The vast majority of bus and light rail fares will go up beginning Sunday as the Utah Transit Authority enacts a price increase approved in March by its board of directors.

The adult one-way fare for TRAX and buses will increase from $1.35 to $1.40. The board also approved a second series of jumps, with the adult one-way fare going from $1.40 to $1.50, to take effect in 2006.

"The reason for the fare increase is simple — fuel prices," said UTA spokesman Justin Jones. "Fuel prices have gone up incredibly since we initiated our budget."

In 2004, UTA was $1 million over its anticipated fuel budget; it was $485,000 over budget on fuel for the first quarter of 2005, Jones said.

"This fare increase will help make up that" loss, Jones said, adding UTA had budgeted for an average fuel cost of $1.21 per gallon but is now paying $1.85 per gallon.

"It's not getting any better. . . . They have not gone down and it does not look like fuel prices will go down."

When asked if the UTA board could revisit its planned 2006 fare hike and make it even higher, Jones said, "We have no plans, as a staff, to go to the board and request an additional fare increase" beyond what is already planned for 2006.

And that's because UTA is making some internal adjustments — "major cuts," Jones said — to keep costs down.

"We are making significant changes in the way we operate our (bus) fleet to reduce our use of fuel," he said.

For example, UTA has adopted a policy requiring all buses to be turned off if they have been idling for more than 10 minutes. With that and similar policies in place since January, UTA has been able to reduce its fuel consumption by 3 to 5 percent, saving $150,000, Jones said.

UTA's maintenance department also has inspected each of the agency's 600 buses and assigned the most fuel-efficient buses to the longest routes.

"Now, we haven't studied how much that is going to save us," Jones said. "But once all this is in place, we anticipate a 10 percent fuel savings, which will hopefully make up for" high fuel prices.

Even when fuel prices go down, UTA will retain those fuel-efficient policies, he said.

At least one UTA watchdog, construction safety consultant and Sandy resident Michael Packard, does not buy UTA's reasoning for a fare increase.