With its one-year anniversary this week, light-rail mass transit appears here to stay.
The public has not only spoken by using the commuter trains in unexpected numbers but also by voting Nov. 7 for a tax hike that will pay for enhanced public transit. It will take time for that money to accumulate and be put to use in Davis, Salt Lake and Weber counties, but the passage of Measure 1 ensured that more-frequent TRAX service and light-rail spurs are on the way.
Even the system's critics seem resigned to the prospect of more trains and buses along the Wasatch Front. Now they have turned their sights on how the Utah Transit Authority spends its resources.
"Our first commitment over anything else should be our commitment on the extensions of light rail and commuter rail and the bus service because this is what the people want," UTA board member Monta Rae Jeppson told her colleagues at the agency's first post-election meeting.
Just a year ago, what the public wanted with regard to public transit was unclear. Before TRAX opened Dec. 6, 1999, local voters knew only that they had turned down a tax increase for light rail and other transportation improvements in 1992 and that UTA had creatively managed to build the 15-mile line anyway. Would anyone ride light rail?
TRAX ridership quickly surpassed expectations, vaulting past original projections of 14,000 riders per weekday and fluctuating between 18,000 and 20,000 riders per weekday during the first year. Saturday ridership figures were even stronger than the weekday averages. As a result, UTA's fare-box revenues are up 18 percent in 2000.
There have been several car-TRAX accidents, mostly minor. A derailment in February injured 22 people, sending eight to the hospital. And one woman was killed March 29 when she ran in front of an oncoming train. But TRAX has not become the death machine some of its critics predicted.
"It's been a huge success from opening day until today," said UTA general manager John Inglish. "You just can't get on a train and listen for more than five minutes without hearing people talk about what a great way to travel it is."
The passage of Measure 1, which increased UTA's sales tax share from a quarter cent per dollar to a half cent in the three counties, was the finishing touch on what has been a very good first year for TRAX.
With a 2.5-mile extension to Rice-Eccles Stadium under way and on target for a pre-Olympic opening, the toughest job facing Inglish, his board and his staff is exactly how to spend the additional $43 million the tax hike will generate, at a minimum, each year.
"This is a quantum move for us, and so you're not going to all of the sudden, overnight, go from what we are to here's the detailed plan of where we're going," Inglish said. "We know where we're going, but the pieces in between are going to have to come with time."
UTA will follow the Wasatch Front Regional Council's 20-year regional transportation plan in making those decisions. The plan calls for the construction of a commuter rail network between at least Ogden and Salt Lake City, an expansion and overhaul of the bus system, and light-rail spurs to the University of Utah Medical Center, Salt Lake City International Airport, West Jordan, West Valley City and fartherinto Sandy and on to Draper. The regional council also wants to reconsider a light-rail spur for southern Davis County.
The first additional tax revenue will not be transferred to the agency until early April, according to UTA finance director Ken Montague. Inglish said the UTA board likely will be asked to revise its annual budget as the revenue becomes available.
Inglish said the public will have to be patient for large-scale improvements. It takes at least 18 months, and sometimes more than two years, for new light-rail vehicles and buses to be ordered, manufactured and delivered. And the construction of commuter-rail and light-rail extensions is dependent on the slow and methodical federal funding process.
Taxpayers could see the first impact of Measure 1 before the end of the year. Inglish is hoping the UTA board will agree to offer limited Sunday service on TRAX during the holiday season. The board also plans to discuss whether its current $1 fare for a one-way trip on the bus or TRAX should be changed.
Two improvements UTA would like to make soon is the widening of two bridges on the main TRAX line, one across State Street in Midvale and another that crosses I-215 near its south junction with I-15. Those bridges represent the only parts of the TRAX system that remain one-way and the major obstacles to providing rush-hour service as frequently as every five minutes.
"The bridges are very important to us, and we're working with UDOT on the State Street bridge," said Mike Allegra, UTA's director of transit development. "We don't have a particular time frame, but we are sorting through the different issues."
UTA's critics are still sorting through the Election Day defeat.
Michael Packard, a transportation consultant with the Coalition for Accountable Government, believes UTA would be better off spending the new money on hundreds of vans that could take the place of buses during off-peak hours. That would increase efficiency and reduce pollution, he said.
Packard suggests that 5 percent of the money be used to study new technology, such as high-speed personal rapid transit or a new rail system called Cybertran, developed at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.
"Those would be intelligent things to do," Packard said. "Now, the UTA won't do those things because it reveals the flaws in their process. They're going to run those big buses — 23 million miles last year. . . . There has to come a time when you say this (the current system) isn't working."
Packard said he will ask state lawmakers to perform an audit of UTA's operations and planning.
"We need an independent analysis of just what we're getting for all the money we're spending," Packard said.
Packard also has charged UTA with crippling its bus system for the sake of light rail. By funneling buses to TRAX stations, UTA made bus transit inconvenient for many passengers, forcing them back into their cars, he said.
"I'm absolutely sure there are some people who used our bus system who loved it and it was perfect for them who are no longer riding because it's not perfect for them any more," Inglish conceded.
"I regret that, but this kind of change (to emphasize light rail) requires that we make significant changes."
As UTA contemplates expansion, transit agencies in other cities are flocking to the Salt Lake area to see what all the fuss is about. UTA has entertained officials from numerous cities that are considering construction of light rail.
Officials and media representatives from the Phoenix area were present for last year's grand opening, and voters there later approved a light-rail referendum.
E-mail: zman@desnews.com