A Transit Day for all weather...

Took my first transit trip of the new year yesterday. I started off at the intersection of California Avenue and Pioneer. I had originally planned to take the route 232 to downtown but because of the rain I was running late and just missed the bus heading to downtown.

I decided to walk down to 1700 South since I could catch either a 232 or 248 and thought that a 248 would come around 8:48. As I was walking down to 1700 South the weather changed from rain to hail.

Just a couple of minutes after I arrived at the first stop for the 248 a 1999 Gillig Advantage pulled up with a couple of passenger and we headed to the Ballpark TRAX station.

UTA is finally putting in a permanent bus shelter in at Central Station which should do a pretty good job of keeping customers out of the elements while waiting for bus. While I was walking around the station I also saw the new Gillig Advantage BRT Hybrid buses were in service on routes 2 and 550.

While at the station I also walked over and check out the new bicycle center. While the center looks nice there was not a single bike in the bike parking area. While I don't know how it is doing overall, you have to wonder if it is not suffering from the poor location of the station.

From Central Station I rode some of the "getto" UTDC ex-San Jose VTA cars that are usually running on the University line. While the cars could have used a good interior revamp when they were refurbished, they are still in better shape than bus would be of comparable age.

As usual the train was packed by the time it left Gallivan Plaza but I got off at Library to spend some time doing paperwork at the Downtown Library. From there I did some walking around the south downtown area before taking TRAX and route 232 to my starting point.

Oh and the weather changed again. When I arrived at the Library it started to snow but by the time I left it was sunny but cold. It then clouded up during the rest of the trip. A little bit of weather for everyone...

Well it wasn't an exciting trip report but it there will some good ones coming up in a few months. In May I will be making a trip to Portland and all my travel in Portland will be on Tri-Met and after June 15th I will be riding transit almost every so I should have some interesting comments then.

However, on this trip I did get a few ideas for upcoming postings so look for them soon.

NIMBYism and Unintended Consequences

Image by boltzr via Flickr
Any time a NIMBY wins a battle, there is often unintended consequences of that win. Sometimes the NIMBY's can end up with something worse than they were fighting against. Sometimes the consequence is a loss of something that could really helped the community in the long run.

In Salt Lake City, the west side of the city suffers from the victim mentality of NIMBY. They see things as a threat to their community because everyone likes to pick on the west side. While the west side did get screwed with the building of I-15 and I-80 that effectively cut them off from the rest of the city and the rebuilding that did not do the right thing and lower the freeway, the will often become their worst enemies by fighting projects that will ultimately help their neighborhood.

A perfect example of this is the Airport TRAX line. One of the plans for the line was to run it down 600 West and service Central Station in west Salt Lake. However, the west side fought against the project because it would have created a viaduct over the existing Union Pacific and Front Runner railroad tracks.

However, the section of the west side that would have been effected by this viaduct is minor. In fact it is actually cut off from the rest of the west side by I-15. In fact we are only talking about a few homes along the street along with a fairly new apartment complex at the corner of 600 West and North Temple.

Now instead of the viaduct, TRAX trains on the Airport will not serve the Intermodal Station at all and instead will continue to travel on North Temple, turn on 400 West and connect up with the existing TRAX lines at South Temple.

Now comes the unintended consequences.

Because there will no longer be a direct connection from the airport to Central Station, the two proposed hotels for the station area will not be built. While they would have not provide a huge amount of jobs, but they would have created new opportunities for economic development in a part of town that desperately needs it. With the addition of the hotels it would have been more likely that Central Station and Gateway could be connected through redevelopment.

However, all is not lost in the Central Station district. The city of Salt Lake does have plans on the books that would redevelop the area between Central Station and the old Rio Grande Station that would also connect those areas to downtown area.

While the west side NIMBY's may have won a battle in their area, in the long run their actions may have actually set back their area a decade or more.

A few hours on UTA and some upcoming articles

Yesterday I had a few hours to kill so I naturally decided to spend some time riding TRAX and some UTA buses.

First of all I started by walking to the Meadowbrook TRAX station from the area around 4000 South and State. A few days ago I made some comments about the new development going in south of 3900 South and I pointed out some of the problems current facing the complex. Well I discovered another one. There is no sidewalk currently on the south side of 3900 South from West Temple to Main.

In fact the southwest corner of Main and 3900 is a death trap. There is no way for cars trying to turn right onto Main or even going straight to see a pedestrian that is trying to cross the street from that point. I did it and lived to tell about it but this is another reason that I do not see that new development being a true TOD development.

Once I got to the station I decided to take the first train that came along and that was a University to Sandy train with two of the ex-San Jose UTDC/Bombardier light rail vehicles. The car I rode in was squeaking really bad but hopefully these will be replaced by the new S70 cars next year.

I didn't mention it in my article on TOD but the new development at the former Smith's store at 7800 South and State is another example of TAD. It is playing on the fact that it is near a TRAX station but the development is clearly auto centric and because of the lack of amenities nearby (except of an excellent burger joint and a couple of restaurants) will do nothing to decrease car trips.

After arriving at the Sandy Civic Center Station the train went out of service and since the only bus in sight was the 811 and I didn't feel like heading to Utah County, I hopped the northbound train to Central Station.

The new TRAX Express concession building is nearly complete at the Sandy Civic Center Station. Hopefully this will prove to be a success since so many TRAX stations are far conveniences. I also noted that there has been a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks at the 6200 South TRAX station where the new Mid Jordan line will tie in with the existing line. I also noted that the turnouts for the West Valley line have been put in.

I took TRAX all the way to central station and decided to walk over to the bus area and catch the first bus that came along. The first thing I have noticed is that a shelter has been installed over the bus boarding area. Not a real bus shelter but one of those canvas shelters used when camping and for outdoor parties and such. I am sure that bus riders will not mind having some shade from the hot summer days.

The first bus boarding as I approached the bus area was a 217 but there was a large number of people getting on so I waited for the bus behind it which was the 240 and jumped on it. This is the first time that I had the chance to ride this route since it was created during the bus realignment.

There was no one on board as we left central station and only person other person boarded before we jumped on the freeway and headed to Redwood Road. By the time the bus turned onto Decker Lake Blvd the driver was running a couple of minutes early so we sat and waited for time. We were riding in one of the oldest buses currently in the UTA fleet, a 1997 Gillig Phantom. While the bus may be older, it still is holding up better than the low floor buses that will soon replace this one.

In fact, once the 1996 and 1997 Gillig Phantoms are retired UTA will basically have an all low floor bus fleet except for the MCI Commuter Cruisers. While I know low floor buses make it easier for people with disabilities get on and off, I still dislike how much seating capacity goes down with a low floor and the quality just doesn't seem to stack up.

I decided since I had not had the opportunity to ride MAX since the bus lanes open I would give it a shot. The other person on the bus got off along 3100 South giving me a bus to myself for a few blocks. However, that would not have lasted long if I didn't get off at 3500 South since there was a fairly good crowd getting on when I disembarked.

I walked over to the MAX stop and waited for the bus to come. After about a 8 minute wait I boarded Van Hool bus number 09104 with a couple of other passengers. With the lack of seating capacity on the Van Hool's it doesn't take much of a crowd to fill up the seating capacity but I had no problem finding a seat on the left had side of the bus.

After crossing Bangerter Highway the bus enters the new bus lanes. While the lanes made have saved a couple of minutes, all the time saved was loss as the bus had to wait in an attempt to cross the road in order to turn right onto 2700 West. After making a loop pass the future TRAX station we headed toward to Millcreek TRAX station.

People who read this blog often know that I am not a fan of BRT or as I call it Badly Repackaged Transit. This is especially true of MAX which is supposed to have off bus fare collection but few use it, the bus lanes save little time, there is no next bus information, and

I once again boarded the first TRAX came that came along which was once again heading toward downtown. I was getting hungry at this point so I decided to head to the City Creek Center's Food Court and see what was available there.

Among the choices were: Red Iguana, Bocata, Sbarro, Suki Hana, Great Steak, Chang Chun, and McDonald's. Soon there will also abe a Roxberry's and Subway. Except for the Red Iguana its pretty much standard sub par mall offerings but I was in the mood for Chinese so I tried Chang Chun. The food was good and the price reasonable so I can't complain.

I then boarded a TRAX train back to 3900 South that ended my journey for the day.

Today I also took a shorter trip in order to head to a function I had to attended at 6:00pm so I rode the 213 and caught a northbound TRAX train.

There was a fairly good load on the 213 with a number of people getting on and off along the way. In fact I believe we stopped at every single stop along the 1000 east stretch of the route. You have to wonder if BRT is started along 1300 East how much the 213 would be cut back and how it would affect service along the route.

I then rode TRAX to the Murray Central TRAX station. The car I rode in seemed to have a flat spotted wheel as it had a distinct thumb while moving. I had to walk to Vine then over to 300 West then south toward 5300 South to reach my destination. As I have pointed out in the past, Murray has done little to connect both sides of the tracks so to speak in this area.

You have the new developments on the east side including the IHC Death Star as many people call it which was poorly designed to and doesn't integrate well with the TRAX station. Then you have the 300 West corridor on the far side of the UP and future Front Runner tracks that have not been given easy access to the TRAX station. Hopefully as the station becomes an even more important transportation hub with the addition of Front Runner South, Murray will see fit to blend the areas together and make access easier.

I also wanted to give you a heads up on some article ideas I am working on. I will guarantee how fast each individual article will be put on the blog but keep an eye out.

Among the ideas rolling around up in my head:

• Why the streetcar may be downtown Bountiful's only hope.
• Googleize UTA's Website
  
• What High Speed Rail means to us
  
• The importance of mixed use
• Real Estate and the Free Market Myth
• How much does it cost to drive?
  

So there is a preview of future articles plus several others I have on the burner.

TRAX changes reversed

Image via Wikipedia

Now that I have you caught up on This Week in Amtrak postings, now its time to start talking about important issues again.

The first thing I want to talk about is the UTA reversing its decision to end Sandy trains at the Arena station and running every 30-minute service from Sandy to the U.

For those of you not keeping up with what is happening in this area, in August UTA started terminating Sandy trains at the Arena station and only running University trains all the way to Central Station. In turn UTA started running trains every 30-minutes on week days from Sandy to the University of Utah bypassing downtown.

If you look at the numbers the move made a lot of sense. After all, for anyone that has seen the activity at Gallivan Center during most of the day you know that there is huge numbers of people who transfer to and from University and Sandy trains at that station. Therefore running more Sandy to University trains made sense even if it meant a lost of service on the far end of the line. Lets remember that Central Station still had every 15-minute service so its not like they had a major cut in service.

However, the court of public opinion clearly showed that people want the Sandy trains to head all the way to Central Station. I personally feel that despite its bad location (thank you Dee-Dee and Boyer), now that Front Runner is running with more on the way, that Central Station needs to be the central hub of UTA service in the downtown Salt Lake City area. Hopefully over the next few years we will see some major developments around the Central Station area that will make it a more important spot in the downtown area.

That being said, when the other TRAX lines come on line over the next few years, we are going to see changes in TRAX service in the downtown area. Not all trains will be able to head to Central Station. In addition thanks to the west side NIMBY's and victim mentalities, we lost an opportunity to have a direct feed from Central Station to the airport. While it is theory still possible, the loss of the 600 West route does greatly hinder that possibility.

Despite the numbers looking right and making sense, there are times that these things don't work and UTA is doing the right thing and is going to start running most Sandy trains all the way to Central Station again.

Now if you listen to some people you would think that it is only because UTA is a government agency that this happened and that private enterprise would never make a mistake like this. Give me a break. Last time I checked, there is a host of private companies that have mistakes like this. After all, according to taste tests a majority of people wanted Coke to change its formula. Yet, after New Coke was introduced, Coke had to bring out Classic Coke to appease the huge numbers of people who where upset about the change, yet the taste test said that it should work.

UTA tried something new and innovative but is now having to go back. Government agencies are often criticized for not being innovative, but when they do they are criticized for being innovative. UTA should be applauded for trying something new and encouraged to do it more in the future.

Central Station

Image via WikipediaImagine getting of a train whether it be Front Runner or the California Zephyr (or any other long distance train that should service Salt Lake City), and arriving at a beautiful station mixing classic architecture with state of the art facilities. You have shopping, hotels, motels, and entertainment just a few steps away. Well, that dream died many years ago when Boyer was allowed to develop the Gateway center and those non-essential trains were moved several blocks away were no one will notice them.

Today we do have a nice intermodal depot but at the present time it is a shadow of what it could have been and can be in the future. The danger of the present station is that it will become a place that people get off Front Runner as quickly as possible, run over to TRAX and avoid the neighborhood completely. Instead to become a true Central Station, the station needs to be not only a station but a destination.

I posted a video back in December about the Berlin Hauptbahnhof station. Take a look at their website and see what is provided. Now they have substantially more trains than Salt Lake probably will ever have, but it gives you a good idea about the range of facilities to be found in great stations.

While there is at least one hotel planned across the street from Central Station, more needs to be done to truly make it a world class station. Here are some suggestions to take it to the next level:
-Make 100 South and 600 West a predestrian and transit corridor from the Gateway area to Central Station. While there is currently one building under redevelopment in the corridor, the rest of the area is pretty vacant and could easily be redeveloped. Then UTA can route a majority of the buses via 300 West/100 South/600 West to access the station. There is already a plan to turn 300 South into a pedestrian corridor but this will only link the station to the back side of the former Rio Grande Station and do little to connect the station with the main downtown core. A side benefit of creating this corridor along 100 South is that it is farther away from the homeless shelter that leaves a stigma (right or wrong) on 200 South at 400 West.

-Finish the second phase of Central Station that includes the parking garage along 200 South, and the building extending toward the current Amshack at the south end of the property.

-Insure that a lower priced motel is located near the station, possibly near the proposed higher end hotel to ensure that all travelers have a choice of accommodations.

-UTA should develop plans to either move their central garage or possible place it underground with development such as offices and restaurants above it. As developments moves toward the station, the present location of the garage will become a hindrance.

-Since there is little chance of attracting major retailers to the area with both the City Creek Center and Gateway trying to attract them, there is a great opportunity to build a center dedicated to locally owned stores and restaurants. There was talk of turning the old warehouse into a farmers market. This is an excellent idea to focus on the local culture. The Central Station could become Salt Lake version of the Pike Street Market giving new opportunities to locally owned retailers that get shut out by other places either by tax incentives, subsidies to big box retailers, and the false stigma of locally owned retailers.

We do have an opportunity to create a grand Central Station, but it will take a lot of effort, some create thinking, and a group of planners and city councilman that don't give into to special interest.

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.