UTA could be making more cuts — this time with trains

SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah students who have class after 9 a.m. may have to start transferring trains if they ride from Sandy.

The Utah Transit Authority, which in August began running 30 new TRAX trains directly between Sandy and University of Utah routes, is thinking about cutting them back starting April 4 to save money.

"It's about a 60 percent cut in service on that route," UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter said.

If you're from the south end of the Salt Lake Valley and your train is cut, you can still get to and from the U. by transferring trains in downtown Salt Lake City, Carpenter said.

The changes are in the proposal stage and the public gets to comment on them at three upcoming open houses. Coupled with a handful of changes on FrontRunner commuter rail that are not proposed but definite, UTA could save $2 million.

The FrontRunner changes and TRAX proposals were announced Wednesday at a UTA Board of Trustees meeting.

The open houses are:

Feb. 11 from 3-5 p.m., Salt Lake City Main Library Conference Room A&B, 210 E. 400 South.

Feb. 16 from 6-8 p.m. at the UTA Mobility Center, 4384 S. 50 West, Murray.

Feb. 17 from 12:30-2:30 p.m. at the Rice-Eccles Stadium Tower sixth-floor conference room, 415 S. 1400 East.

Since the beginning of the year, UTA has been finding ways to shave $6.5 million from its $181.8 million operating budget to finish in the black by the end of 2010.

General Manager John Inglish and the executive staff may make unilateral decisions about cuts in service until more than 33 percent of a route is affected, according to UTA rules, and then the decision gets taken to the public. UTA is a quasi-private,quasi-public agency: privately run but funded with tax dollars.

Also in the proposal stage is the elimination of Ogden and Davis County Express bus Routes 472, 474 and 476 also beginning April 4, which could save $850,000 by the end of the 2010, Carpenter said. UTA held open houses last week in which hundreds of worried passengers made the case for UTA to keep the routes. The public comment period on the express routes ends Monday, Feb. 1.

UTA then will review the comments and summarize the ones that are similar.

"Definitely, in areas where people are highly impacted, if we can make changes and adjustments to lessen the impact, that's going to be our goal," Carpenter said.

Train schedule changes beginning April 4: