Utah Transit Authority

Utah Transit Authority

File:Uta-med.png
Route 37 bus at a UTA TRAX station. This is before the bus route redesign of August 26, 2007
Founded	1970
Headquarters	Salt Lake City, Utah
Locale	Wasatch Front
Service area	Box Elder, Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, and Weber Counties
Service type	Intra- and inter-urban bus service; intra-urban light rail; inter-city commuter rail
Routes	62 (in Salt Lake County alone)
Stops	≈50,000
Fleet	972
Operator	Utah Transit Authority
Website	Ride UTA

Route markers for buses heading in and out of Salt Lake County

A TRAX train passing the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse in Downtown Salt Lake City

A UTA Ski Bus

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) operates a public transportation system throughout the Wasatch Front of Utah. It runs fixed route buses, charter buses, ski buses to nearby ski resorts, a light rail service called TRAX through the Salt Lake Valley and east from Downtown Salt Lake City to the University of Utah, and recently has begun operation of a commuter rail line called FrontRunner which runs from Ogden to Salt Lake City encompassing seven stations. Future plans are set to extend the commuter rail line to encompass eight stations from Pleasant View to Salt Lake City UTA is based in South Salt Lake, where it also maintains a bus garage. Light rail vehicles are stored and maintained at a yard in Midvale.

History

Origins

The Utah Transit Authority traces its roots to 1953 when several bus companies united to form the organization. Ironically, among the constitutive companies of UTA was National City Lines, which bought out and decommissioned the trolleys from the Utah Light and Traction Company in the 1940s. The Traction company operated electric trolleys in Salt Lake City neighborhoods like the Avenues.

Bus service in the 1950s became unpopular with low gas prices and subsidized construction of highways like Interstate 15. By 1960 bus ridership was only about one third the level of war-time Salt Lake, and the average age of riders was 14.

On March 3, 1970 the Utah Transit Authority incorporated as a publicly owned company under authority of the Utah Public Transit District Act of 1969.

UTA strove to streamline the bus system and only in the 1970s connected the east and west sides of the Salt Lake Valley. In 1976 UTA began offering ski service to Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons which currently offers service to Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, and Solitude.

Growth and light rail

Trax and neighborhood proximity map.

Population growth and accompanying congestion led to the study of the feasibility of light rail in the Salt Lake Valley in the early 1990s. A 1993 initiative to use tax revenues to purchase an underutilized rail corridor for potential light rail use was rejected by Salt Lake County voters. The County Commission opposed increasing taxes for light rail and even hired a lobbyist to this end. Nonetheless, the Utah Transit Authority moved forward and was able to make the purchase using other available funds. UTA also lobbied for funding and in August 1995 won $240 million from the federal government as part of the budget for I-15 reconstruction. This federal grant amounted to over two-thirds the cost of the Sandy line, and further bills would fund extensions to the University of Utah. Salt Lake City's successful bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympics gave the light rail project some priority over transit projects in other cities competing for federal funds; Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña explained, "The Winter Olympics in Salt Lake are not just Salt Lake's Olympics. They are the nation's Olympics." Nonetheless, UTA's cost-effective light rail project merited the support of the Federal Transit Administration and would have been funded and constructed regardless of the Olympics.

TRAX became operational on December 4, 1999 with a 17.3-mile route from Sandy to Downtown Salt Lake City. In celebration, UTA offered free rides on the new line all day, and local residents stood in long lines to be packed into the new light rail cars.

Thanks to federal support, the initial 2.3-mile University line was operational by December 15, 2001, after 16 months of construction and well ahead of the original schedule. Construction was expedited to be completed before the 2002 Winter Olympics, to enable spectators to take TRAX to the opening ceremonies at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Ironically, in light of heightened security in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, light rail service was suspended during the opening and closing ceremonies. Fortunately, the buses that were used instead, though also vulnerable, transported attendees without incident. A 1.5-mile extension to the University of Utah Medical Center was completed September 29, 2003.

The success of TRAX has led city governments in Salt Lake County to ambitiously plan new expansion projects. There are currently several proposals, including extensions to Salt Lake City International Airport from downtown, extending the North-South Line to Draper, and a branch to the E Center in West Valley City from South Salt Lake. In 2005, funding for the "Mid-Jordan Line" was approved, to run from Murray into Midvale, West Jordan, and ending at the Daybreak Community in South Jordan. Construction began on May 15, 2007 and will finish by 2011.

In order to support the planned TRAX expansions, UTA has ordered 77 Avanto light rail vehicles from Siemens AG. It is the company's largest-ever light rail contract.

Future plans

In March 2007, UTA began holding open houses to receive community input on a plan to completely overhaul the bus system in Salt Lake County. The final redesign plan was approved on May 23, 2007, and was implemented on August 26. The plan has received widespread praise, as well as widespread criticism.[1]

Main article: FrontRunner

In 2002, UTA announced a deal with Union Pacific to purchase a segment of track and right-of-way for a commuter rail line from Salt Lake City to Pleasant View, just northwest of Ogden. Construction on this commuter rail line, FrontRunner, began on August 10, 2005, and has currently opened seven stations running from Ogden to Salt Lake City on April 26, 2008; construction to link Ogden to Pleasant View will commence in late 2008. Further construction is planned to extend the line from Brigham City to Payson.

Main article: MAX

The first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line operated by UTA is expected to begin construction in April 2008.[2] It will run between Magna and the Millcreek TRAX station along 3500 South through West Valley City.

The ERG Group has signed a contract with Utah Transit Authority (UTA) to further develop and implement a contactless fare payment solution, which will include acceptance of contactless credit cards. The contract for the full rollout of the system follows on the heels of the successful pilot project completed by ERG and UTA.

In the pilot, buses serving Salt Lake City area ski resorts were equipped with the new system, which, in addition to the payment choice of contactless credit cards, allowed customers to use smart cards for both transit payment and ski resort access.

Routes

UTA operates in Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Utah, Tooele and Box Elder counties. Access extends from Brigham City on the north to Payson on the south. Service consists of all cities in between, heading as far west as Grantsville in Tooele County and Hooper in Weber County.

References

• Sillitoe, Linda (1996). A History of Salt Lake County. Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Society. ISBN 0-913738-04-2

External links

• UTA homepage
• Postwar Salt Lake County — Utah History To Go, an excerpt of Stilltoe's book
• Salt Lake City TRAX — Kavanagh Transit Systems Page
• UTA Factsheets
• Commuter Rail Info
• UTA at UtahRails.net — An index page for UTA's TRAX light rail, Frontrunner commuter rail, and UTA's buses, with extensive chronology histories.