UTA to implement bus, train route changes proposed in January
SALT LAKE CITY — In about a month, hundreds of Weber, Davis and Salt Lake county residents can no longer ride their regular bus or train to work.
On Friday, the Utah Transit Authority announced its decision — proposed in January — to shed a handful of bus and train routes, which save about $3 million, or half the amount of money UTA General Manager John Inglish was charged with cutting from the 2010 calendar year budget.
UTA will cut Express routes 474 and 476 through Ogden and Davis County. The routes run parallel to FrontRunner Commuter Rail, said UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter.
Route 472, also on the chopping block when UTA announced the proposed cuts, was spared but with modifications.
UTA will add two new trips to Express Route 473 to absorb some riders affected by the cuts.
Lisa Scadden of Syracuse may be affected, depending on what time she can hop an Express bus to get to work in Salt Lake City by 7 a.m. Currently, she drives to the Kaysville Park & Ride and waits for whichever downtown Express bus comes first — 472, 474 or 476.
"I would not take the train," she said. "I would have to leave my home 20 minutes earlier to catch the 6 a.m. train in Clearfield," she said. "I would get home 15 to 20 minutes later every night."
All bus changes announced Friday begin April 5.
UTA will eliminate Saturday service on routes 9, 11, 17, 62, 228, 232 and 248. Sunday service will be eliminated on routes 39 and 45.
UTA also will cut back the TRAX route between Sandy and the University of Utah, beginning May 3, which is the end of the U.'s spring semester. Instead of light-rail trains running all day, trains will only run in mornings and evenings. The first train leaves Sandy at 6:04 a.m. and the last train arrives leaves Sandy at 4:34 p.m.
For a complete schedule, visit http://www.rideuta.com/changeday..
No new changes are expected in bus and train schedules until December, Carpenter said.
UTA gets a bulk of its revenue from sales taxes. And spending is down during the recession, which has affected UTA coffers.
UTA believes the economy will probably turn around during 2010 but warns that the bus and train cuts that have occurred in 2009 and 2010 will not suddenly be reversed.
"We don't expect a drastic rebound in sales tax revenue," he said. "It's going to be a gradual increase."
e-mail: lhancock@desnews.com
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