Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[delts145]

New streetcar bringing optimism for Sugar House’s economic future

By Andrew Adams, Deseret News

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86558...m-for-Sugar-House7s-economic-future.html

...“I’ve been really impressed with the way things keep getting better and better because of the development in the area,” glass artist Wayne Jacobsen said.

The optimism has spilled north a block to the twice-displaced Sugar House Coffee.

“We aren’t moving again. This is where we’re going to stay,” said general manager Emily Potts. “The first location was definitely the one we would have rather have been in, but this is going good. Business is thriving.”...


Optimism grows over Sugar House's economic future as crews test the new S-line streetcar, which will debut in December. (Todd Hougaard, Deseret News)



General manager of Sugar House Coffee Emily Potts said her business has been displaced twice and they are lucky to still be in business. She said she felt optimistic about the future and that UTA'S new streetcar will benefit the coffee shop. (Todd Hougaard, Deseret News)

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[Future Mayor]

I am happy to hear that SH Coffee is doing well in there new location. I like hearing that the GM of Sugarhouse coffee is excited about the 11th east alignment, finally a business that understands the long term benefits of extending the streetcar up 11th, rather than simply looking at it in the short term. She understands that the purpose of the streetcar is to allow more people to move up and down that street, while reducing the total traffic on the road. Rather than the idiots that simply think the same number of cars will travel the road, and then adding the streetcar will make it that much worse.

It just goes to show how much development is spurred by the introduction of the streetcar to the neighborhood. I would be willing to wager that only about a 1/4 of what has recently been finished and what is currently under construction would actually be finished or under construction if the Streetcar weren't about to open.

Study after study show that Streetcar, if built to or through underdeveloped areas have tremendous success and spur major amounts of development.

This is the biggest reason I support the 11th East alignment of the next phase. 11th East is already mostly commercial, some in converted houses, some in 60-80's era 1 and 2 story buildings. The 11th East streetcar will spur redevelopment along 11th, and if the city is wise they will allow for zoning up to 4 or 5 stories high along that corridor. I would suggest leaving the side streets zoned as they are, this will simply allow for more people to live along the streetcar line and will actually benefit those living in the single family homes as well. Those living in the single family homes will suddenly have many for retail, restaurant and office options right at the end of their street, creating a much more walkable neighborhood. One issue I see arising with an upzoning facing 11th is if the city will be willing to drastically reduce the parking requirement for those properties that are redeveloped. Is the administration willing to take a — on whether or not people living, working and shopping along 11th will give up their cars all together?

Something that could be done, is the city could purchase some property just off 11th, at the rear of a parcel and build a garage where residents can buy a monthly pass to park and those visitors that insist on driving still have an option, rather than parking on all the side streets.

[Hatman]

Everyone has probably heard about this already, but if not here is a link to news article about the TRAX collusion that happened Tuesday night.

www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57090797-78/car-train-uta-barron.html.csp

UTA is very lucky that no one was killed. A 40 mph impact with a stationary car could very easily be fatal. Some serious operarional canges are in order.
For example, bypassing a red signal will hopefully now come with a speed limit. On Frontrunner, this speed limit is going slow enough to stop within half a sight-distance. Something similar should be done on TRAX. This will significantly increase the amount of time it takes trains to enter or exit the yards, where bypassing red signals is the standard proceedure.
Also, UTA couples and uncouples its LRT cars much more than is recomended by Siemens, the manufacturer. This constant rebuilding of 2 and 4 car consists throught the day wears out couplers, which UTA is reluctant to replace as each coupler costs around $90k to replace, when labor is added in. In order to follow the manufacturer's recomendations (reorganize the consist only 5 times a week at most) UTA is going to have to either 1) run 3 car consists all day, or 2) have entirely separate consists of 2 and 4 car trains entering and exiting service throughout the day. UTA does not have enough cars to do that. If they continue to wear down the couplers with their current operational practices, they will continue to have mishaps. I'm told this isn't the first time cars have come uncoupled at that location; once, it involved passengers.

So even though there were no fatalities. this is still a huge deal for UTA.

[CountyLemonade]

Here are the schedules for the S Line:

Weekday to Sugar House | Weekday to Central Pointe
Saturday to Sugar House | Saturday to Central Pointe
Sunday to Sugar House | Sunday to Central Pointe

Operating hours sure end a bit earlier than I thought they would. But, to be honest, I see ridership being rather moribund until phase II opens up 1100 East, especially considering that the bus that currently runs along 2100 South is slightly faster and runs more frequently on weekdays.

And, for anyone who cares, Redwood Road will receive a substantial increase in service come December 8 in the form of a new route 217:

Weekday to Jordan Meadows | Weekday to West Jordan
Saturday to Jordan Meadows | Saturday to West Jordan
Sunday to Jordan Meadows | Sunday to West Jordan

This reflects the trend of UTA slowly increasing service levels to the way it was before the downturn.

[Future Mayor]

I rarely see the really old trax trains running anymore, maybe UTA needs to run those more often as the two train set. Or, depending on the couplers, they could mix and match the four car trains with all the different models that run on the blue line.

[CountyLemonade]

So this happened.



Urrrrgh.

[H4vok]

Originally Posted by CountyLemonade

So this happened.



Urrrrgh.

Yikes.

[stayinginformed]

Originally Posted by CountyLemonade

So this happened.



Urrrrgh.

That is one of the ugliest maps I have ever seen. What are they paying the graphic designer at UTA to do?

Why are some of the underlines under station names shorter than others? Why are some of them not long enough to underline the whole name whereas others completely cover longer names with room to spare. Why isn't North Temple Bridge/Guadalupe stop designated as a transfer station. It is becoming quite the busy stop, and I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually eclipses Central Station. If they are trying to show realistic distances (which I think they shouldn't so that you can make out the stops downtown) then why does the S-Line seemingly go farther East than the University Line, which travels 10 blocks further east.

They should truncate the spaces between Central Point and Fashion Place Mall so they can make other areas like downtown larger. So many things to dislike about this map.

H4vok, your map is so much better.

Utah Transit Map (Light) by H4vok_13, on Flickr

[scottharding]

Agreed. H4vok's is superior in every way.

[DMTower]

I would be very surprised if UTA had even hired a graphic designer to create that map. Definitely not a designer with a formal education. There is so much wrong with that map I don't even know where to start.

[Future Mayor]

I agree completely, we don't need every twist and turn, especially, as was pointed out, if the distances of each line aren't correct anyone. What's the point of showing every twist and turn if nothing else is to scale. I can understand that they may want to show some basic distances, like the blue line going diagonally SE and the red line diagonally SW, but this is simply horrendous. Since they want to get all the downtown stations on the map they could have a zoomed in section off to the side that enlarges the downtown area.

Has anyone sent H4vok's version to UTA? We should all send comments to UTA regarding the existing map and tell them just how completely awful it is. I think I'll do that right now.

Here's mine.
I have to comment on the updated Trax, Front Runner and Streetcar map. It is a horribly designed map, I don't see why it is at all necessary to include every twist and turn that the system makes, while leaving other things so completely out of scale. For example, on your new map, the S Line in Sugarhouse extends further east than the University line, which we all know in reality isn't the case, as the S-line ends at 1050 East and the Medical Center is roughly 1900 East.

You should simplify the map, a diagonal line the the SW for the Red Lline, a diagonal line the the SW for the Green Line, and a diagonal line the the SE for the blue line. Zoomed in section could be included for downtown and Sugarhouse to show the detail.

Another very non aesthetic item on the map is the non uniform underlining of the station names. The underlining is very haphazard. Some station names are completely underlined, some of the underlines extend past the name and address and some underlines don't even come close to underlining the entire name or address.

The map is a very unprofessional looking map, please update the map and take the above mentioned items into consideration.

A concerned citizen and huge advocate for public transportation.

[arkhitektor]

Originally Posted by stayinginformed

H4vok, your map is so much better.

Utah Transit Map (Light) by H4vok_13, on Flickr

This map is better in every way. We should have some printed and just start gluing them up over the official map on trains as a form of protest...

[arkhitektor]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

I agree completely, we don't need every twist and turn, especially, as was pointed out, if the distances of each line aren't correct anyone. What's the point of showing every twist and turn if nothing else is to scale.

Has anyone sent H4vok's version to UTA? We should all send comments to UTA regarding the existing map and tell them just how completely awful it is. I think I'll do that right now.

The saddest part of it all is that they received that feedback, and the new map they released it their response to it.

https://twitter.com/RideUTA/status/352474455643136000

[Future Mayor]

Originally Posted by arkhitektor

The saddest part of it all is that they received that feedback, and the new map they released it their response to it.

https://twitter.com/RideUTA/status/352474455643136000

I also decided to tweet them.

[SLC Projects]

Agreed. That isn't a good map. A map shouldn't show every single curve in the rail line. Just show all the lines as a straight line.

[farmerboy]

Originally Posted by arkhitektor

This map is better in every way. We should have some printed and just start gluing them up over the official map on trains as a form of protest...

This is an awesome idea!!!

[ajiuO]

They recently installed a permanent fence in front of trax on main (in front of CCC).

Anyone know if there are plans to do the same by ESA? The orange/pink temp fences and sand bags are hideous.

[justiny]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

I also decided to tweet them.

It's really a shame for loss of opportunity.

I've worked for the federal government for over a decade and the story remains the same: Award the contract to the lowest bidder.

Local governments are no different... You get what you pay for.

Does anyone realize that H4vok's transit map could save taxpayers whatever ridiculous contract dollars UTA awarded to some design company that has no clue what they are bidding on??

It's beyond absurd.

[DMTower]

I wonder if they haven't payed for a professional one yet because the system has changed so rapidly? Maybe as growth slows down they'll hire someone.

[CountyLemonade]

Originally Posted by justiny

It's really a shame for loss of opportunity.

I've worked for the federal government for over a decade and the story remains the same: Award the contract to the lowest bidder.

Local governments are no different... You get what you pay for.

Does anyone realize that H4vok's transit map could save taxpayers whatever ridiculous contract dollars UTA awarded to some design company that has no clue what they are bidding on??

It's beyond absurd.

Believe me: that map was designed in-house. There's no way a design firm would have spit out a monstrosity like that.