"There would not be any fare increase necessary if they would just stop the foolish waste of running lots of empty buses along the Wasatch Front," said Packard, who is particularly critical of UTA's practice of running "empty" buses on east-west routes to feed the TRAX line. "The problem is there hasn't been a good, independent performance audit of the bus system or the transportation system in 24 years."

The fare increase comes at a time when UTA's general ridership has increased by only 1 percent in the last year, according to UTA general manager John Inglish.

Van pools have increased by 24 percent, bus ridership in the Ogden area is up 9.5 percent after a route redesign, and TRAX ridership is up 5 percent compared with last year. But overall ridership in Utah County is down 1.3 percent and Salt Lake Valley ridership is down 3.5 percent.

Salt Lake ridership would be assisted by a route redesign, Jones said, but that redesign has been put off due to a lack of funding.

Finances also have prevented UTA from refurbishing all of the 29 used light-rail cars it purchased from the transit agency serving San Jose, Calif. Only six of those cars have been added to the TRAX line so far. Additional cars would help increase TRAX ridership, which continues to climb but has leveled off somewhat, Jones said. The agency is pursuing funding to refurbish those vehicles as well as the original TRAX vehicles, which are beginning to show wear.

A new type of transit pass is the round-trip TRAX pass, available at a five-cent discount for $2.75, which is geared primarily for special events. By purchasing a round-trip ticket to the Delta Center for a Utah Jazz game, for example, a rider would not have to stand in line later to purchase a return-trip ticket.

UTA also now offers a day pass, available for $3.50. It is good for travel on buses or TRAX, systemwide, all day. That pass is aimed at tourists, convention attendees and other visitors who may want to spend the day sightseeing or going from place to place.

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E-mail: zman@desnews.com