UTA offers makeover

PROVO — The Utah Transit Authority wasn't invited to the table when a task force of state, county and local elected officials was created to discuss transit options for Utah County.

So UTA planners sat down at their own table to explore how to best meet the county's growing transit needs.

Those separate routes led to similar visions for Utah County's transit future and soon may reach an intersection.

"Everyone wants a solution to transit problems," said Hugh Johnson, UTA regional general manager. "There has been somewhat of a disconnect in communicating in the past, but I think we're working through that now."

For nearly a year, a Utah County task force worked to create Transit Vision 2030, a long-term mobility strategy unveiled earlier this month.

UTA was made aware of the task force but not invited to participate, which allowed the group to take an independent look at transit in the county, said Provo Mayor Lewis Billings, the committee's chairman.

One of the six "opportunities" identified in Transit Vision 2030 calls for a departure from UTA by putting local jurisdictions in control of local bus service.

"It's not about someone doing a good job or someone doing a bad job," Billings said. "It's really about moving forward and moving to the next level. We can't get where we need to go based on what we've been doing in the past. We've got to step up, and we're trying to fill that role."

UTA has responded with a proposed transit makeover for Utah County that Johnson says would allow the system to "easily key into anything that could come in the future, such as commuter rail or light rail."

Johnson said the proposal isn't designed to counter or replace Transit Vision 2030, but simply is UTA's own vision for transit in Utah County.

"We just wanted to show that we're not sitting back idly," he said. "We have some ideas of what can happen as well. . . . We're anxious to integrate what we're trying to do with what Mayor Billings is envisioning."

Consulting firm Carter & Burgess was hired by the task force with funding from Utah County and the Mountainland Association of Governments to conduct an independent analysis of Utah County's current and future transit needs.

Billings said that process has reached the point that UTA's input is encouraged.