Comments about ‘Rail projects promise little benefit’

How right you are. I am a disabled person. Now I spend more time riding on the bus then before the massive change UTA made last October. Richard

Its thinking like this that led to Utah County being the last county to approve major rail mass transit while its freeways jammed and its quality of life declined. Before Trax was built it was predicted nobody would ride. Now more than 50,000 a day ride, double even UTA's predictions. Since Frontrunner started charging for its service it has been packed. What the good professeor doesn't account for is that buses have to sit in the same traffic that cars do. People are tired of that. Those University of Utah Students are able to study while riding instead of adding to the pollution. The University is able to retire thousands of those parking spaces and use the land for educating and housing students, (or constructing the new mixed use project next to Rice Stadium that will bring the University millions). Those Frontrunner riders are billing clients, writing papers, being productive. The day will come when the Professor, like so many before him, will put his calculator away, breathe the cleaner air, and admit he was wrong.

I am just a visitor to Salt Lake City but from my observations, I find TRAX & Front Runner Trains well patronized and a far better way to get around the Greater Salt Lake Area. What IS needed is MORE TRAX & Front Runner trains. In Los Angeles, the one large city married to the private automobile, ridership on the Metrolink Commuter Trains and the Light Rail & Subway lines as far exceeded all expectations by several hundred percentage points. Time our University Professor woke up & smelled the coffee and use transit and retire his automobile and contribute to clean air.
Charles