UTA cutting back service to save $500K, keeps bonuses worth $600K

The Utah Transit Authority is cutting some weekend service on buses and trains, which will save about $500,000 a year.

That's less than the amount reserved for 2009 incentives for UTA executives, managers and other staff. The incentive pool is $600,000, and 250 employees can get portions of that if they have met goals set by the UTA board of trustees, spokesman Gerry Carpenter said.

If employees don't meet 100 percent of the goals, their incentives could be a smaller portion of the $600,000. Historically, the incentive pool has been $1.2 million, but in October, UTA management cut it in half to save money, Carpenter said.

On Thursday, UTA announced cutbacks on bus and train routes that are off-peak, have low ridership or duplicate service. Friday, UTA officials said the agency has not eliminated the incentive program. "But again I want to stress everything's on the table," Carpenter said.

The cuts in bus and train service come at a time of diminished sales tax revenues, which fund the bulk of UTA's operations. But since 2008, Utahns have not spent as much money because of economic uncertainty and UTA has been tightening its belt.

Beginning Sunday, TRAX will run every 20 minutes on Saturdays. The first Saturday FrontRunner Commuter Rail trips in both directions will be cut from the schedule.

Morning and afternoon round trips between Ogden and Pleasant View will be discontinued, although the remaining FrontRunner trips to Pleasant View will not require a transfer in Ogden.

Some trips on the express bus between Salt Lake City and Ogden will be cut.

Starting Jan. 3, late night TRAX trips will be cut out of the schedule.

More specifics, including information on UTA's tweaking of weekday TRAX departure times and bus routes, is at rideuta.com/changeday.

Wednesday, UTA trustees will vote on the 2010 budget. Number crunchers are still estimating sales taxes revenues, but the net operating expenses will likely be between $182 million and $185 million, Carpenter said.

From printing fewer schedules to eliminating some paratransit services and freezing wages in 2010, UTA is cutting where it can, Carpenter said.

"It's getting to the point now that we've trimmed away a lot of the excess and so some of these choices we're having to make now are a little more painful, like the late night trips," Carpenter said. "There definitely are some people who would like to see those maintained. The alternative is to cut service during higher ridership periods."

But it's compensation that also irks some Utahns. UTA general manager John Inglish earned a salary of $274,622 in 2008 and 22 of his deputies earned salaries of more than $100,000 that year. (Public records show that Inglish did not get a salary increase between 2007 and 2008.)