the utah transit authority

Salt Lake Bus Route Redesign:
Sunday, August 26, 2007

sticker found on a light on the uofu campus. [image via my cellular telephone]

I can't decide if I should be excited or scared. will this redesign revive public transportation use in this community? or kill it off completely? uta is claiming the route changes will make transit in the city faster, easier, and the like. basically their plan consists of channelling routes to make getting into downtown faster and transfers to trax easier.

I am an avid public transportation rider. I ride the bus and/or train whenever I can, even if it's not the most convenient option. I believe in it. but when I see these signs on major routes all over the city, I get a little worried. uta, are you sure you know what you're doing?

the decisions the uta board has made over the past few months regarding the big change has baffled me as well as many others all over the city. For one (and this affects me greatly) they have taken all five bus routes off of 700 East, a major thoroughfare. They have moved service onto 500 East and 900 East, which are slower, narrower streets.

They're changing demographic, they say. I think the utah transit authority is focusing on those in the outlying suburban areas, hoping to get new ridership at the expense of the "local" riders already using the system, depending on the system. My neighbor included. She is devastated.

The redesign actually might really be beneficial for me. There is a new bus route that runs right up my street and goes directly to the university of utah. no more trax transfers. and there are plenty of routes (9th east and 5th east included, I think) that are running every fifteen minutes during peak hours.

so we'll see how this plan affects public trans in the city. I'm sorry to all you out there who's bus route is being cut indefinitely. (and I think that might be quite a few of you) hopefully you can find alternate routes. and hey, there's always your bike!