TRAX ridership is down this year compared to 2006, and the Utah Transit Authority says the decrease is a result of glitches with a new passenger counting system, as well as downtown construction and greater public acceptance of high gas prices.
Last year was also a "banner" year for ridership, where the number of people taking the train was higher than normal, UTA spokesman Chad Saley said. During the first five months of 2007, an average of about 1 million people rode TRAX each month. That's a 17.5 percent decrease over 2006, when an average of 1.28 million people rode on the light-rail system each month.
Even so, ridership in 2007 was higher than in 2005, when an average of 954,197 people rode TRAX during the first five months that year. Comparing the 2007 and 2005 figures, ridership increased about 11 percent this year.
Despite that overall increase, UTA critics such as Michael Packard and Drew Chamberlain — who are part of a citizen-run lobbying group called Coalition for Accountable Government — say the results from UTA's new passenger counting system are proof that the agency has lied about ridership numbers over the years.
"The ridership didn't drop," said Chamberlain. "They just simply got caught cheating, and now they have to count in a more correct fashion."
But UTA defends its ridership numbers. In the past, UTA would manually count riders on randomly picked trains throughout the day. A formula was then used to determine a ridership number for the month.
The new counting system was installed on some trains in February and uses heat sensors to detect warm bodies going on and off the TRAX train. Saley said the heat-sensor system did not count riders on trains that were added last-minute during rush hour, or for special events such as a Jazz game.
Over the next few months, UTA plans to analyze its past train schedules and try to determine what cars were not counted for ridership amounts.
Saley doesn't believe ridership would be greater than last year with the additional counts. But he said construction impacts and a growing acceptance of gas prices could account for the rest of the difference.
Last October, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans for a massive redevelopment of two malls in downtown Salt Lake City. Demolition of about 20 acres began in November, and several thousand tenants were forced to move, Saley said.
"There are less people going to downtown Salt Lake City."
Regarding gas prices, he said that last year was a shock for people when they saw prices above $3 a gallon. This year, people are used to the idea of gas greater than $3 per gallon, which may affect whether they decide to use transit. "There's not nearly the shock and awe as when we reached $3 a gallon like last year," he said.
Within the next year, UTA plans to install its heat sensors on TRAX trains to the University of Utah. The transit agency plans to also install them on buses but has no time frame for when they would be on buses. The sensors allow the agency to count each passenger and know when they get on or off the train.
E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com