"Light rail is not like the trolleys of old. Most of the trolleys were small cars and light rail is a 360-ton, four-car train with a stopping distance of about four or five times that of a semi," Packard said.

"But the way light rail kills is by diverting the money away from needed highways, like highway (U.S.) 6, and creating more congestion that creates more pollution. . . . And the whole bus system has become more inefficient since TRAX. The costs have gone through the roof and the performance has gone through the floor."

'Grow and develop'

But passengers keep coming through the doors of light-rail vehicles, which — unlike buses, affected by traffic congestion — have run remarkably on time.

UTA's light-rail trains initially operated every 10 minutes during peak hours and 20 minutes during off-peak times. But that schedule proved too confusing for some passengers, and UTA changed its schedule to run trains every 15 minutes throughout the day. Sunday service was also added in December 2000.

But there are times when TRAX trains appear empty. Packard, a former member of the Sandy Transportation Committee, suggests UTA should shut down the light-rail line during nonpeak hours and let buses transport passengers at those times.

That would seem unlikely. But what is unknown now is how quickly UTA can expand its existing system to serve outlying suburban areas and the airport.

A referendum, which could be on the 2006 election ballot, could give UTA an equal half-cent sales tax share (it now receives seven-sixteenths of a cent in Salt Lake County) throughout its service area and the ability to borrow money for capital projects using general obligation bonds.

"If we get funding in 2006, then we will go all out to build all of those things we've talked about in the next 10 years. It's doable," Inglish said of the planned light-rail extensions. "If we do it with the resources we have, then it's going to be a slow, painful process."

But it's not like UTA — which built light rail despite the failure of a ballot referendum in 1992 — hasn't overcome a few obstacles before.

"As the light-rail system evolves . . . , it's eventually going to carry hundreds of thousands of people," Inglish said. "But you have to give it the opportunity to grow and develop."

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E-mail: zman@desnews.com