UTA Announces Grand Opening Festivities For Airport TRAX Line

Filed in Featured, Trains of Thought Tagged with Airport, Change Day, FrontLines 2015, North Temple, Salt Lake City, TRAX, Utah Transit Authority February 27th, 2013 @ 2:30 pm

UTA Announces Grand Opening Plans For Airport TRAX

The Airport TRAX line will begin regular service on Sunday, April 14. It will become part of UTA’s existing Green Line, offering service to the Salt Lake International Airport. To celebrate, UTA, Salt Lake City and local businesses will hold the grand opening ceremony and a community celebration on Saturday, April 13.

The celebration will include rides on the new TRAX line in exchange for donating food to the Utah Food Bank. In addition, in partnership with the local business community, celebration activities and events will take place at each station with free food, music and fun. So come out and celebrate the opening of the line with us!

April Service Changes

With the opening of the new Airport line, there are a number of service changes on UTA’s bus system that will also begin April 14. In January, we held five public hearings to discuss proposed changes to the transit system in Davis, Tooele and Salt Lake counties. Comments were also accepted via UTA’s website, email and through customer service. In response to the comments, low ridership and budget constraints, the following changes will take place:

Rail Service

Route 701 Blue Line – Minor schedule adjustments
Route 703 Red Line – Minor schedule adjustments
Route 704 Green Line – Minor schedule adjustments. We are unable to expand service on the Green Line earlier in the morning or later at night, as requested by passengers, due to budget restraints and obligations for overnight use of the track for freight movement. No changes to weekend service.

Salt Lake County

Route 218 Redwood Road –The North Temple portion of the route will be retained, continuing to 300 W to 200 S, then west to Salt Lake Central Station
Route 517 Jordan Meadows – Route will be adjusted to connect to Airport Line rather than Salt Lake Central Station
Route 551 International Center – New route will be implemented as proposed to connect the airport to the International Center
Route 522 2200 West – New service on 2200 West with slight modification to proposal to better serve additional businesses
Implement service eliminations as proposed:
- Route 227 2700 West – Discontinue Saturday service due to low ridership
- Route 523 Business Park Shuttle – Discontinue route due to low ridership
- Route 527 Daybreak Shuttle – Discontinue route due to low ridership
- Route 550 Airport – Replaced with TRAX and Route 551
- Route 6 Sixth Avenue – Discontinue Sunday service due to low ridership
- Route 240 Dixie Valley – Discontinue Sunday service due to low ridership

Utah County

April changes will be minor. Due to BYU closing its campus to vehicles, service will be rerouted around the campus. Also, BYU and Provo City have major road reconstruction planned for the summer that will cause some rerouting.

Timing adjustments will be made to improve bus/rail connections:

Route 822 South Utah County BYU/UVU Limited will be rerouted around BYU
Route 830 Provo/Orem FrontRunner Connector will be rerouted around BYU
Route 831 Provo 7 Peaks/Grandview will be rerouted around BYU
Route 832 Provo Center/900 East will be rerouted around BYU
Route 811 Utah Valley TRAX Connector – schedule changes due to TRAX Blue Line changes. Minor tweaking to match bus routes up with new train schedules.

Flex Routes

F628 Syracuse/Hooper – Discontinued due to low ridership
F401 Grantsville/Stansbury Park – We will not cut midday service as proposed. The route will be realigned to service the hospital and Wal-Mart in Tooele. Service to Stansbury Park will be reduced and shifted to Grantsville
F547 Herriman – Second bus during peak will be eliminated as proposed
All other route times will be adjusted on a needs basis in order to meet trains/buses or customer needs etc.

Weber County

Minor schedule and time adjustments. Some trips removed from routes 640, 625, 645, 627 and 626 due to low ridership

Maps and detailed schedules for all of the above changes will be available online in mid-March.

Gallery on the Go: UTA’s Art in Transit Program

Filed in Featured, Trains of Thought Tagged with Art in Transit, bus, FrontRunner, Trains of Thought, TRAX, Utah Transit Authority February 21st, 2013 @ 10:38 pm

If you’ve been a frequent rider of UTA anytime in the last decade, you know many stations feature art displays designed to be a source of beauty and pride in our local communities. The displays, which often come about due to a joint partnership between individual cities and UTA, create a unique collection and are a mix of painting, photography, sculpture and sound art. Besides enhancing the aesthetics at transit facilities, the art displays help deter vandalism at the stations.

Bus Stop Mural at Weber State University - Artist: McCall Takos

In UTA’s bus system, select shelters sport brightly-colored murals. The murals, 14 in all throughout the Wasatch Front, have been created by local artists or art class students. Many feature historical scenes as well as depictions of modern-day life in Utah.

Bus Stop Mural at the Lehi FrontRunner Station

Many of UTA’s TRAX and all of its FrontRunner stations have photography, sound or sculpture elements on the train platforms. These displays range from the delightfully quirky, such as the lighted orbs at Midvale’s Bingham Junction Station on the Red line, to the traditional feel of historic portraits, such as those featured at the South Jordan FrontRunner Station.

Orbs at Bingham Junction TRAX Station

What are your favorite Art in Transit displays? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Last Minute Transit-Friendly Valentine’s Day Ideas

Filed in Featured, Urban Ticket Tagged with bus, Farmington, FrontRunner, Ogden, Orem, Salt Lake City, TRAX, Urban Ticket, West Valley February 13th, 2013 @ 11:43 pm

Don’t worry if you haven’t made Valentine’s plans yet. There are many last minute transit-friendly options that are sure to make Valentine’s Day special for you and your sweetheart.

Dinner and a Movie

If you’re looking for a classic last minute date idea, you can’t go wrong with dinner and a movie.

Take TRAX to the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake or to Jordan Commons in Sandy.

Take MAX or TRAX to the Valley Fair Mall in West Valley.

Take FrontRunner to Station Park in Farmington.

Take the 832, 850 or 862 to the Timpanogos Transit Center near University Mall in Orem.

For some fun local restaurant ideas, with reviews and specific transit route detail, browse through our past Urban Ticket blog posts.

Other Unique Ideas

If dinner and a movie isn’t your thing, here are some other unique Valentine’s Day date ideas.

Downtown Salt Lake City

For a night of romantic Latin and ballroom dancing, take route 200 to DF Dance Studio on State Street.

Take TRAX to get to your romantic horse-drawn carriage tour of downtown Salt Lake via Carriage for Hire tours. Tours run between 6 and 11 p.m.

Get a couples massage at Massage Envy (accessible from TRAX via the Trolley Station).

Go ice skating at the Gallivan Center ice skating rink (accessible from TRAX via the Gallivan Station).

Top of Utah

If you’re looking for an adventurous date, take FrontRunner to the Salomon Center in Ogden for indoor rock climbing and skydiving before grabbing a bite to eat.

Ski Resorts

For a day of fun-filled skiing or snowboarding, take the ski bus to Alta, Brighton, Powder Mountain, Snow Basin, Snowbird, Solitude or Sundance.

If you want to get away to the crisp mountain air but don’t feel like skiing, you can take the PC-SLC Connect (Route 901) and spend the day in Park City shopping and dining on historic Main Street.

South Valley

Outdoor lovers can take TRAX to the RV Show at the South Towne Expo Center.

For a unique and colorful shopping and dining experience, take TRAX to Daybreak and visit the Daybreak’s SoDa Row village center.

Don’t Forget the Chocolates

Finally, if you haven’t already picked up your Valentines chocolates, you can take transit to these locations:

Cummings Chocolates in Salt Lake (Route 9), Hatch Family Chocolates in Salt Lake (Route 3) or Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at the Gateway (TRAX) or the Shops at Riverwoods in Provo (Route 842).

For assistance planning your trip visit rideuta.com or contact customer service in the Salt Lake area at RIDE-UTA (743-3882) or at 1-888- RIDE-UTA (743-3882).

Ride safe and have a happy Valentine’s Day.

UTA To Change FrontRunner and Select Bus Schedules Feb. 19

Filed in Featured, Trains of Thought Tagged with bus, FrontRunner, Service Adjustments, Service Changes, UTA February 5th, 2013 @ 9:54 pm

Changes are being made to FrontRunner and bus schedules to improve overall system reliability Tuesday, Feb. 19.

Following the opening of the FrontRunner extension south to Provo, the agency has found it challenging to meet published schedules, causing regular delays and missed connections in the system.

The new schedules are currently available online; new printed schedules will be available soon.

FrontRunner

The adjusted schedule will more accurately reflect actual running times and dwell times at Salt Lake Central and North Temple stations will be increased.

All trips will depart approximately 5 to 10 minutes earlier.

Northbound trips will increase run times by 15 minutes (nine additional minutes to travel between Provo and Salt Lake Central, and six additional minutes between Salt Lake Central and Ogden).

Southbound trips will increase run times by 16 minutes (eleven additional minutes between Ogden and Salt Lake Central, five additional minutes between Salt Lake Central and Provo).

The difference in run times between southbound and northbound trips is due to the way trains meet to pass each other.

In addition to time adjustments the agency is adding trips, increasing 30-minute service during peak operation. The number of trips traveling the full length of the line will increase from 19 to 23. The number of peak trips traveling half of the line will increase from 9 to 10.

Bus

Bus routes with a FrontRunner connection will also experience a schedule change. The changes affect the following routes:

Salt Lake County

2, 2X, 3, 6, 9, 11, 200, 201, 205, 209, 218, 220, 500, 513, 516, 517, 520, 523, 534, 550, F526

Weber and Davis Counties

455, 603, 604, 612, 613, 616, 630, 640, F618

Utah County

805, 806, 807, 809, 821, 830, 831, 832, 833, 834, 836, 842, 850, 853, F868

TRAX

There will be no changes to TRAX schedules.

Additional Information

In addition to schedule changes, UTA is working to provide riders with better access to service information.

Operations staff will be on site at some of our busiest stations – Provo, Lehi, Murray, Salt Lake Central and North Temple – to answer questions and assist passengers.

During peak operating hours staff will manually update FrontRunner display boards with more reliable arrival and information.

UTA will continue to provide service updates online on the service tab located on its Facebook page and on Twitter, as well as feed information to several private third party schedule and tracking apps.

Typically, the agency makes changes to the schedule three times a year. The next regularly scheduled change day will occur on April 14, coinciding with the opening of the Airport TRAX extension.