus from class today just to try it out. It was completely packed going westbound at 5:30PM... and when I say packed, I mean Japanese train packed. Is it normally that crowded during rush hour or is it a result of no longer having a U of U --> Hub TRAX line?

[John Martin]

I'll just warn you that I'm one of the few (if not the sole one) here who isn't part of "the choir," as I remain skeptical of the ongoing TRAX expansion and frenzy, and frankly, am still of the opinion that it's not good enough to justify the costs. I ride TRAX and UTA buses only because I have to pay for it in my tuition, but I'll admit, I think the trains are neat and we have a very nice set of vehicles, stations, etc.. I've ridden many transit systems around the world and none I've seen are as clean and well cared for as UTA. It's difficult for me to talk ill of it, but it has some major faults.

Earlier today I decided to take the 223 bus from the U campus to my parent's house in Holladay. It's a fairly straight shot and goes very close to where I need it to, so I like the route. The best part is that it takes almost exactly 30 minutes, while driving is only ten minutes shorter, and TRAX + the 45 bus would take up to twice as long. Furthermore, the 45 stops much further from the house so it's much less convenient. There's a major problem with the 223 bus, though, which is that it only runs every two hours. I don't blame UTA for this; hardly anyone rides the 223. On the latter half of the route it usually runs empty (as does the 45 for that matter). I have to arrange my whole afternoon around its schedule if I intend to take it. Even if the commute time with TRAX is nearly twice as long, it usually makes more sense to take one of the frequent trains in this case, because they'll get me there sooner. I can't help but wonder what could've been had TRAX not been built, and all the bus lines arranged to make TRAX the primary artery out of the suburbs. It's supposed to enable the suburbs, but for me it doesn't.

I'm not trying to start an argument or anything. I've heard many of the arguments again and again, and I'm simply not convinced that TRAX has made things better for the suburbs. Now I realize that I may be an exception to overall trends, and TRAX might be the best thing that happened to some people, but I can't help that. TRAX has made the transit system less convenient for me. I'm just trying to voice an opinion that never gets light around here.

[s.p.hansen]

Originally Posted by CountyLemonade

Okay, here's the thing. I love public transportation. I'm a proponent of Trax expansion. The UTA may have problems administratively, but overall I commend them for what they're doing. However, ever since the Red and Green lines came into service it seems like they've been having continual problems getting trains to run on time, or even at all. Sunday I was in downtown and saw three trains (Red, Blue, and Green lines respectively) lined up on Main Street between 700 South and 500 South. I know that a lot of these operational issues aren't the fault of the UTA, but I feel as if some people will get turned off of public transit if these issues continue to plague the system. I know there are many who rely on transit and won't stop taking it on a whim, but nevertheless.

The mess that occurred on Monday is something I can't blame UTA for, however. People didn't inform themselves well enough. I think it was here that I read the 400 South/Main Street intersection can handle three lines. Well, the line to the U should connect to as large a population base as possible. Hence, the suburbs. Salt Lake City's downtown, as everyone knows, is small population-wise. Yes, there are those taking FrontRunner to Salt Lake and then needing to head up to the U, but that's why the UTA has the 2, 3, 220, and 228 buses that run between Central Station and various places on campus (which, according to the UTA, have always been faster connections to the U even when the University Line existed between Central Station and the Medical Center).

One other thing the UTA has no culpability for is the various auto/pedestrian accidents that have taken place. I have a firm belief that in the United States we don't teach new drivers how to, well, drive at all. Everyone remembers driver's ed. It was a joke. Well, when half the population can't drive effectively there are bound to be accidents. It's a shame. To all those who proclaim that light rail is dangerous, well... they do it in Europe. Heck, they have streetcars that share lanes with cars and somehow everyone lives. As for the recent pedestrian accidents: the 69-year-old man who perished a few days ago was either jaywalking or crossing the street on a "don't walk" signal. You'll never see a "walk" signal when Trax is crossing. You just won't. The teenage girl who was killed in West Jordan a couple months ago also didn't heed the railroad crossing signals. It's just a matter of common sense and consideration toward others, really, and that goes for everything we do (yes, that includes driving). There's nothing else to it.

I know I'm mostly preaching to the choir on this board. But I feel like I had to get this all out, especially after reading the comment boards on the Tribune website every time some story about Trax comes out. Rant's over.

First of all Country Lemonade, you can't read the comments sections of the Trib or even Deseret News without feelings somewhat depressed about the state of mankind. So I would recommended doing so in moderation.

We are going through an awkward time right now with the new colored TRAX lines' configurations. It has to happen and things can and will be done to tweak it. Just like how major construction on the freeway is always traumatic and hurts people's routines, so does the after effects of adding a lot of new rail to an existing system that people rely on and love.

It's going to be awkward for some time, but the good news is that when the Airport and Draper extensions open they won't have to radically reformat everything again (having the Green line change from ending at the inter-model to the airport shouldn't be too scary; it's the Blue line that has to intercept the FrontRunner people there anyway).

[RC14]

^
^
I can sympathize with allot of your opinions. I am one of the lucky ones who now has almost door to door TRAX service between my house and work, with the new Green line. And I really like that. For me tacking TRAX is a no- brainer now. However, before the new line, it took me almost 40min to get to work and of course, I had to transfer at Millcreek. That was srtill very convenient compared to most people's commutes because the 35M is BRT and comes every 15min almost all day, but looking at UTA's system map, it doesn't look like many people have the same convenience.
I have mixed feelings about TRAX. It's really cool and usualy very convenient for people who live and work within about 2 blocks of the TRAX line. However there are many people who still end up paying for light rail, but would have to go out of their way to use it.
I'm not anti TRAX, it's done allot of good, I think. I'm grateful that I can ride it every day, but sometimes I have to question if it's really worth it. Look at the new West Valley line. It's UTA's most expensive line, but still cheap compared with other LRT lines in the country, It only has 4 stations and only one of them seems to have allot of use. I like the new line, I use it every day, but when I think of what it took to put it there and the number of people who will acctualy benefit from it, I wonder if rail is really as efficient as everyone thinks it is.