Transit Trip Report

Yesterday I had a chance to get out and spend the day riding transit which I have not had the opportunity to do in some time. My trip including Front Runner, plus a host of bus routes including one of the new flex routes that started running last month.

My trip started off on Front Runner. Since I have not had the opportunity to do so I decided to ride in one of the former NJ Transit Comet I cars.



While I still prefer the Bombardier cars, the Comet car rode just fine. I do prefer the cloth seats in the Bombardier cars as apposed to the vinyl in the Comet cars, but otherwise they're passable.

Before leaving Central Station I realized I forgot my pens however, being there is no place near the station to get any I decided to stop somewhere along my trip. I got off at Roy to catch the new 626. Since I had some time I rode the 604 over to 1900 West to see if I could find a pen but had not luck. I then walked back to the station and encountered this very pedestrian friendly area (yes that is sarcasm):



Traffic was fierce on 4000 South but I made it to the station in plenty of time to catch the little bus.

The 626 travels the extreme western end of civilization through Hooper then cuts through some residential areas. I will have a post upcoming talking about this route specifically for right now all I will say is that this routes days are numbered when the Federal funding runs out.



Next I rode the 470 up to 1900 West and 5600 South where I was able to find some pens and get some water for my walk up the Ogden River Trail. After a few minutes another 470 came along and I took it up to Washington and 22nd Street then walked up to the Ogden River Trail.

Following the Ogden River Trail I too a ride on the 612 and ate lunch at the Old China Buffet at Riverdale and Washington (bad experience) then took rode another 612 and 470 down to Bountiful. I walked around Bountiful's downtown area (yes another posting about that coming soon) then caught another 470 toward downtown Salt Lake.

However, the 470 with a 2007 Gillig Advantage BRT started to overheat and we finally came to a stop at 2600 South and Main where we had to wait for the following bus to come pick us up. I my 12 years of riding UTA this is the first time I have ever had a bus break down that I was riding.

The last time I was on the a bus that broke down was down in Miami when I was there for Railvolution and maybe once living in Spokane. In Los Angeles however, broken down buses were a way of life especially when they were dealing with 30+ year old buses but even the newest ones broke down frequently because of poor maintenance.



After the next bus came along we were once again on our way to Downtown. Once downtown I caught a 550 out to North Temple and 1950 West. Our bus was a 2007 Gillig Advantage BRT but in suburban configuration with no rear door. I had no idea that UTA had even purchased any of these.

I got off at North Temple and 1950 West which ended my day of transit riding.