Reader comments
UTA opts not to cut Weber, Davis service

I was looking back on campaign material designed to promote a YES vote on the Davis County transit tax. Most of the marketing material appeared to a be vague and lacking in any detail allowing the voters to become informed voters and really knowing what it was that the public was voting on. It's possible that UTA and other transit promoters were too slick in their marketing appeal and forget that voters sometimes really want the truth not the sound bite. I don't think that UTA can blame the public for voting "NO" on this tax increase because it appeared to me that it was all flash and no substance.

Tab:
You are confusing the last fall's tax increase proposal for NEW service with the adjustment to compensate for the loss of sales tax on food to keep UTA at the current level of service.

UTA does care about bus system they care about light rail and commuter rail. UTA is trying to get cities to help provide transportion in Salt Lake County. UTA has sloppy bus service to low income areas also where transit dependent live. UTA give good bus service to "Choice Riders".

UTA lied to us to get $7 billion in tax hikes for trains. This DMN article mentions that John Inglish has finally come out of the closet to admit these itty bitty mistakes in TRAX ridership.

There never was 58,000 riders on TRAX,

UTA lied to us when it claimed to have the best ISO 9001 management practices in the US. Quality companies don't repeatedly screw up the information about their main service. UTA admitted having problems going back to 1999 with TRAX counts..


UTA has known since February that their counts for TRAX are in the 40,000 range. Yet, they wait till just before Christmas to make it all public.

TRAX ridership for the last five months has averaged only 39,000. The DMN continues to let UTA spin their data, rather than to just get the data from UTA and report it to readers. The DMN reporting policy conveniently dovetails with its long-standing editorial support of UTA and TRAX.

In her comment above, Tammi likely meant to say that UTA does NOT care about the bus system.

While UTA has perpetrated this magnificent, expensive, unproductive con game of rail transit, the bus system has been flushed into the sewer.

The bus system was focused, for decades, on providing service to the whole service area with 85% of households within 1/4 mile of a bus stop.

TRAX and multiple service cuts, about 4,000 bus stops eliminated,have left us with a new bus system focused on helping those who work in the downtown to University corridor get to work expeditiously. Much of the South and Southwestern suburbs don't have 2 mile walk acccess to a bus stop. Even then, ther is simply no full day service to much of the valley. To put it another way, downtown areas get at least 50 times the bus service as the suburbs mentioned...but we all get to pay...for UTA!

In the meantime UTA has a huge free and discout pass program in the downtown area and at colleges..about 200,000 holders,..who pay only a fraction of the regular fare for their service...at least half get it free!

That is not fare!