Comments about ‘UTA considering fare changes’

UTA needs to be audited by an OUTSIDE AGENCY.

Everytime they start a new trax line (or frontrunner)they take buses away including the length of time they run at night.

S.L., Utah, Davis, and Weber counties are semi-rural (as opposed to the dense population corridor along the original TRAX line)which means we need MORE buses, not more choo-choo trains.

My impression (from talking to UTA drivers)is that the "choo choo" trains don't support themselves, so UTA is taking major amounts of funding in order to keep them running.

Lets let the public know HOW MUCH of our tax dollars goes to trains and how much goes to buses.

I don't trust UTA to do their own audit!!

BTW - in the audit ask them to figure out HOW MANY riders don't pay at all!!

Answer: A LOT!

I hope that UTA doesn't go to the pay the distance you are going because I am on a fixed budget and I wouldn't be able to pay for the distance I had to go to work everyday. I would have to bug someone to give me a ride or I would have to walk but UTA doesn't care about the public. All they want is money, money, money and they will try anything to get it. So if you general manager reads this comment I want to tell you that you don't care about the public and you have already desided on doing this before you put it in the newspaper. So before you do anything listen to the public before you make up your mind. If you don't listen to the public then this article is false because you said that is was in the listening stage and it would take a year but if you have already desided then why say that it is in the listening stage.

What we need desperately is for the State Legislators to take control over this agency. External Audits, and break the "good old boy" system within UTA. UTA receives tax funding for its operations.

UTA should have the same oversight as any other State of Federally funded program. Right now, they do not. The price for a ride needs to be approved by the State Legislature, rather than the UTA Board.

Everyone who prefers to ride on an uncomfortable stop-and-go, stop-and-go stuck-in-traffic bus rather than light rail, please raise your right hand. In the past few decades, brand new light rail systems have been built in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake, Phoenix, Denver, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Buffalo, Norfolk, Jersey City and Hoboken .... there must be a reason for the current proliferation of light rail planning and construction. Could it simply be that light rail is the classier and cooler (i.e., more attractive) way to get from Point "A" to Point "B"?

One thing I wonder was why the "Front Runner Trains"? Why not "Light Rail"? It would have been cheaper in the long run would it not have been? Maybe initial cost would have been more, but the overall service would have been less expensive. No Diesel Engines, just Electric Power! They always want to RAISE RATES, when do they EVER LOWER them? When I ask? I agree, rates need to be approved by the legislature, and the audits need to be done by an outsider, not by UTA! I made comments about the brass at UTA last night when the article broke, but it wasn't put up, I wonder why? Because I mentioned their salaries perhaps? Because I mentioned their bungles perhaps? Because I mentioned their Incapableness perhaps? Maybe it is the Deseret News slowly converting to the Liberality of the "Main Stream Press"? Whatever the reason, truth is truth and UTA needs serious help in it's management on up!

If education was funded as well as the UTA is in Utah, we would have a world class education system.

The bus ticket is lucky if it pays for 20% of the cost of the ride. So a little more fee for longer distances simply eases the tax payer burden a little, but who cares about that.

Let's call this what it is - a fare hike, plain and simple.

UTA has made its system so incredibly inefficient with its cutting of bus routes more and more over the years, that ultimately it is almost completely useless for people needing to go only short distances. No one will spend $2.25 to have to sit on two buses for 40 minutes to get somewhere they can drive in 10. Commuters who have to travel 15-20 miles or more, do end up finding it a little more useful, because by using Trax or Fast Buses, the ratio of time spent riding vs driving isn't nearly as bad, and the gas they would use up on a daily basis is greater, which provides greater incentive than for short-hoppers.

As a result, if this plan is put into place, it will end up increasing fares for a disproportionate majority of their riders. Thus making it a fare hike, in the guise of "equity". I personally would likely cease commuting on UTA from Centerville to Ogden, and I'm sure I'm not alone. This plan will impact UTA negatively among its core group of revenue-providing (non-discounted, in other words) ridership.

And let us not forget, that UTA, whose chief executive makes twice as much or more than his counterparts in larger metropolitan areas, has very little business trying to make a point using "equity" as its basis.

@cougarKeith Diesel is much cheaper than Electric. Electricity is expensive. Also, it is not "clean" energy when it come from coal-fired plants, either. It is extremely dirty energy when it comes from nuclear power.

If they want to increase fares, how about starting with the "free zone" in downtown? Why are those of us who never go to downtown Salt Lake forced to subsidize those who live and work down there?