TRAX running late on the weekends

Night owls take heart, TRAX will now be running until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

UTA officials say the change will benefit both nightlife patrons downtown as well as people in the service industry who pull late hours.

For Melissa Gessel, a server at downtown's Bambara restaurant and a "starving actress," she calls the extended hours a "godsend."

"Over the last year I haven't had a car," Gessel said, adding she hopes to get a few more tips by working a few hours later.

Beginning tonight, both the University and Sandy lines will extend their hours from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. But the move is only temporary and will be for a one-year trial period, said UTA executive manager John Inglish.

During a press conference announcing the change, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said this has been something that his office has begged UTA for in an effort to stimulate downtown business.

Downtown business officials hailed the move by UTA Thursday as a positive step.

"This is a small step for downtown business," said Prescott Muir with the Downtown Alliance. But businesses say they would like to see those late-night hours extended to the rest of the working week.

Judy Reese of Gastronomy Inc. said the staff at her restaurants notice that patrons begin to thin after 11 p.m.

"We've had customers complain to us about not being able to stay because of TRAX," Reese said. "Late-night TRAX is a huge boon to all of us in the hospitality industry."

Inglish said UTA had to negotiate with Union Pacific, which uses the Sandy TRAX line for freight operations between 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. An agreement stuck with UP will allow for late Friday and Saturday service. After a year, UTA will gauge ridership interest and determine if the hours will stick.

Anderson said he feels a real benefit will be offering an alternative to bar patrons, who have been drinking, to getting in their cars and driving home.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com