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Hundreds try out FrontRunner for Monday commute

The parking at Layton is a joke. It's already beyond capacity. That's going to be the busiest station, and it has the least amount of parking.

I doubt it will stay busy after the next two days. Once the rides aren't free, all the mommies and children will stay home.

My guess is that after the mommies & children stay home (if indeed they are the ones filling the FrontRunner) the commuters will be that much happier to have it! The people that I know who make the commute have been waiting anxiously for this.

Do they have internet access on Frontrunner yet?

It'll never work.....just like the horse-less carriage. When I was young we walked and WE LIKED IT!
We didn't have planes, trains or automobiles....
Gol-darnit!

Is there a chance the track will bend?

Our family rode on FrontRunner today to get lunch downtown. The Cadillac ride was great despite all of us freeloading today. One suggestion would be for UTA to better coordinate those departing and boarding the trains. At the Salt Lake hub it seemed that people could have exited on one side of the train before others boarded on the opposite side. Thankfully everyone on our trains was polite and courteous despite the inflated numbers. The traffic on I-15 was noticeably lighter today and I hope the trend continues. Oh, the new Trax stops made it extremely convenient to get lunch at Gateway! Mass transit, however delayed, is headed in the right direction. Let's get services to the West side of Salt Lake Valley and down to Utah County going.

Wishing, during this week, the paid frontrunners road first, then the free riders could ride after the workers were on, if there was available space. Very frustrating. Better yet, free rides only on weekends, and keep the express buses until the free rides were no longer. Made the commute home very frustrating.

The FrontRunner will be great for those of us who want to take a train but couldn't afford to pay the cost without help from taxpayers who don't need or won't use the service. The monthly fare will be $145, and that is a tiny fraction of the true cost. So thank you, citizens of Utah, for financing this wonderful governmental project. It might not do anything to reduce traffic on I-15 with only 10,000 to 25,000 people projected to use FrontRunner within a few years; but this brings us into line with other big cities, such as San Francisco and New York City, where people are learning that it takes a village to create a fantastic programs such as this. No private company could have done it because there wasn't any money to be made. My question is, if only 25,000 people a day are going to use FrontRunner in a few years, wouldn't it be possible to expand that number by continuing free fares for a few years? I wonder what percentage of commuters will use the FrontRunner versus continuing to drive I-15.

I am a former resident of West Jordan and moved to Pittsburgh in '03. I remember how many people complained about TRAX when it opened, said it was a waste of tax $, etc etc. I also remember standing next to those same people on opening day, waiting to board a crowded train!! I would give ANYTHING to have the TRAX system in Pittsburgh-the supposed 'best place to live in America' (not quite sure how they got that). You have no idea what it is like to only have a 2 lane road as your main commuter highway! Say thank you, quit the complaining and be grateful for leaders who have the ability to look to the future and plan for it-free rides or not!!

It was great riding to work, but when I went to go home, every family in Utah decided to ride the train as soon as Daddy got home from work. It was packed, the train was 25 minutes late because of so many people trying to squeeze on, and was 45 minutes late getting to my final destination. I'll be glad when all the kids and Mommies stay home.

The headline of this article should say "Thousands try out Frontrunner..." There were at least 1,000 on my train home alone, probably more. The train seats 500, but there were 2x as many people standing as sitting.

Quit Crying People, It Goes With The Territory of something new, "Don't Worry, Be Happy!" "It will all work out all right". Be positive and let the families ride, it's family home evening, what a great activity! It will all level out, UTA will expand the parking, and all will be just fine. Relax and enjoy your money saving commute to down town! Because of this Front Runner, we were able to afford a house and not have to deal with the traffic to work. With Frontrunner the commute is only 10 minutes difference we have figured than from down town to South Murray! Say good bye to Renting and hello to home ownership thanks to UTA!!! Thank you UTA!!!

It was fantastic riding along and watching go by the beautiful mountains. Was in awe at the orchards in bloom in Roy and looking into people backyards.

The train was an absolute "train wreck" today. On my way home (northbound), the train had to come to complete stops while it waited for a southbound train to pass and free up the main line. Each of these stops were at least five minutes long. That's ten or more minutes spent sitting and waiting. Add that to the already ridiculously slow speeds that frontrunner boasts between Bountiful and Salt Lake and I was left with an hour and a half commute today from Clearfield. I know it's early, but if these issues don't get fixed I know I will be back to bus or car and I'm sure so will many others as well. C'mon UTA, let's get this thing figured out.

Was it just me or did I-15 seem less crowded? It seemed so to me, I wonder if there are any official figures on this?

I-15 was not less crowded for the early commuters.

No form of public transmit has ever made a profit. Trax will never do so neither will FrontRunner. Salt Lake City is having a tough time growing into a major city. The airport is the 20th busiest, yet has no major building plans, and no terminals have been added in 30 years. The zoo has painfully outgrown the meagerly small piece of land that has been home for 40+ years. To build a small soccer stadium put the entire county through a terrible ordeal of infighting.
Major cites add public transportation, build $500+ million stadiums and arenas which will never return a profit, WHY? Because it makes your home town a nicer place to live. Indianapolis will open a new $1 billion terminal, just to make the place a nicer place to fly in and out of, yet it will never be a hub. SLC's competitor airports in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Denver, are light years a head of the poor, pitiful, SLC, yet no one really cares. It works, why fix it.
SLC will avoid making all the above mistakes because it's all about the bottom line, having nothing to do with quality of life, and that's sad.

$7.25 per day. What a huge taxpayer subsidized bargain! I'm paying almost $15 per day just for gas, ignoring vehicle wear-n-tear, etc.

SJ Bobkins doesn't know what he is talking about. Some forms of public transit make a profit. Most don't because the bureaucrats (and the public) don't expect them to. They've decided that it is easier to tax everyone, rather than have the riders pay.

Yes I-15 was much lighter during the morning rush.