Deseret News | Reader comments: Legislative audit hits UTA hard

Reader comments
Legislative audit hits UTA hard

finally | 3:05 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

Well finally the public really knows why the bus fares and trax fares always shoot up, to pay the executives. And just how much pollution they put in the air.

Kenny | 4:09 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

FINALLY!!! I worked for several years in a middle management position at UTA and now the truth is coming in to light about Mr Inglish's septic tank of taxpayer waste. Within UTA there exists a strange culture of entitlement, borderline deceit, and poltical spin that refuses to acknowledge any responsibility to its customers or the taxpayers. Mr. Inglish and his cronies are obsessed with emprire building and getting their own while they can... and unfortunatly this toxic managment style filters throughout the organization. Ultimatly, the horrendous customer service and downright blatant waste (Beleive me, this is just the tip of the iceberg) that goes on at UTA starts and ends at the top. If you want to see any meaningful change at UTA you have to replace the head.

back of the bus | 4:14 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

a socialist government program has some issues eh? - shocking! Bring on Government run health care! Then I can read an article like this everyday!

Comments continue below

John | 5:51 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

UTA sure could be worse. Go live in St. Louis or Minneapolis to see.

oldmanEnter name | 6:33 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

Quarter of a million dollars salary to make important corporate decisions. For example - how much to raise the cost of travel for those with disabilities. Wonder if these corporate heros ride the transit system?

Bob M. | 7:30 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

It's my understanding that John Inglish rides a car to work instead of the UTA. And he's the manager!!!

Anonymous | 9:16 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

This is what you get when you have a government funded system that is not profitable, underwritten by the government and the perception that it can more or less do whatever it wants.

My case in point was the decade long practice of running hundreds of busses through residential areas of Provo and Orem--empty. Nobody rode them, they destroyed the streets, had no riders, were noisy, streets were too narrow, they were polluting and unwanted by those who lived there. No matter, said the UTA bosses, ridership will pickup, it's an important service, blah blah blah. Ridership did not pickup, and it certainly wasn't important to those who lived there.

Jake | 9:52 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

Inglish's $266,000 salary "in line"? I know doctors that don't make that much. What a bill of goods he has sold the legislature over the years. I ride the Express bus from Davis County daily, and notice the high turnover in drivers. A full investigation into UTA management is long overdue.

Dan Knudsen | 10:00 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

If UTA is doing well enough to pay its top executives--how many are they?--such high base salaries--how much are they paid above that base?--why is it necessary for the taxpayers to subsidize UTA, when few of the taxpayers use the service? Iï¿½ve been watching the bus come by my house since the service started about 20 years ago, and have never seen more than 5 or 6 passengers on it--itï¿½s usually 1 or 2, or less. If UTA stopped running the unproductive lines they wouldnï¿½t ï¿½needï¿½ taxpayer help. Then taxpayers wouldnï¿½t have a leg to stand on when complaining about the alleged waste mentioned above. Private enterprise either sinks or swims, based on its own merits and achievements. Itï¿½s called survival of the fittest. Isnï¿½t it time for UTA to get away from feeding at the public trough and make it on its own? Or, is it just another incurable cancer feeding off the always deep pockets of the generous taxpayers, most of whom make about one-tenth of what the top executives of UTA make?

Morgan | 10:55 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

If you want bad service, massive cost overruns, and years of delays, take a look at Sound Transit in Seattle. I have been impressed with what has been accomplished so quickly in SLC and I'm looking forward to rinding Front Runner in the Spring. I don't know how accurate the audit is, but it (and this news story) should take into account the incredible successes that have been achieved.

JCH | 11:11 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

Soon, no doubt, we'll be reading about the _b_illions spent on highways, necessary and unnecessary, in Utah the past few years. Of course, those subsidies aren't hallmarks of a "socialist" system because they're used by drivers. And everybody drives. Don't they? Or is anybody required to provide accurate numbers for that statistical measure?

Yawn | 11:23 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008

UTA service stinks. there are a few routes that really should go later into the evening and there are also some that could be done away with for weekend runs. Route 218 needs to run later and on at least Saturday. What at one time took me only 20 minutes to get to (Walmart on Redwood@54 S) now takes almost an hour unless I time catching the 217 just right then it will take about 35 minutes. When it was running past 7 pm I did see the bus full many times. All to often I hear of people who have had to have their hours changed at work to meet with the bus schedule and bosses are not liking this especially if the person who would work on the weekends can no longer work a flexible schedule. Rout 9 - I have yet to see more than 7 people on the bus at any given time during the week and this same bus runs on Saturday. Most of the people who do ride it usually get on or off a Valley Mental Health. It is really worth running a bus that has only 7 passagers?

Larry | 12:30 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

Let's talk about the Rail Transit System
Those tracks cost a lot of money and the Route is un changable
What nut decided to have tracks when rubber is cheaper and the route can be changed over night
This is your Government at work
What willit cost to relocate the tracks?

Thomas | 1:22 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

These audits are crucial because government waste is so pervasive.

I have a friend who consulted on the capitol renovation project. He stayed in the Hilton all week, flew out for the weekends, and hardly had a thing to do while at work. For that, he cost the Utah taxpayer several thousand dollars a week, plus all costs.

ryan | 1:52 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

And this is a surprise to anyone?

Denise | 3:04 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

Yes, a bus is worth 7 passengers if those passengers do not have a choice to drive. Some people don't, financial nor health wise. But that is not the subject of this particular article.
Hopefully in the future more money can go to serve the PUBLIC as it is intended.

Alan | 3:54 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

The problem with transit that most don't see is, is transit a business or a social service. The people like Dan see the empty busses and say it should run more efficiently. Denise sees it as a social service. The two are often incompatible. Running empty buses through neighborhoods throughout the day to meet the needs of those who can't drive is perfectly logical if it is a social service but requires the service to be heavily subsidized. Express routes may make good business sense but they are critisized as serving the wealthy at the expense of the poor or disabled. Walking the line between the two is the unenviable position of the transit planners. BTW while more oversight and efficiency is always good, realize that there are many people at UTA working hard and trying to make the best decisions to serve their customers. I worked in the company for several years and saw how hard many worked to make UTA efficient while meeting the constraints of being a service for the public good.

Fred | 3:59 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

My father was an auditor for 35 years. I was always raised with the phrase: "Figures don't lie but liars figure." You can take these audit numbers and spin them anyway you want. The real issue here is: Does UTA provide a valuable service for those who cannot do it for themselves, and do we want to be a callous society that doesn't care if the handicapped should just crawl to the doctor. The elderly that need groceries etc.. The rich do not use public transportation, the middle class use it at times and the poor use it frequently. Empty buses? Have you ever ridden a route 470 or a 612? Get real facts before you believe a biased report. UTA received more federal dollars in 2007 than 49 other states thus helping to relieve local taxpayers of competitive resources. If we want UTA to be a profit center, how does $5.00 fares sound to you. How many people could use it then. Let's build more roads right, let's rip into more greenspace and rape the planet rather than be smart. Nice biased reporting!!!!

UTA BUS SYSTEM BROKE | 6:24 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

Routes into & out of South Davis County are terrible cost & time wise. The fare of Front Runner for So. Davis County is a joke 2.50 to Delta Ctr area, I could drive a Hummer and still save gas money.
You've got me standing in the cold & dark waiting for A bus that doesn't show (463)on a snowy Monday. I call the number on the sign AT 7:10am and the woman at the UTA lets me know my bus was only 4 minutes late, and it was snowing, I told her I was waiting for the 6:37am bus and yes I did know it was snowing and it was only 12 degrees according to KSL when I left my house at 6:15am,she then told me her computer was not up & I should wait patiently for the second bus but could not tell me it was going to show up. This bus system is not reliable to those people who work In SLC or further south. So Davis county needs a bus that bypasses 300 west & North Temple we all don't work at mormon church head qtrs.

PhooTA | 7:32 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

Inglish's $266K is just his salary. His bonuses and retirement raise it another $100K. So soon we forget the report a few months back that he spends tens of thousands last year flying around the country on junkets.

But don't blame him. He is simply following the State example. I work with Utah colleges and other agencies. It's a give away, and we voted in our leaders.

Shocked | 8:20 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

What would qualify anyone in public trasit to make over 1/4 million dollars a year? RIDUCULOUS!Lets get real in this fantasy world people want us to live in. Fire him and hire 3 good qualified people to replace him for the same money. Where has good common sense gone? No one is worth that kind of money, yesterday, today, or tommorrow, plus bonuses and special retirement. That's what is wrong with todays society everyone thinks they deserve 20 times more than they are really worth.GREED, GREED, GREED. Our whole nation suffers from this mentality, look at all government, politicians ect. All about the almighty BUCK. Decieving people, I'm sick of this crap. STOP IT.

CaptainDan | 9:56 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

My question is: who is auditing these "part-time" lawmakers like John Valentine, who take these "shots across the bow" and aren't accountable for such dramatic hyperbole? Let's put some of these "part-time" lawmakers to the test with some legislative audits. What say ye, mateys?

Re CaptainDan | 10:29 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

The voting public is "auditing" the part time lawmakers. And because our legislature is part time, they spend most of their time back in the real world. Or at least those who don't work for some other branch of government spend most of their time in the real world.

If you don't like what the legislature is doing, vote them out of office.

If you don't like what the UTA is doing, tough. They won't even open their books to you despite the number of your taxes funding mass transit.

re JCH | 10:33 p.m. Jan. 26, 2008

There is a HUGE difference between mass transit and highways: GAS TAXES. Drivers--at least private drivers as UTA and other government agencies are exempt--pay massive amounts of federal and State gas taxes which fund the interstate highways and State highways. Many of the major commuter route surface streets are actually State highways. Additionally, federal gas taxes have been siphoned off (stolen really) to help fund mass transit, hiking and biking paths, and other non-automobile projects for decades.

Neighborhood streets are funded largely through local taxes. And rightly so. Whether you drive or not you certainly expect your mail to be delivered, you garbage to be collected, and the police, fire, and ambulance to show up when you call 911.

Put simply, roads are funded by those who use them.

Mass transit is funded primarily by those who do NOT use it. Those who use mass transit are MASSIVELY subsidized by those who do not use mass transit.

Cost effectiveness | 12:22 a.m. Jan. 27, 2008

SLC has a good transit system. For that, we can thank the people who run it.

. . .but I don't think they should get $300,000.00 per year!

I'd be willing to bet that we could get a better executive pool at a fraction of the cost. Cap the money at $100,000.00 per year. If the current people won't do the job for that, then let's get new people.

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