Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[(Eco)nomy_404]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

Seems like Trax is going in everywhere and that every city now wants Trax to come though their city with stops along the way. Love it. Bring it.

While I also whole-heartily support mass-transit development, I just hope the state decides to invest more money in it before we expand our existing systems any further. Efficiency, cost, and practicality of scheduling have proven to be major challenges as UTA`s funds are stretched thin. I currently commute from southern SL County to Provo twice a week, and I would love to take Frontrunner down there. Being that my route moves me the opposite way of rush hour, and with trains coming all the way from Ogden (making 10-15 min delays typical and train intervals 1 hr), the commute is just not practical for me. I feel guilty driving 80 miles round-trip twice per week, especially during inversion, when I could be taking mass-transit. It would take me 2.5 hrs to arrive at my destination taking Frontrunner/bus as opposed to 45 min driving - that`s more than 3x longer!

In addition to the timing issues, the price isn`t very practical either. In a typical week, I would spend $15 on UTA fares commuting to Provo. Taking UTA, the extra 7 hrs/week it would cost me translates to $75 if valued at what I could make working that time at my job. Add in the $15 UTA fare and I`m looking at $90/wk in commuting costs. With gas at $3.25/gal and my car`s fuel economy at 32.5 miles/gal (self-calculated), it would cost me $15 dollars to buy the 5 gallons of gas it would take to fuel my commute. Parking for me is free. Assuming the costs in the increased usage of my vehicle match what I pay in gas, I`m looking at roughly $30/wk commuting with my car. That`s a 65% savings in both time and monetary costs driving vs taking UTA. Until it becomes more practical for more people like me, building more train lines while cutting back service and charging a premium for fares won`t do a lot of good.

Just by ensuring my train would arrive on time, my commute time would be cut down to 1.5 hrs each way (3 hrs round-trip). That would cut my time costs by 40%. Leaving the fares as-is, my UTA commuting costs would fall to $40/wk just by making the trains more efficient. That would put my cost savings by driving my vehicle at only $15/wk vs the current $60. If that were the case, I would be willing to take on the $15 weekly cost knowing that I am helping improve air quality.

[CountyLemonade]

^ The new FrontRunner schedules begin tomorrow and UTA promises that these times will work much better. Maybe that'll be a good time to give it another go.

[UTAZLoVer]

I guess Frontrunner is getting busier. I know I've noticed a lot more people even on my morning commutes from Ogden since Frontrunner South opened. Looks like they added an extra car this morning to handle the overflow. One of those old refurbished New Jersey Transit Comet cars.

[jedikermit]

This is completely anecdotal, but I've also noticed more people mentioning it just in passing--"oh, I'll take FrontRunner" on Twitter and Facebook and in actual real life conversations; it seems to be becoming part of the landscape instead of something unusual that only certain people know about and take advantage of.

[CountyLemonade]

I swear UTA has the worst luck of any public entity. Cars collide into TRAX on an almost weekly basis nowadays. FrontRunner to Provo opens in December and is plagued by chronic delays. Then UTA holds an emergency change day with new-and-improved schedules... and then on the first day of new scheduling (today) a FrontRunner train experiences mechanical delays. And like an hour later another car strikes a TRAX train.

Yikes.

[Schmoe]

Originally Posted by CountyLemonade

I swear UTA has the worst luck of any public entity. Cars collide into TRAX on an almost weekly basis nowadays. FrontRunner to Provo opens in December and is plagued by chronic delays. Then UTA holds an emergency change day with new-and-improved schedules... and then on the first day of new scheduling (today) a FrontRunner train experiences mechanical delays. And like an hour later another car strikes a TRAX train.

Yikes.

Let's call a spade a spade: Utahns are crappy drivers.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by Schmoe

Let's call a spade a spade: Utahns are crappy drivers.

Utahns are also gun lovin, trigger happy, bad shots.

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by Schmoe

Let's call a spade a spade: Utahns are crappy drivers.

Right. People have been saying it for years, but now we have proof with all of these drivers crashing into TRAX trains.

[TedBell]

Originally Posted by CountyLemonade

I swear UTA has the worst luck of any public entity. Cars collide into TRAX on an almost weekly basis nowadays. FrontRunner to Provo opens in December and is plagued by chronic delays. Then UTA holds an emergency change day with new-and-improved schedules... and then on the first day of new scheduling (today) a FrontRunner train experiences mechanical delays. And like an hour later another car strikes a TRAX train.

Yikes.

The locomotives from MPX have been bad luck for many months now. Why are we purchasing motive power from Idaho?

[stayinginformed]

Looks like UTA took our suggestion to slow down the speed of the color fade at the Airport TRAX Stations. They had color fading slowly on the first covering and had constant rainbow colors on the last few. They also have back-lit station name signs. Only a couple more months.
• Video Link

[TedBell]

Originally Posted by TedBell

The locomotives from MPX have been bad luck for many months now. Why are we purchasing motive power from Idaho?

Another one broke down yesterday morning.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by TedBell

The locomotives from MPX have been bad luck for many months now. Why are we purchasing motive power from Idaho?

We buy from overseas or from Alstom or GE , MPX has a history of breaking down I don't why everyone wants there crap.

[StevenF]

It has been awhile since the last time someone has posted the chart showing Light Rail ridership. Where it compares Salt Lake, Denver, Portland and other top transit cities.

[SLC Projects]

New and Finish Trax Station at the Airport.
• Video Link

[Makid]

Originally Posted by StevenF

It has been awhile since the last time someone has posted the chart showing Light Rail ridership. Where it compares Salt Lake, Denver, Portland and other top transit cities.

APTA won't release the numbers for another 1 to 4 weeks. Once it is released, I am sure it will be posted

[CountyLemonade]

This is completely unsubstantiated, mind you, but don't be surprised if the old Salt Lake Central-University line comes back in April or August. I've seen several (live, as in they were accepting passengers) test trains running between those two points, and I know someone who happened to board one of these trains downtown. Two newspaper articles I've read (one in the Chrony, the other in the Trib) hinted at the return of the line in the near future.

The 2 bus is ridiculously slammed in the mornings, to the point where the U is actually running its own shuttles between Central Station and South Campus TRAX station (which strikes me as odd, but whatever). I wonder what color designation the old University Line would receive. Silver?

[slc801]

Originally Posted by CountyLemonade

This is completely unsubstantiated, mind you, but don't be surprised if the old Salt Lake Central-University line comes back in April or August. I've seen several (live, as in they were accepting passengers) test trains running between those two points, and I know someone who happened to board one of these trains downtown. Two newspaper articles I've read (one in the Chrony, the other in the Trib) hinted at the return of the line in the near future.

The 2 bus is ridiculously slammed in the mornings, to the point where the U is actually running its own shuttles between Central Station and South Campus TRAX station (which strikes me as odd, but whatever). I wonder what color designation the old University Line would receive. Silver?

This makes a lot of sense as to why I have seen a couple of trains on 4th south that weren't running on the normal schedule (they were a couple of minutes behind or ahead of the normal red line). I never thought too much about them and couldn't ever really figure out where they were going. I just thought that they were running an extra red line train for some reason a couple of minutes off the regular schedule.

[slc801]

And if you want something somewhat substantial to verify it, read this article: http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/utahns-opt-public-transit-clear-air.

"For example, UTA plans to bring back rail service between downtown salt Lake City and the University of Utah. Right now people have to transfer at the courthouse before going east. Sibul [UTA's chief planning officer] says that would improve frequency on the university line to every 7 ½ minutes from 15 minutes."

I don't know how reliable the article is. Sibul is never quoted that the line is going to come back, simply on how it would improve frequencies. He may have been talking about hypotheticals, if a line were in place between the U and downtown, and the reporter read into it too much. The reason why I am somewhat skeptical of the reporting is that if you read the next paragraph there is what most would say is a small error, although I bet most on this forum would say it is a huge difference. The article states that there is going to be a 10.5 miles of light rail line that is will run between Orem and Provo. Unless something has changed over the last few months that I haven't heard about, it isn't going to be a light rail but a BRT. So take it for what it is. The article above was only published today so we may be hearing more about this soon.

[SLC Projects]

UTA is testing out it's airport line with a train right now at the airport.

[Future Mayor]

If the SL Central to University does come back I expect that it will be named the White Line. Red and White.

GO UTES