A group of more than 50 bus riders gave the Utah Transit Authority a "failing grade" Wednesday for neglecting transit users when the agency redesigned bus routes in Salt Lake County.

The riders called on UTA to restore old routes, improve weekend service and require its board members to ride the bus at least once a week. Many complained service has been limited in parts of the valley and they can't catch a bus on the weekend.

"The purpose of our petition is to make officials aware of the consequences of this chant so we can live like human beings," said Cass Williams, a resident along 900 East in Salt Lake City.

"What we need is adequate bus service," added Jerry Costley, director of the Disabled Rights Action Committee.

Several UTA officials were at the event. They said they welcomed the concerns and planned to review what riders said. Tweaks already have been made to the redesign and more changes are planned for November, according to UTA.

"Part of this is an experiment, and we're refining the experiment right now," said Justin Jones, UTA manager of government relations. "We anticipated this would have an impact on people. There is no doubt about that, especially with our current passengers, but the service overall will be better for more people."

The redesign was implemented on Aug. 26. UTA has not yet received data to see if more or less riders are using the bus, but the agency believes ridership has not changed much, based on farebox revenues.

UTA will get ridership counts for September within the next few weeks.

Jones said the top concerns he has heard from riders about the redesign were late buses and overcrowded routes. This November, UTA plans to change route times for buses that run late and may tweak service to areas residents say are underserved.

UTA did similar redesigns in parts of Davis, Utah and Weber counties, and ridership increased. The Weber and Davis redesigns were done in 2002; the Utah County change was made in 2000.

Riders are hopeful UTA will listen to their needs. Barbara Toomer of the Disabled Rights Action Committee said she has a history with the agency and believes UTA officials will be responsive.

If not, "We have nothing to lose," she said. "We've already lost it all."

For more information about UTA's bus system redesign, log on to www.rideuta.com.

---

E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com