Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[Stenar]

That's pretty ridiculous, especially since it's not an entire line, just a few miles of extension.

Originally Posted by joscar

Just happened to take a look at yesterday's construction update for the Draper Extension. Looks like they don't plan on opening it until August 2013. It has been pretty much done for awhile, so I guess they didn't want the headache of opening it along with the line to the airport?

http://www.rideuta.com/mc/?page=Projects-FrontLines2015-DraperTRAXLine-Construction

Here's some info about the Draper Town Center historic display:
"Draper once was known as the “Egg Basket of America” and shipped “milk-white eggs” all over the country. The story will be told at the historical rail car display to be built at the Draper Town Center Park-and-Ride. Preliminary preparations for the historic rail car exhibit are started. An actual refrigerated rail car from the period is being transported from Kanab, Utah as the centerpiece of the exhibit, which also will include a water tower with a message welcoming people to Draperville."

[jedikermit]

The 5400 South Flex Lanes opened up this week--haven't heard of many major problems yet. More than anything, the red Xs and green arrows every 1/8 mile are VERY BRIGHT, which for right now is kind of distracting. And the overall effect is very much like you're playing Mario Kart, with stuff zipping by overhead, which had me daydreaming a little and coming closer than I wanted to to rear-ending the car in front of me....but I'm dumb like that.

The rest of 5400 South (from Bangerter to 4800 West) is coming along too, with paving on track to be completed by the end of the year, and the "extras" of the containment ponds and landscaping and sound walls over the next six months. I think when it's done it will be an improvement, although some things like the Michigan Lefts at 4000 West and 4 additional traffic signals in a 1.5 mile stretch that already had 4 signals are going to be a hassle. I guess that's what I get for living that far west.

[Merewether]

I think that paying with smartphones has been mentioned before. Not sure the current offering of free fares on UTA from October 22 - Jan 31 has.

Can't find specific deal online but was full-page ad on back of main section of yesterday's Deseret News. Electronic wallet company is www.paywithisis.com

As a dumbphone user I wish UTA had smart cards like some other cities have which you can preload and use to pay fares. Would be interested in data showing what percent of UTA riders, especially those paying ride by ride (not EdPass and employee pass holders), have smartphones.

[Future Mayor]

Something is going on with the Airport line, looks like are doing some small fixes to the line. The Tribune article last week stated that testing of the first traing would occur yesterday, but as of 20 minutes ago all the cones were still in front of the trax. Maybe that ran that one train yesterday and put the cones back after it was done. I'll usually make it to N. Temple at least once a day so I will keep my eyes open for the test trains.

[SLC Projects]

New Trax Station at Airport video tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMu_9lbA-Ec

[sunflowerjka]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

Something is going on with the Airport line, looks like are doing some small fixes to the line. The Tribune article last week stated that testing of the first traing would occur yesterday, but as of 20 minutes ago all the cones were still in front of the trax. Maybe that ran that one train yesterday and put the cones back after it was done. I'll usually make it to N. Temple at least once a day so I will keep my eyes open for the test trains.

Yeah for the last few days I have been driving over to and up and down North Temple to see if the test trains are running yet. But as future mayor stated, there are orange cones sitting on the tracks still. I thought UTA said they would start testing on Nov. 1. Anybody have any idea or update as to what is going on?

[stayinginformed]

The past few days they have had a couple yellow/orange grinder trains that grind down any imperfections in the track so that the track is smooth. I guess technically they are testing trains, just not actual TRAX trains yet.

[CountyLemonade]

GUYS. FrontRunner schedules!

• Weekday southbound (Ogden-SLC-Provo)
• Weekday northbound (Provo-SLC-Ogden)
• Saturday southbound
• Saturday northbound

Also, I think the UTA mistakenly included the schedule for the airport TRAX extension on its updated Green Line timetable. Which, you know, is pretty neat.

• Weekday southbound (Airport-Downtown-West Valley)
• Weekday northbound (West Valley-Downtown-Airport)
• Saturday southbound
• Saturday northbound
• Sunday southbound
• Sunday northbound

You can also look at the post-FrontRunner-opening schedules of all routes by simply changing the route number in the URL (750 for FrontRunner, 704 for the Green Line) to any bus or TRAX route number. Well, guys. What do you think? I have my thoughts but I'll share them later when I have some more time.

[chad.farnes]

Originally Posted by CountyLemonade

GUYS. FrontRunner schedules!

• Weekday southbound (Ogden-SLC-Provo)
• Weekday northbound (Provo-SLC-Ogden)
• Saturday southbound
• Saturday northbound

Also, I think the UTA mistakenly included the schedule for the airport TRAX extension on its updated Green Line timetable. Which, you know, is pretty neat.

• Weekday southbound (Airport-Downtown-West Valley)
• Weekday northbound (West Valley-Downtown-Airport)
• Saturday southbound
• Saturday northbound
• Sunday southbound
• Sunday northbound

You can also look at the post-FrontRunner-opening schedules of all routes by simply changing the route number in the URL (750 for FrontRunner, 704 for the Green Line) to any bus or TRAX route number. Well, guys. What do you think? I have my thoughts but I'll share them later when I have some more time.

Good to see those out. A little more than a month till Frontrunner opens. By the way, the 52nd S stop is coming along nicely. They have it pretty much laid out and just need to put in the asphalt. There is a large building still in the middle of the parking lot that I thought that they would demolish but it is looking like they aren't going to.

I was hoping that Frontrunner would run a little more often and secretly hoping that somehow it would open on Sunday. I am impressed at how late it leaves the Provo station on Saturdays for Salt Lake, almost at midnight (which is late for UTA). I was talking with some friends who were really excited to use Frontrunner, and then pretty much decided against it once they figured out it was almost $10 per person one way from Provo to Ogden. If it was $10 round trip per person it would be worth it, but for $40 for a couple all together, it is easier to just drive (although frontrunner was cheaper than the total price of driving a car, including repairs/insurance/etc). As for the green airport line I am surprised at how long it takes to get from downtown to the airport, almost 25 minutes. It is about 12 minutes just to get from the airport to the first station on N Temple. Also, the Sunday schedule is horrible. The last train to the airport is around 7 PM. I hope that that changes with more riders.

[CountyLemonade]

Originally Posted by chad.farnes

I was talking with some friends who were really excited to use Frontrunner, and then pretty much decided against it once they figured out it was almost $10 per person one way from Provo to Ogden. If it was $10 round trip per person it would be worth it, but for $40 for a couple all together, it is easier to just drive (although frontrunner was cheaper than the total price of driving a car, including repairs/insurance/etc).

Shoot. Did they know about the (up to) four-person $14 group pass that lasts all day and is valid on all UTA services? Because that'll save them quite a chunk of change.

[bob rulz]

I agree that UTA's argument against late-night service is weak.

Even if they are unable to profitably extend it to 2am to service the patrons leaving the bars, which I understand, they could at least extend it to 12 or 12:30am. In the article it even states that the 12am-1am service was significantly down from 11pm-12am, and yet trains end not long after 11pm now.

There are a lot of things that go on downtown and there is more to it than just serving people at bars. Even a limited extension to 12am or 12:30am would be far more useful than what's in place now. It doesn't have to be full service, even every 20-30 minutes would be better than nothing.

Does anybody remember what the schedule looked like when they did run the trains that late? How often did they run the trains after midnight?

I'm pretty excited for the Sugarhouse Trolley to open up as well, but I know that's about a year away. Even seeing the construction gets me excited though.

[Future Mayor]

I don't see how so many can say that UTA's late night service argument is weak? They did the test and extended it by several years to test the service and see if it made any sense at all. It obviously doesn't at this point so why waste money in an already tight budget to run a service for a few people to ride at night?

If that is the argument for starting late night service again, I am sure there are at least 3-4 people that would ride it during any hour of the night so why not change it to 24/7? I love SLC as much as the next person and we are becoming a larger and larger city with each passing year, but we aren't a 24/7 city yet, and it's going to be many years until that happens. Yes the airport has a few late night flights, but very few in comparison to the rest of the day, I'm sure UTA has an estimated number of passengers leaving and arriving that will use Trax to get to and from the airport, and I doubt that ratio justifies anything much later than what they have scheduled.

[goldcntry]

As some of you know I work for the large ecclesiastical organization here in the state...

They just announced informational meetings regarding Frontrunner and the new transit routes. There will be two meetings downtown and then another one here at the Riverton facility. I'll be interested to see if they'll add better access to transit for the Riverton area...

[billbillbillbill]

Originally Posted by goldcntry

As some of you know I work for the large ecclesiastical organization here in the state...

They just announced informational meetings regarding Frontrunner and the new transit routes. There will be two meetings downtown and then another one here at the Riverton facility. I'll be interested to see if they'll add better access to transit for the Riverton area...

From the change list, a new route will go from the Riverton Church Office Building to the Draper Frontrunner station. As one who live in between those 2 points, I am hopeful that this will open up some transit options for me.

Currently, the one Riverton flex bus does a loop around the city then takes you all the way out to the Daybreak Trax stop. It is OK in a bind but to get to my office in Murray, it is a 1.5 hour trip minimum.

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

I don't see how so many can say that UTA's late night service argument is weak? They did the test and extended it by several years to test the service and see if it made any sense at all. It obviously doesn't at this point so why waste money in an already tight budget to run a service for a few people to ride at night?

If that is the argument for starting late night service again, I am sure there are at least 3-4 people that would ride it during any hour of the night so why not change it to 24/7? I love SLC as much as the next person and we are becoming a larger and larger city with each passing year, but we aren't a 24/7 city yet, and it's going to be many years until that happens. Yes the airport has a few late night flights, but very few in comparison to the rest of the day, I'm sure UTA has an estimated number of passengers leaving and arriving that will use Trax to get to and from the airport, and I doubt that ratio justifies anything much later than what they have scheduled.

Like I was wondering though, how often did they run service that late? Was it every 15 minutes? 20? 30? If the former, then it's understandable why it lost money. They could just increase the time between trains.

Even they mentioned that it wasn't until 12am that they saw a significant drop-off, yet the trains only run until around 11-11:30pm. They don't need to extend it to 1am or 2am again, but why not midnight at least? I mean, I don't pretend to know what UTA's budget or profits look like, but I can't imagine they would lose much extending it by an hour, or even 45 minutes.

Also, almost all other cities run service later - how profitable are those late-service lines for those cities?

[CountyLemonade]

Here's how the Blue Line schedule looked like in 2007. So, every thirty minutes after 11:37 pm.

[Sight-Seer]

Electric cars are cheaper to run than gas cars. I wonder how the price of running one TRAX car compares with running a shuttle bus. What would it cost to run one TRAX car back and forth between the airport and Central Station all night. It seems like it would be a valuable service. Taxi companies and shuttle services would hate it.

[Future Mayor]

FrontRunner offers free rides Dec. 8 to show extended rail to Provo

To introduce riders to the new $850 million extension of the FrontRunner commuter rail between Salt Lake City and Provo, the Utah Transit Authority will offer free rides on that stretch on Saturday, Dec. 8.

"There will be trains every 30 minutes between about 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.," said UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter. The free rides will be between only Provo and Salt Lake City — not on the existing FrontRunner section between Salt Lake City and Ogden.

The new extension officially opens to passengers Monday, Dec. 10.

Carpenter said grand opening ceremonies to celebrate the new line have been scheduled for the morning of Dec. 6 — but the exact time, place and speakers are still being determined.

The new 45-mile extension will initially include stations in Murray, South Jordan, Draper, Lehi, American Fork, Orem and Provo. A future station also is planned in Vineyard.

Lee Davidson

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55235727-78/dec-free-frontrunner-lake.html.csp


Maybe this could be a good time for a forum meet.

[CountyLemonade]

The new FrontRunner schedules have been tweaked. Now the last train from Provo to Salt Lake City will leave at 1:13 am on Saturdays (!); also, two more trips to Pleasant View have been added on weekdays.

And here I was thinking that the 11:57 pm Saturday train out of Provo was slightly excessive. (;

• Weekday southbound (Ogden-SLC-Provo)
• Weekday northbound (Provo-SLC-Ogden)
• Saturday southbound
• Saturday northbound

The new Green Line schedule was also further amended. Weekdays, a few more trips were added from the airport to Central Pointe (the last train from the airport to Central Pointe leaves at 11:39 pm now) and a few trips from West Valley to the airport were added (the last train used to leave West Valley at 10:03 pm; now, it's at 10:48 pm).

• Weekday southbound (Airport-Downtown-West Valley)
• Weekday northbound (West Valley-Downtown-Airport)

[scottharding]

That's certainly progress.