Comments about ‘Man hit, killed by TRAX train’

TRAX is an utter failure. How much do rides really cost? Does anyone really believe that TRAX is reducing traffic or pollution enough to justify that cost?
Have you ever been stuck in the lonnnggg lines of traffic that back-up behind the crossings? Commuter rail make sense in densely populated areas with huge numbers of commuters and narrow streets that can't handle large volumes of automobile traffic. Places like Paris, London and Manhatten. NOT Salt Lake........

When will people understand that TRAX trains are much bigger than they are? It is sad that the family will know have to bury a loved one and wonder what kind of person he or she would become.

"NotBuyingIt | 8:00 a.m. Nov. 7, 2011
MIDVALE, UT
TRAX is an utter failure. How much do rides really cost? Does anyone really believe that TRAX is reducing traffic or pollution enough to justify that cost?"

I guess you haven't been to the Delta Center (yes I know it has a nuke related name now) or LDS General Conference before TRAX was put in have you? It makes a huge difference. More cars is not the answer, it never is.

Should this not be a sign to UTA? TRAX is a waste of money and lives. It's not effective and it's not safe. If they are so dead set on keeping TRAX running the whole system needs to undergo a major safety overhaul.

JohnJacobBlahBlahBlah @ 8:00

So? What about the rest of the year? Have you ever had to wait in the ridiculously long lines of traffic that are created on the major East-West
roads at all the crossings? If they were ever to do a comprehensive study of this money-hungry beast, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they discovered that it was actually INCREASING traffic and air pollution. Not to mention costing all that money......

@NotBuyingIt, it is easy to throw out the claim that TRAX is a failure. Undoubtably you never use it, so it is a failure to you. But let's look at the facts, as reported by the American Public Transportation Association. For the second quarter of 2011 (the last quarter for which numbers are available), TRAX average daily ridership was 43,500 people.

Now obviously not all of those people travel the entire distance of the line, but even if you conservatively take 15,000 round trip rides that would otherwise hit I-15 at rush hour, you are talking real congestion and real pollution.

Have I ever been stuck in traffic at the crossings? Yes, but it's no worse than waiting in at a traffic signal to cross State Street. In case you hadn't noticed, in the last 20 years, Salt Lake has gone from being a rural to an urban county, and the density continues to grow.

By your logic, one could say that the Legacy Highway is a failure, because only a fraction of commuters use it. All transit options serve a purpose and fill a specific need.

NotBuyingIt:

In what way is TRAX an utter failure? TRAX has succeeded beyond UTA's wildest dreams. More people ride than they initially expected would. Studies have shown that it does indeed reduce pollution, and any idiot can see it reduces traffic. 65,000 people ride it everyday. I've had to stop for a train before (never seen lonnnggg lines), but I expect the lines would be longer if those 65,000 people were driving instead of riding TRAX. As somebody who used to ride TRAX when I worked downtown, I can say that the travel time to work was virtually the same for most days, and actually much quicker in the winter when we had snow storms because I wasn't stuck in I-15 traffic. Also, my ride in to work was very stress free. There may be a few drawbacks to TRAX, but there are plenty of drawbacks to driving. For me, TRAX is a huge success.

NotBuyingIt | 9:01 a.m. Nov. 7, 2011
MIDVALE, UT
JohnJacobBlahBlahBlah @ 8:00

Seeing as you have resulted to name calling instead of speaking like an adult I am sure the rest of the readers will take you much less seriously as I have now done. My facts are valid and there are year round events, not just Jazz. Sorry you have to wait but I am sure you can get a smart phone and fulfill your life by insulting strangers on the Internet for their adult opinions while you wait for the train to go by.

At Trax inceptions, the estimates were that there would be at least six fatalities annually. Trains are the tinker toys for the Centralized planners. Underground subways in human coop cities like New York, London, Tokyo etc. make some sense. The subsidized cost of the trains here in the roomy west would enable the taxpayer to buy every rider a new porche annually. Other states have refused the implementing and intitial funding for these boondoogles. Utah's traffic is not even close to a problem. Guns, autos, rural landholders are a terrible annoyance even fear inducing to our collectivist rulers. Anything allowing individual decision making and freedom. I'm a prophet so here's my prophesy. By the end of the century, world population will have dropped 25%. Mankind will be supported and sustained by technologies and energies unknown and undrempt of by most today, collectivist models of economics will collapse long before the end of the century and new models will have to be envisoned. Long before that, these White Elephant trains and their tracks will be ripped once again.

Re: NotBuyingIt | 8:00 a.m. Nov. 7, 2011
"TRAX is an utter failure."

Try telling that to the thousands who leave their cars in free TRAX parking lots and save $0.55 a mile while avoiding the "lonnnggg lines of traffic" you yourself acknowledge.

May I suggest that if you want to avoid the "lonnnggg lines of traffic" take TRAX and save.

How about they build a retaining rail so that people don't get pushed or sucked under the trains from the platform?

60,000 people ride the trains everyday.

As sad as this is incident is --

I'm not an expert --
but, I'm guessing - that per capita - there are still more people dying on the roads and Freeways than by train accidents.

It took 80 years to get seat belts in cars, and people still don't use them today.

Do we need to make some adjustments? Absolutley.

Do we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater? Absolutely not.

Well, obviously we are getting conflicting reports on ridership numbers. One poster says 43,500 rides a day; another claims 65,000 rides a day. The number I have frequently heard is 25,000 a day, but that was before the new westside routes opened so I assume it is higher now. But what you really need to do is look at the number of PASSENGER MILES on TRAX and figure out what percentage that is of all miles driven within the county by all motor vehicles to see if TRAX is really reducing traffic and pollution enough to justify the staggering cost. I would bet my house that TRAX reduces total motor vehicle miles by less than 1%.......

It's been said that the people of Utah are a special breed. As one who has spent time in some of the major cities on the east coast I can attest to that. There is a definite simplicity here and a certain state of ignorance about how the world works. People here just don't function on the same level as people in Atlanta, Charlotte, DC or New York.

Now that's not necessarily a bad thing. This simplicity gives SLC a friendly feel and small town atmosphere. People are kind, laid back and generally trusting. However SLC is still a big city and has many of the dangers and problems that come with being a big city.

I believe our leaders are trying to bring SLC in line with other modern cities, but I don't believe the people are quite ready for that to happen. These trains are a new thing and are very much a marvel to citizens. There hasn't been enough time and effort put into safety and public awareness programs, and it shows. The public *must* be made to take these trains and the dangers they pose seriously or there will be more deaths.

TRAX is a waste of money and it needs to be shut down. All it manages to do is suck needed money away from the bus service, run over people, and run into cars. The people should not wait for UTA to shut it down. We should contact our representatives in the legislature and have them pass a law to shut it down. TRAX just seems to draw money and blood, it is indeed, a failure. Time to recognize it and move on.

DeltaFoxTrot @ 10:24 TRAX is NOT new. It has been in service since 1999. That is a dozen years. The problem isn't that people are simple, as you claim. The problem is that TRAX was a bad idea from beginning and it is also inherently dangerous. Cars, pedestrians and trains sharing the same roads are bound to run into each other. Further, the fares paid by riders doesn't come close to covering the cost of the massive boondoggle. Commuter rail makes sense in densely populated areas with vast numbers of commuters and narrow streets that cannot handle large volumes of vehicle traffic. None of which applies to the Salt Lake Valley.

NotBuyingIt & OK: Cars, buses, trains, and airplanes are also inherently dangerous. Let's contact our lawmakers and have these shut down as well. In fact, bicycles, horses, and even pedestrians are also inherently dangerous so let's shut them down as well. Where does that now leave us? I guess we will all be working from home since we can't seem to find a safe way to get to work.

I have been to SLC, Utah and rode the Trax and never a problem. I beleive that if people would pay attention when they are around Traxs Platforms no loud music talking on the phone and horse playing around the Traxs and I have seen this frist hand. The people need to learn, it's hard, but safety frist around the trains, autos, and machinces. I guess what I am saying safety frist anything else second. from what I have read in the papers the last few weeks people like to risk their lifes around the Traxs bymaking bad deceisons it a fact.

@NotBuyingIt: Considering the liquor and sex laws here are stuck in the 1800's I would consider anything that happened within the last 25 years to be "new" for SLC.

@ NotBuyingIT-

Do you just copy and paste your standard boiler plate anti-Trax talking points each time an article about Trax is published? You're beginning to sound like a broken record.