Thursday, June 12, 2008

Yesterday...


Yesterday, I had a meeting to attend to in Downtown so I thought it would be a good time to go get some pictures at the Intermodal Hub, Central Station.

I started off on the 213 getting one of the 2006 Opus buses which is the perfect bus to be assigned to this route. I then took TRAX to the Intermodal Hub.

On my way back I took TRAX to the Stadium Station and onto the 220. I cannot wait until they build something at the Stadium TRAX station. I just hope it has something like a convenience store because yesterday I was getting pretty thirsty waiting for the 220 but of course I would have missed the bus if I had to walk over to stores on 1300 East and 200 South.

But then came the 220 with bus 9214 assigned. One of the last of the Orion V buses still on the road for UTA. The bus itself is better than any of the low floor buses built today, but what was really irritating was the wrap. Now anyone who has read my blog for any length of time knows how much I despise wraps but this one was even worse than most. As you can see from the picture you cannot see a thing out the window. This is why I hate wraps so much.



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11 comments:

Clint Gardner said...

I too despise the wraps, but because they are financially strapped on the bus service as it is, UTA has to sell their soul to marketers.

I haven't seen one of the new buses wrapped yet, however. Is it a sign of something good to come?

John Dornoff said...

Actually I noticed most of the buses used on the 307/320 which are the brand new Gillig Advantage BRT buses, have wraps on them.

The sad part is the revenue from wraps is not that great considering what a put off they are to people riding the bus.

Tammi Diaz said...

UTA has has Good Bus Service in Down Town Salt Lake City, in the Avenues and at the University of Utah with they Granted Students and Faculty Discounts Beyond what other Fare Pass
Holders Pay in the Amount $6.3 Million each year.

UTA has Destroyed the Bus System in the Rest of Salt Lake County. UTA is putting most of their REVENUE into Light Rail and FrontRunner Diesel, with is causing more Air Pollution.

John Inglish General Manager Salary
is $266,614 Bonus $39,860 Other Incentives $60,526 Total $100,386, there are 9 more High Paid Executives that Receive Huge Salaries and Huge Bonuses, all Tax Payers Expense.

UTA has Less then Half as EFFICIENT
Transit System.

UTA is in the Process of trying to get other ENTITIES to do Transportation of the Disabled and the Elderly, it is likely Property Taxes would be Increased and Services be Cut to the Disabled and
Elderly. There will Increase need for a Good Transit System with the Baby Bloomers and the Solders coming back from the War Disabled.

UTA needs to get Accessible Vans and Small Buses to go into Neighborhoods to take Individuals to the Main Bus Routes.

John Dornoff said...

Tammi,

UTA is not putting revenue into light rail construction or Front Runner construction. Light rail cost 1.50 per passenger, bus 3.75 per passenger. That means that light rail is more efficient.

Please explain this Tammi, how many passengers does FrontRunner have to carry to make it less polluting than single occupancy vehicles or buses since you and your puppeteers never mention?

UTA SHOULD get someone contract out Paratransit service. It is a costly unfunded mandate from the Federal Government and it cost $25.00 to $35.00 per passenger. That is why bus service is suffering.

Tammi Diaz said...

After full System Developed, FrontRunner Trains will likely burn
over 4 Million Gallons of Diesel a year. They will Dump an added 400 to 500 Tons of NOx into the Air each year, beyond reductions from Car/Truck Emission and Bus "Economies". There are two other Alternatives to Diesel-Guzzling FrontRunner. Go to transitridersunion.blogstot.com

John Dornoff said...

First of all Tammi,

Likely burn how much Diesel? What has to be taken into consideration is that each FrontRunner car can hold 120 passengers (two of the commuter cruiser buses), and has a maximum capacity of 1200 passengers. While FrontRunner those capacity numbers at the start, it will grow much like TRAX.

Second, I notice that your BUS riders union and their highway foamer backers conveniently leave out vital information such as the reductioin of CO and Hydrocarbins. Also, I never see what they use for base line numbers.

Amazing how the people behind the BUS riders union in 1999 talked that commuter rail would be good but TRAX bad. Of course everyone knew when commuter rail got closer they would be attacking it.

Once again you and your BUS Riders Union want easy answers to difficult problems. Yes, we need more bus service but guess what, it cost money, more money to operate than TRAX.

The current problems are not caused by some "evil conseracy" by UTA officials, it has been caused by 70 years of policies that favored the autombile. Suburban Sprawl that your BUS Riders Union backers support is not conducive to transit bus service. You and your group is focused on the wrong problems but then again that's what certain people you support want.

Tammi Diaz said...

There are Alternatives to Diesel-Guzzling FrontRunner. Just go to transitridersunion.blogstot.com .
Vote for UTA for Salt Lake County Mayor,
since the Elected Officials refuse to Listen to the People, Me and Friends Write in UTA. There alot People upset
at UTA.

John Dornoff said...

Tammi,
So what are the alternatives?

Your buddy Packard talks about DMU's. Well that is nice except for the fact that they have severe capacity issues. Once you go beyond 4 cars you need another train while the existing FrontRunner locomotives can handle 10 car trains (MP40 locomotives could handle 12 cars such as in Toronto).

Then he talks about electrification which I would support 100% except for the fact that their is issues with find EMU equipment that would work. You could try electric locomotives but once again you would need ones that would meet Buff Strength requirements and they are substantially more expensive. Once again something your friends the Highway Foamers don't talk about.

Clint Gardner said...

There is also precious-little comment from the Union about diesel guzzling buses.

I am all for expanded bus service, but it does come at great cost. The continual mis-informed rant of the BRU is not really helping. I don't really understand why they believe UDOT will somehow bring back the utterly inefficient previous bus routes.

Sure it was great to be able to ride a bus from one end of the valley to the other, unless you happened to want to be anywhere on time. Because of the changes, I may have to get off the bus and wait at TRAX, but I sure don't have to stand out at my previous stop wondering how late the bus was going to be that day because it was held up 10 miles away in the South Valley.

A bit off-topic, but the BRU is never known to stick to the topic either.

Clint Gardner said...

Oh, and the repetition of "UTA doesn't care" is getting really old. Do they really think that UDOT is going to care? Do they think the legislature which would prefer to do away with "socialist bus systems" really cares?

Give me a break.

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