Miami Day 2...

For those of you that have been waiting anxiously since I did day 1, here is my experience on Day 2 in Miami.

I actually slept in late (8:30am Eastern Time which of course is 6:30am Mountain Time which is still late for me) but was ready for the day. My goal today was to ride the entire MetroRail line and the South Dade Busway.

First I walked over and up to the Metromover Station. I first rode to the final station on the Omni loop which is School District. What a difference two blocks from my stop. This area is filled with vacant lots and abandoned buildings. One interesting note is that this station has a car washer for the Metromover which seems like a strange location.

I then took Metromover to First Street and walked down to Flanger in order to get my visitor pass for the transit system (Metromover is free). However, when I got to the address I wrote down from the Metro Dade website I couldn't find were to go so I walked west trying to find it. Just a few blocks away was the Government Center so I figured I would check there on where I could buy my Visitors Pass. The brochure for the visitor's pass I saw online does not show this Metro-Dade location selling the visitors pass but when I got to the window they said they could sell them. I thought they would ask for ID to prove I was from out of state like Metro does in Seattle but they just took my money and gave me the pass.

Next I took MetroRail to the northeast end of the line at Palmetto. This station was added a few years after the original system opened and is the last new station to open until the extensions they have planned open in a few years. It appears that they plan never to extend the line beyond the station since way this station was designed which is short sighted but typical transit system mentality.

I briefly got off the train to take this picture:

Next I rode the train all the way to the other end of the line at South Dade. This is the connecting point for the South Dade Busway. Here is a picture of a couple of trains at South Dade. You can see some graffiti in both of these pictures. Despite security personnel being at every station, the system is covered with graffiti. It may not be the New York subway in the 70's but it's pretty close.

As you can see from this picture there is TOD being built at this station which is the only sign of it I saw anywhere on the system.

Here is a couple of picture I took of the area were you catch a bus including the ones using the busway. Buses that are arriving at the station arrived on the opposite side to the right of the photos. There are signs with route maps but they only include frequency of the buses not actually times.

I originally planned to ride the entire busway but was getting kind of hungry. Two 34 expresses left with Standing Room only before a busway local 31 came in and I took it. Wouldn't you know that the bus I grabbed was wrapped on the left side !! Just my luck. While I was really craving Chinese Food especially a buffet, after a few stations I saw a Taco Bell and decided just to stop and eat before it got any later. Here is my bus letting me off. I would end up with the same bus coming back.
I walked across US Highway 1 to the Taco Bell and ate. After words I came back caught that same 31 and then transferred to the MetroRail. I rode it back to the Government Center were I decided to ride MetroMover over to the Brickell Area. Here you can see another MetroMover car coming off the Brickell Loop.
Here is a photo from the front of our MetroMover car. As you can see that ride has some characteristics of a roller coaster.
At the end of the line at Brickell I decided to get off, walk to the water then walk back toward downtown. Here is a Metromover train passing over the Miami River on the section of track I had just been on.
Just like Charlotte when I lived there a brief shower came in and dumped for about ten minutes and a half hour later it was clear again.
Miami Dade has a bunch of the new Opus Optima buses like UTA however, they have the "BRT" front end that is supposed to make them look more sleek and magically make riders think it's light rail.
I looked for a convenience store but the only thing I found was a Walgreens. I purchased a couple of things, and then continued walking. Since by this time I was soaking wet from sweat due to the humidity and heat I decided to walk over to the MetroMover's Bayfront Park Station and head back to the hotel thus ending day 2 in Miami.

How Walkable is your area?

Walk Score

How walkable is your area? This website will calculate how many things are within walking distance of your home so you can see how walkable it is.

The downfall is that it does not have the capabilities to know if there is adequate sidewalks in the area and if there is sever hills or any other obstacles that can hamper walking. It also doesn't take transit access into account.

My place rates a 35 which would be lower taking the sidewalk thing into account. My old apartment in Sandy rates a 51 out of a hundred which doesn't take TRAX being 3 blocks away into account.

My old apartment in Spokane rated the in the high 70's which does not take into account that although there was a bunch of restaurants just a couple of blocks away you had to walk up a hill that was more severe than some of the worst in San Francisco.

See what you come up with...

Bus Family...

Davis family shuns car, takes the bus

Great to hear about this family taking the bus.

Of course in my case my wife can no longer take ride the bus because the 32 is dead. Oh yeah there is that useless 307 but it goes the wrong way. There is many comments on this article some of them talking about the inconvenience of taking the bus which all ring true. After all if you don't need to head downtown or to the U. the bus system is seriously lacking.

Vision for North Temple

Light rail expansion spurs plans to revamp North Temple into 'grand boulevard'

North Temple needs some help and the bringing of light rail to the street will be a big push in that area. One thing that needs to be watched out for is the dumping of the cost on the light rail project. This happens all the time, politicians will see an opportunity to redevelop an area and the cost of the project get dumped on light rail. This happens all the time and gives fodder to the anti-transit crowd that scream cost increases even though light rail itself is not to blame.

What would be nice instead of gentrification which is the most likely form of redevelopment, is work with the community and businesses to develop the area with locally owned shops and restaurants and make it unique.

Another problem is the Interstate 15 overpass. Freeway overpasses or underpasses always create barriers. One of the things that will have to be worked out is how you make it less of a barrier and make it an asset if you can.

Changes in Murray...

Murray has new heartbeat

The new hospital complex will be a magnet for development and the older affordable housing in the area is in danger. If the Murray Council and Planners care about the community they will direct development to the west past TRAX and FrontRunner.

One of the biggest mistakes Murray did was allow the Costco development. Instead of having a pedestrian friendly development that flows from TRAX to the State Street development you have a big box that keeps easy flow from happening.

Murray has also done a poor job of bridging TRAX and 300 West. Murray needs to bring these areas together especially with FrontRunner South now in the works.

This area has so much potential. Lets hope that Murray develops it with common sense and doesn't kill the golden goose.

Planners want TRAX on 400 West not 600 West...

West-siders worried about blight celebrate route decision

Mountain View Corridor Meeting News...

Concerns voiced about Mountain View Corridor

Highway Troubles in Lehi...

Corridor option in Lehi opposed

This is problems that we face long term by our current development schemes and also shows the problems of Big Box retailers.

While politicians are willing to sell their souls for the sales tax dollars of big box retailers, in the long term they end up costing more than the dollars they bring in.

We need to change our ways or it's only going to get worse...

State Legislators Still Playing Games...

Rail-line funding still a question

Once again we have one of our state legislators tying to tell Salt Lake County how to spend tax dollars that the voters voted in. When will these guys realize that the voters have spoken and the proposition was from transit.

Miami Day 1...

I was originally supposed to arrive at the Fort Lauderdale Airport (since it was way cheaper than flying into Miami), but due to broken down plane ended up in Miami instead. While there was signs point to buses, there were few signs pointing to the Metro-Dade bus area but I finally found a map and then headed to the bus stop.

Metro-Dade has a new visitor pass that is good for 7 days at $19.00. Even though I would only be here 5, it still was cheaper than paying fares all the time and the airport stop was supposed to sell them. The only problem no one was manning the counter. However, at this point I planned to ride the Tri-Rail commuter line anyway so I purchased a ticket for it and waited for one of their shuttles to the nearby station.

The shuttle (which is operated by Metro-Dade transit with one of their buses) was due at 8:40am but did not show up until 8:55am which meant by the time we got over to the station tit was 9:05am and we missed the 9:00am train so had to wait until 10:00am.

There was a train sitting there but it was out of service so but another train showed up at 9:30am but we were not allowed to board until 9:45am. At this time another train pulled in using experimental DMU units from Colorado Rail Car but they were out of service and heading to the maintenance yard so I would get a chance to ride them.

The Tri-Rail commuter line runs 75 miles from near the Miami Airport to the Magnolia Station in West Palm Beach. They use the same Bombardier Rail cars that UTA will use but are more basically appointed. One nice feature since the line serves three airports is that there is luggage racks in all the cars. However, the cars are equipped with cheap vinyl seats and have no carpeting unlike Metrolink in Los Angeles. Metrolink is far superior to Tri-Rail when it comes to comfort.

It poured rain off and on all day from the edge of Tropical Storm Noel.

Here is our train after we reached the end of the line at Magnolia Park and were waiting to return.


Another view of our train at the Miami Airport Station:
Our return train was packed including flight crews heading to the airport and others. I got off the train and took the same shuttle bus back to the airport and it was standing room only. You could not fit one more person on the bus.

When I got back to the airport station there was still no one manning the counter so I called the bus company to find out were I else I could by a visitor's pass since they are not available everywhere but was very rudely told that they person at the Metro-Dade counter could sell one. I told the person there was no one there and she said, your wrong there is someone working there and hung up.

A route 7 bus pulled in and I knew that it was the only bus route that would get me downtown where my hotel was so I jumped on it and was able to use my Tri-Rail ticket for fare. The driver of this bus was about the closest I could call to being friendly I encountered at Metro-Dade.

The bus route went through some questionable neighborhoods but and then pulled over and every got off. I could tell we were downtown since I saw the Metro-Mover but there was no sign to indicate were we are.

Here is a photo of the route 7 bus I took and the rain.

To the right of my picture I saw that there was a station about three blocks down so I started walking toward it. Finally I got up to it and saw this was the Government Center station which is the main downtown bus, metrorail, and metromover transfer station.

It started pouring rain again but I was able to walk under the Metromover tracks and not get too wet.

I took an escalator up to the second level were and went over to the metro mover station. The first one to pull in was heading to the Brickell district but a couple of minutes later the car I needed the Omni loop came it.

However, after a few stations we came to a stop and there was a train stuck in front of us. After about 5 minutes a guard showed up and walked down to the car opened the door and got in. After a few minutes it finally moved and after another 5 minutes we started moving again.

Here are a couple of photos out of our car to the stuck car.



I finally made it to the Omni Metromover station which is next to a major bus station and just a half a block to my hotel. Normally it would be an easy walk but the dead Omni mall is being turned into offices so I had to walk across the street walk a block north, cross the street again to get to the Radisson Hotel.

Well this was day one, how will the other days work out? How will Miami compare to UTA? Stayed tuned to find out...

Reno Comparison...

Now the answer to the question you have been waiting for: How does Reno Ride compare to UTA?

What does Reno do Better?

1. Timed Transfers-Many systems do timed transfers better than UTA. The buses have time transfers at all the 3 transit centers which makes getting across the system easy. When UTA butchered the cross town routes such as 4500 South/4700 South and 3900 South/4100 South, Redwood, and State they made some long waits for transfers. Transit mentality says that the buses run every 15-minutes so that is ok, customer focus mentality says poor service.

2. Fare Boxes-Reno uses a more advance fare box than UTA. Something I have not seen before is that the fare box will issue transfers and day passes which makes a lot of sense. Plus the fare box will validate transfers and day passes to insure they are current. As a side note to this, the system is not set in stone as the driver can over ride in order to take care of the customer in special circumstances.

3. Actually calling their day pass is wrong as it's actually a 24 hour pass. When it is validated by the fare box, you can use it for the next 24 hours. This is a much more customer oriented model than a standard day pass. For example I arrived in Reno at noon and started riding at 1:00pm. I could have ridden the buses the next day until 1:00pm if my schedule allowed.

4. You can purchase a 24-hour pass on the buses. Drivers (or actually the fare box) will issue a 24-hour pass so you don't have to order them special, you don't have to worry about stocking up, in other words a customer can pick up a 24-hour pass and start using it.

5. The fare box validates the pass not the driver. I have had drivers in both Denver and Salt Lake validate day passes with the wrong dates. Then what do you do? After all the driver has no day passes so your SOL.

What does UTA do better?

1. Reno has those cheap anti-vandalism plastic seats with the cushion insets that are not comfortable especially compared to UTA's more comfortable padded seats.

Ties?

Reno and UTA seem to be equal on quality of drivers which is overall good.

Looks like Reno wins. Of course Reno is a smaller system so they do have advantages over UTA, but there is still things that UTA could take from the Reno system to make the Utah system better.



Next up Miami...

Transit Related Article

Metros: Slowed by sprawl

Here is Reno...

Well as many of you probably read, my travels last week took me to Reno and Miami. Here I will go over my experiences with both cities and their transit systems and how they compare to the UTA.

The first bus I took in Reno was route 9 which had a 40-foot TMC RTS bus number 472. The RTS is one of the best buses you can ride, far superior to the low floor buses that we are now subjected to (I don't have a problem with low floor buses themselves, it's just that every model I have ridden is a rattle piece of junk).

Route 9 travels from Downtown to the Meadowood Mall. The bus mainly travels through older neighborhoods many of them looking run down. In fact, in my travels through Reno there was only two types of neighborhoods in Reno: Old run down and suburban sprawl.

The bus remained fairly full all the way to the mall. In fact I was originally going to ride route 6 but that bus was standing room only with a 30-foot bus.


Once at Meadowood Mall I transferred to Route 56, with RTS number 471. In fact this was the same 30-foot bus that I passed up in Downtown on the 6 line.

The 56 mainly travels through new office parks, a new "premium" factory outlet center, small industrial and finally new apartment complexes. I then got off the 56 at South Meadows and Double R to catch the 57. I walked around the area taking some pictures and then caught the 57 which turned out to be the same bus as the 56. Apparently on Saturdays the bus runs route 6, route 56, route 57 and then return on route 6 to Downtown.

Once again the 57 went through mainly new office parks and new suburban sprawl housing. Once it becomes the 6 route you encounter mainly older homes all but about 2 blocks looks run down.
Here is the back of bus 471 after it dropped me off in Downtown Reno. Once here the bus switches from Route 6 to Route 19.
Reno has also purchased the Gillig Advantage BRT buses. What is a BRT Bus? Well in other words they are the Gillig Advantages like UTA purchased in 1999 and 2001 but with new nose and tail caps, seamless window sills, and supposedly more passenger friendly. UTA bought the same buses for Ogden this year and they are basically just like the older Advantages: rattletraps and junk since three 0f them I rode in Ogden had mechanical problems including a one with brake issues (a brand new bus with brake problems?)


This is Reno's downtown transit center. Look at this, that's right, timed transfers!!! Sadly Reno has fallen into the same anti-passenger wrap trap.
Another feature run by Reno is a free shuttle called the Sierra Spirit that runs from the downtown area to University of Nevada. The buses run every 10-minutes from 7:00am to 9:00pm seven days a week. They also feature free Wi-Fi service that sadly the main hotels do not offer.

This gives you a preview of the Reno system and in my next entry I will go over what Reno does better than UTA and is there anything that UTA does better? Stay tuned to find out...

Transit Related Article

Did rail drive Draper race?

After talking to many people in Draper I was pretty sure that the people behind the anti-TRAX NIMBYism would not win, I am glad to see that indeed the NIMBY's lost.

The UP right of way makes the most sense for the TRAX line and that is where is should go, and a majority of Draper residents agree.

Sadly, it is probably not the last we will here from Pugh and her forces but lets hope common sense prevails.

UTA people missing in action at Railvolution...

As I said a couple of weeks ago I was very busy over the last week and a half. First I took Amtrak to Reno and attended a conference. Then I flew down to the Miami area to attend Railvolution that was being held in Miami Beach. In fact I was one of the presenters on Saturday.

I have plenty of material from these trips and will go over it over the next few weeks along with other important information but something I have to mention about Saturday.

On Saturday I was kind of curious how many UTA people were going to be in my session but end the end no one from UTA showed up even though there was several there from UTA. I saw the people leaving on the mobile workshops and no UTA people. Look into the other sessions that day and still no UTA people. So where were they? After all, they were attending a conference on taxpayers money so shouldn't they be held accountable for attending every workshop during the 4 days?

Now hopefully I am wrong, that I just missed seeing them, but some people were joking that most of the attendees went to the beach instead of the sessions on Saturday. 700 people were supposed to be attending the conference but I saw few people walking around on Saturday so it makes you wonder.

Now hopefully I am wrong they happened to be hiding somewhere but I do think when they attend a conference on taxpayer money they should be held accountable to attended every session during the conference or have to pay it back.

So what is the answer???

Transit Related Article

Transit tax fails in Davis, OK'd in Box Elder

Transit Related Articles

TRAX trains running again after two-hour delay

Panel OKs TRAX route friendly to west-siders

Intermodal Extension Almost Done...

Downtown extension of TRAX nearly done

Once this extension is done then they can start working on the big projects including the new South Jordan line. Just imagine what is going to happen over the next 10 years...

UP increases speeds in Salt Lake...

Trains are going faster in Salt Lake

The Sillyness goes on...

2 counties tentatively OK funds for TRAX, commuter

Last time I checked, the voters approved the tax for transit and there was little mentioned of roads until the state legislature who believes you have no rights unless you vote their way, are trying to undo the progress the county is making.

TRAX on the move...

UTA poised to build light-rail line to South Jordan

I am in the Reno airport waiting to catch my flight to Los Angeles so I can catch my flight to Orlando, so I can catch my flight to Fort Lauderdale.

We are now just two or three years away from having our next TRAX line, the line out to Daybreak.

It will good to see a light rail line go out to the best walkable area in our suburbs. My wife and I are considering a place in Daybreak so we can have a walkable area and be close to TRAX.

If you read the comment section you will see a couple of road warriors have attacked (probably Drew Chamberlain, Bill Bolton or Michael Packard or all three).

They use the same tired arguments that the road warriors have been using for years. I always like the old technology one after all, the last time I checked the car is pretty old technology and if it wasn't for pro automobile social engineering starting in the 30's, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess now.

What you will never here, is the road warriors comparing trips in a corridor between autos and TRAX. In other words they try to use all trips because it makes the highways look better but if you look at trips from an area around one station to another, TRAX is doing very well.

Gone Again...

Yeah, I know I just got back on Sunday from a trip but I am leaving again but this time will have more transit riding in it.

I will leaving today for Reno then will head for Miami on Tuesday night.

Will get a chance to ride Reno's transit system tomorrow and Sunday, plus several days riding Miami-Dade County transit in Miami. Will be back on Monday the 5th and give you some ideas on my experiences.

Transit Related Editorial

Rails north much needed

Transit Related Article

Transit debate flares as county governments council votes again on projects

A Taste of Sound Transit in Seattle...

While on vacation this past week, I had the opportunity to give Sound Transit's bus system a try. While there is local bus service provide by the counties such as Metro in King County and Community Transit in Snonomish County, Sound Transit was created to build light rail, commuter rail, and to provide a regional express bus system.

On Wednesday I arrived on Amtrak's Cascade service from Portland. My hotel was the Extended Stay in Bothell which is north of Lake Washington and Seattle. First I headed for the Seattle Bus (and now Light Rail tunnel) which recently reopened after two years of retrofitting. I got on Sound Transit route 550 which was packed even though it was 1:30pm and transferred to route 535 which took me to the Canyon Park Park N' Ride which is a freeway exit but turned out to a very short walk to my motel.

I took the same buses to get back to King Street Station the next day but this time had to walk all the way through the parking lot of the Park N' Ride lot, take an elevator up to a bridge to take me over the freeway to an on ramp with a bus stop next to it.

The 535 Route was assigned Gillig Phantom buses (UTA bought these from 1995-1997) but in a suburban configuration. The 550 on the other hand is assigned Hybrid Articulated buses (basically the same buses used on UTA's 200 Route except hybrid and in a suburban configuration). These buses were bought to be used in the bus tunnel when it reopened to replace the troublesome dual mode diesel/trolley buses that were bought to use in the bus tunnel originally.

The trip was 26 miles involving 1 transfer and took us only 54 minutes.

However, for those that complain about UTA drivers should spend the day with Sound Transit Drivers. I thought Los Angeles had some of the unfriendly drivers but Sound Transit is worse. The drivers are provided by the various county agencies but all four drivers were bad. It is clear Sound Transit needs to work on their drivers.

Otherwise I was very impressed with the system and it got to where I needed to go and it did it quickly, efficiently, and with little hassle.

Deseret News Editorial

Keep transit as priority

TRAX Accident

Man pinned under TRAX train survives with minor injuries

Skipping Town for a Week...

Just so you don't think this blog died, I will be traveling until the 21st.

A Victory for the Draper NIMBYs...

Image via WikipediaUTA's quest for federal TRAX funds prompts new impact study

Once again I have to point out that NIMBY group run by Summer Pugh is out to lunch. Anyone who thinks that TRAX should be heading down Station Street and cross 123rd South right by the Interstate 15 clearly has not thought the project out.

This is clearly a greedy NIMBY group who doesn't want what is best but what they want and screw everyone else.

The City Creek Skybridge...

Image via WikipediaThe Mayoral candidates for Salt Lake City are talking about the proposed skybridge that would cross main street. Lets look at the good and the bad of the bridge and the complex itself.

Good:

1. People will be able to cross Main Street without having to deal with TRAX or automobiles.
2. People on the second floor of the complex will not have to head to the lower level.

Bad:

1. The Skybridge will keep people in the City Creek complex instead of sending them to Main Street and other shopping opportunities.
2. In Spokane the Skybridge system in downtown caused pedestrian traffic on the streets to become none existent. While this is only a single bridge it can have the same affect.
3. It will create a wall between street level and the City Creek complex.

While I am trying to keep an open mind about City Creek, I do see things that concern me. It appears to be very auto centric despite it's downtown location and it is being designed to bring people into the complex and keep them there.

We still have several years before the complex is finished and my fears will not be realized. However, this is the reason why we need a stronger planning force in the city, one that works hard to provide pedestrian and transit friendly buildings so that transit becomes a choice to use and not an obstacle course.

Vintage Rail Cars on Display for Operation Lifesaver

Image via WikipediaSouth Salt Lake display to feature vintage rail cars

Operation Lifesaver is an important program trying to reduce the number of accidents involving railroads.

Transit Related Article

A never-ending tax for TRAX?

Sidewalks don't make it pedestrian friendly...

I had an appointment in Sandy the other day so I stopped by to take some pictures of the Sandy Pit. This new Boyer creating in a former gravel pit was very contentious but eventually Dolan and Boyer won.

Some feel that if you put sidewalks in a development it makes it pedestrian friendly. Well in this set of pictures from the pit I will show you that it takes more than sidewalks to make a place pedestrian friendly.

First of all we have a picture looking from the parking area and pharmacy drive up windows toward the housing. So far so good, as you can see you will have a sidewalk toward the development but anyone will have to cross a road with no protection to the pedestrians and we know that the drivers will not slow down.

However let's face it, how many people are going to walk over to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries? Wal-Mart is not a pedestrian friendly store.

This next picture starts showing the real trouble. There is two parts to this development and the parts shall not meet except if your in a car.

One thing you must have make a development pedestrian friendly is the a complex that is easy to walk. Well look at the view from Wal-Mart to the smaller retailers. Do you really think people are going to walk from the small stores to Wal-Mart or visa versa? Of course not it is too far to walk in a hostile environment.


Now we look at the front of the Lowe's store. Much like Wal-Mart Lowe's is not a pedestrian friendly store. So instead of having easy access to the store even people getting out of their cars have to the face the hostile environment of the driveways and face impatient drivers.

Now this is the sidewalk leading from the small retailers to Lowe's. Once again you have to travel a great distance from the small retailers to Lowe's plus cross a major driveway that will be extremely dangerous once this complex is fully up and running. Also notice that the sidewalk doesn't even lead to the front of the Lowe's store.


If anyone plans to take their life into their own hands and try to walk from the Lowe's store to the small retailers they face this major driveway. Then they do not hit the front of the stores but instead have to continue walking because this is the back of the complex. Instead of having the whole complex face each other, it was design so that it is basically two complexes in one and not meant for a pedestrian to get from one to the other.



Now here we are in the area with the small retailers. So far so good it looks like you have sidewalks to all the retailers and they are relatively close together.


However, upon closer inspection you realize that the sidewalks are very narrow and only designed for someone to get out of their car and walk into the store. There is not much consideration given to people walking along the front of the stores.


Finally four pictures looking from the north side along the driveway to the small retailers. As you can see from the pictures the small retailers are spread apart, with a great distance from one store to another. The main focus is for someone to drive up go to that store and leave. It is not designed for people to walk the center.




In the end, the design of this center will create it's own traffic nightmares. Because the center is not designed for someone to make multiple stops in one shot, not only will you have people traveling from outside the complex in, from the complex out, but you will also create a third traffic problem with people driving from one store to another because the stores were not designed to be easily accessed by foot.

The design of this complex is hostile to the pedestrian and will only create traffic problems. One of the current problems with our transit system is that we have a area that is so hostile to the pedestrian that people are discouraged from riding transit.

Articles....

Cache councilmen urge approval of tax for roads

SLC to buy east-bench open-space tract

Sugarhouse...

Sugar House developers, city planners surprised when expected hostile hearing is amiable

Well Gateway will soon be rising at Highland Drive and 2100 South, Oh I mean new Sugarhouse.
I have said it before, there is nothing in this development that offers anything special. You will have high priced condos, high end chain retailers, and office space. There is nothing that separates this complex from Gateway.

Here is some of the things that I see wrong with this complex:

-Parking entrance will be right on 2100 South. Parking entrances should be in the back of the building. All this creates is a situation that pedestrians will have to cross a driveway that people will barrel in and out of and make crossing it unsafe for pedestrians.

-The parking entrance will also create a barrier from Red Mountain's redoing of the former Granite Furniture Building

-While this fits in to what I already mentioned, the development will focus on Highland Drive leaving the 2100 South area left to itself.

At least this development will be more pedestrian friendly than it's neighbor across Highland Drive. I hope Mr. Mecham works with the community to build a good complex and takes into consideration the walk ability of not only Highland Drive but also 2100 South.

Sugerhouse was a unique area, but the city has slowly let the area's character be destroyed. It's time for the city to take a more active roll in building better communities.

Challenges in Magna...

Magna: Tying old, new is a challenge

Interesting article on the struggles going on in Magna.

Sadly areas like downtown Magna and it's are have been abandoned in favor of big box centers and pedestrian unfriendly suburban tract homes.

Of course Magna has a lot of potential. After all, it has historic buildings, pedestrian friendly neighborhoods, close to the 2100 South Expressway, one good bus route and a couple of others, the area has mature trees, in other words the potential is there.

Transit Related Article

Public transit popular choice in Cache Valley

Danger with the Bus Riders Union

I have mentioned it before but after the complaint session this past week about the service cuts and the calls for a bus riders union, I think it's time for me to go over again the problems I have with it and the problems it can cause especially since I saw some of the rhetoric coming out at the protest.

The biggest thing I see happing is a direct attack on the rail programs. By demonizing the rail programs they create an us versus them attitude which will only lead to failure on both sides. First and foremost the voters want rail and have voted for it twice. Rail construction is not taking away from bus service.

In fact by making blatant attacks on TRAX and FrontRunner they are actually doing more harm than good. If you look at what financial numbers the UTA presents (which are not that great but they are all we have to work with), there are some things that are clear:
1. That revenues have gone up over the last 10 years.
2. That revenues went up substantially when both TRAX lines opened
3. That bus ridership has gone down over the last 10 years (and it started before TRAX).
4. That TRAX gets 14 million riders per year and the bus system gets only 21 million
TOTAL and that includes they entire system.

So what the numbers say is that the two TRAX lines are carrying 2/3rds as many riders as the entire bus system.

What this says is the problem is not TRAX but the bus system and how UTA is running it. Also you have to look at our cities as a whole and why they are not attracting bus riders.

Instead of looking at TRAX as the big evil one take a look at some issues that UTA has:
1. Poor equipment utilization: Ski Buses and Fast Buses are an example.
2. Almost no bus shelters in the system: Considering are weather extremes shelters are needed. Denver is doing a much better job providing shelters. Blame UTA and the cities.
3. UTA is falling into the same transit mentality planning which says duplication is bad (only in the way UTA does it: 307 and 320 on top of each other, the old 11 and 7 on top of each other, the list goes on).
4. UTA by trying to avoid duplication actually worsens it's market penetration possibilities and decreases ridership potential.
5. The UTA has gone to a grid systems. Grid systems have proven they only work if bus service is more frequent than every 20-minutes. While that is good for their new frequent routes, all the other routes are hurting because of the grid design.
6. Where UTA has made people transfer, like on Redwood, State, crosstown routes at TRAX, they did not create time transfers. In fact in some cases the if you are traveling westbound and need to transfer to a route beyond TRAX, the bus you needs leaves 2 minutes before you get there. UTA needs to work on timed transfers.
7. The way the buses like 4500 South/4700 South, 3900 South/4100 South were cut at TRAX also shows that UTA doesn't understand marketing dynamics. Life doesn't end at the TRAX stations it is only a stopping point.

UTA has problems but attacking the rail program is not the solution but attacking the direct issues with the bus system is.

Daybreak an Island???

In just a few years Daybreak has gone from being a wild dream to a very successful development. The development has become very popular and is a shining example of what can be done when using pedestrian and bike friendly development.

However, it seems that the city of South Jordan where Daybreak is based, has not seen the light of what can be done. While Daybreak continues to develop, South Jordan is allowing the Daybreak area to be surrounded by areas that go against the philosophy at Daybreak. I know anytime you talk about a philosophy of development, you always get the ditto head that have been brainwashed to say "social engineering". Well I won't even get into all that today as I have other things to talk about.

The big problem I see is that the surrounding areas are just standard sprawl developments that are not pedestrian and bike friendly. Just take a look at the Boyer development just across Bangerter Highway from Daybreak. The development and the roads to it are not pedestrian or bike friendly.

The way things are developing, Daybreak will end up being an island in South Jordan. While it will be pedestrian and bike friendly, you will not be able to leave the area of Daybreak by foot or by bike because everything surrounding it is auto centric.

South Jordan should be working harder to encourage developments surrounding Daybreak to become more pedestrian and bike friendly. Notice here I am not saying that cars should be banned or anything like that, but the area should be made more friendly to others.

Once Daybreak starts getting bigger and starts developing it's commercial and industrial properties, Daybreak may need to look into becoming it's own city. After all, if the city it is currently part of is going to make it a segregated island, maybe they would be doing better by looking out for themselves.

Complaints...

Bus riders give UTA routes 'F'

First of all a couple of comments:

-What is the one rider along 900 East complaining about? 900 East has every 15-minute service all the way to 6200 South now plus it goes downtown.

-Once again UTA is bragging how ridership increased in Weber and Utah counties after there service was changed. Of course no mention how many actual "riders" or revenue.

-Sounds like ridership is not doing too well. I can tell from experiences on the buses that ridership is down on several routes.

-What will be interesting is what revenue is doing. I would really like to know what revenue per passenger mile is doing because that would really tell you what is happening but sadly the way the system is set up we can't get those kind of numbers.

More on the Sugar house Streetcar

Image via Wikipedia South Salt Lakers favor streetcar link

There is something wrong with the numbers. If BRT will only cost $18 million and the streetcar will cost twice that much, something is not right. It would be interesting to see how many things are being added to the cost of streetcar system compared to the BRT since BRT cost will often be higher if you are calling for the same features.

Also to the guy that says that buses will be quieter than a streetcar, I wonder how you could come up with that conclusion? BRT means buses. Whether it would be Hybrid, CNG, or Diesel it is still a bus and is going to make more noise than a streetcar.

Transit Related Articles...

UTA on track for U.S. funds

Mayoral candidates oppose proposed 600 West TRAX bridge

State Street...

There is a wasteland out there that pedestrians fear to tread, it stretches for miles from downtown all the way to Draper, at one time it was the main route for travelers in the region when it was Route 89 and 91 and nobody had heard of Interstate 15. Today, the street is still there but it has become a waste land of car dealerships, a few restaurants and not much else for miles on. Bad planning has created a street that is not friendly to the pedestrian but is only used by motorist to get from point A to point B.

I have stated before that Murray has missed a big opportunity. When the plans were first announced for the Murray Central TRAX station, there was mention of transit oriented development were pedestrians and transit riders are taken into account. Instead we got a Costco and a hospital complex neither one that is very pedestrian friendly. There is no connection from TRAX to the State Street area or to the west. So much opportunity lost.

Murray is now working on the Murray North Station at 4400 South. Once again we hear great plans for a transit oriented development. We will see what happens but so far the only action is the new Deseret Industries building that is not pedestrian friendly.

Now here is some ideas to improve State Street and make it a more pedestrian friendly area:

1. In areas where TRAX Stations and State Street are close together (1300 South, 2100 South, 3300 South, 3900 South, 4400 South, 5300 South, 7800 South) create planning zones that integrate the two areas to make State Street more pedestrian friendly.

2. Right now State Street seems to be a sea of car dealerships. Car dealerships sprawled out the way they are on State are a deterrent to a pedestrian friendly area. How many people do you see walking down state street from 3900 South to 5900 South? The answer is not many. The City of Murray and to a lesser extent South Salt Lake should work with the dealerships to decrease the car dealerships footprints. Reducing the footprints not only benefits the city by opening up areas to development, it benefits the car dealerships by reducing their property taxes.

3. Look to create green spaces between the TRAX stations and State Street.

By doing this we improve transit oriented development, pedestrian friendliness, and to improve several miles of State Street.

Draper NIMBY Idiots...

Utah Supreme Court to settle Draper TRAX fight

You can tell the people at "Citizens for Responsible Transportation" just hate the thought of big evil TRAX in their neighborhood that they can't even connect the dots and figure out the advocating the State Street route makes them look stupid. Of course all they care about is making sure that TRAX doesn't use the old UP line despite the fact that the line makes the most sense.

For those who actually believe that State street would be a good route for TRAX, I dare you to go to the intersection of State and 123rd South during most hours of the day and see the traffic nightmare created by bad planning and picture adding a TRAX line to the mix.

The UP line makes the most sense...

Transit Related Editorial and Article

The more rails the merrier

10th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds firing of transsexual UTA bus driver

The Battle over 600 West Continues...

Residents opposing a TRAX line down 600 West

MCI on the 307...

This past week a new face has presented itself on the so-called Fast Bus 307. It is the face of an MCI D4500 Commuter Cruiser. That's right the buses that normally see service on such routes as the Utah Counter Commuters, the 472, etc is now on the 307. While the seats are pretty comfortable here is some reason why this is a bad idea from an agency that we have come to aspect bad ideas from.

First of all the bus is not geared for city driving. The gearing on this bus is designed for primarily freeway speeds and short trips on surface streets. The only place where the bus gets to strut it's stuff on the 307 is from 4500 South to 6200 South. Otherwise you are dealing with stop and go traffic that is doing long term damage to the transmission and engine on the bus.

Second, the bus is not designed for frequent stops. You have 4 steep steps that you enter the bus with and there is no back door. In addition the bus has wider seats than a standard transit bus so the aisle way is narrower than a standard transit bus. Despite UTA' s best attempts to kill all local ridership on this route, the line is carrying the local riders that used to ride the 27, 32, and the 44. So in other words there is people frequently trying to get off and on and this bus wasn't designed for it.

Third, the wheelchair lift on the bus is not designed for regular transit use. To load and unload a wheelchair on this bus takes more time than on a standard bus (and significantly longer than a low-floor bus), so the bus is greatly slowed down by wheelchairs. It's like UTA is telling wheelchair customers that they are not wanted on the fast buses because their too much trouble.

Fourth, the bus is 5 feet longer than a standard 40-foot bus. There is a couple of turns along this route is difficult for a 40-foot bus so making a 45-foot foot bus try to make the turns is much worse. In addition the commuter cruisers are taller and have a higher center of gravity than a standard transit bus so it makes the turns all the more difficult.

UTA putting the commuter cruiser on the route is kind of like the UTA throwing the riders of the route a bone for the deep cuts that took place on the route and trying to rebuild the ridership. The problem is a commuter cruiser is not designed for the route.

If UTA wants to put a nicer bus on this route and the other so-called fast buses, it needs to start purchasing Suburban Buses again. Suburban buses are a cross between a regular bus and a commuter cruiser. UTA used to have a large number of these type buses but they were replaced by the MCI D4500's. You would often see them on service on such routes as the 811. They are a standard transit bus but have have raised seating, luggage racks, reading lights, just to set them apart from a standard bus.

I hope the riders on the 307 enjoy their bone while it lasts...

A downtown proposal...

For anyone that has been to Downtown Denver and rode transit, there is two things you see different from Salt Lake City. First you do not have a fare free zone like Salt Lake however, they have the 16th Street Shuttle that serves a good portion of the downtown area. While Salt Lake's downtown area is more spread out than Denver's, the system can work here.

First we eliminate the Fare Free Zone entirely and I will get into the benefits of that later. Second we turn the Capital Shuttle into a operation like the 16th Street Mall. The only difference would be is that the 16th street mall is a dedicated transit mall while this proposal would use mixed use streets.

Here is the proposed route and the benefits of the route:

From the Intermodal terminal via
600 West,
200 South,
-serves the southern part of the Gateway
300 West,
-serves the motels/hotels near 300 west
500 South/600 South,
-serves hotel row along these streets
200 East
-serves the Downtown Library and the new Metro Residential Complex
400 South
Main Street
-serves all the retail along main plus the new City Creek complex and all the office buildings.
North Temple
-Temple Square
State Street
-Brigham City Apartments and the other apartments along State Street
300 North (counter-clockwise) 500 North, E Capital Blvd, 300 North (clockwise)
-Serves the Capital
Main Street
-serves residences along Main
North Temple
-serves Temple Square, Conference Center, a couple of smaller motels
300 West
-Serves the Arena, Radisson Hotel
100 South
-Serves the Gateway
600 South
-Back to the Intermodal Depot.

What has been created is a shuttle that serves all the vital areas of the Downtown Core. Once the Harmon's opens at 100 S/100 E, the shuttle could be rerouted from Main via 100 South, 100 East, North Temple, and State Street to service that vital spot also.

So whats the benefits to the regular bus system?

1. By eliminating the buses stoping at every bus stop they would only need to stop if there is passengers boarding speeding up service.
2. Outbound buses would be wouldn't be slowed down by having to have everyone exiting the bus to pay their fare in the front then load new passengers which really slows down the process.
3. Faster times through downtown because people will not be jumping on the main routes to go two blocks.

In other this will truly speed up bus service and improve bus circulation through downtown.

A trip to Denver....

I spent a couple days in Denver to attend a meeting. This was my second visit to Denver in three months and this time I had the opportunity to explore some of RTD's bus routes.

I arrived in Denver on Wednesday at 8:15pm on Amtrak. I walked off my train, took my luggage and walked over to the light rail station that is part of the Union Station complex and jumped on the train. My hotel was right next to the bus area of the Southmoor Light Rail station so I stepped off my train, walked under Interstate 25 through a well lit tunnel and walked over to my motel.

Between the meetings I got a chance to travel extensively on the RTD's bus system.

Here is a couple of things that RTD does better on it's system:

-They understand the concept of timed transfers.
-There is multiple bus transit centers in addition to the light rail ones. UTA promised these with it's long range plane with the first tax initiative was passed but I haven't seen any yet.
-There is a better security presence on their system especially light rail. While I feel safe on TRAX even in the evenings, there are those that don't feel comfortable. However, you see police and security riding the trains before Sunrise and after Sunset to make customers more comfortable.
-Their call n' ride service is vastly superior to UTA's flex route F94 and UTA needs to look closely at that service.

Well, that's the major biggies. The last week of October I will be spending in Reno so hopefully I will get the chance to test their service and then spend October 31 to November 5th in Miami for Railvolution so I will be able to compare those systems to the UTA.

Off to Denver Again...

I will be leaving on Amtrak's California Zephyr for Denver tomorrow morning and will return on Saturday. I will be running around extensively on Denver's transit system the RTD so I will of course have some comments either Sunday or Monday depending on how I feel.

Buses are not Light Rail

On my morning walks I often see the 307 and 320 so called "fast buses" heading toward downtown. While they may be doing better along 700 East mainly because everything else has been slaughtered in this major corridor, it seems like those two routes have less people on them than before the bus service cuts (OK, not scientific). So why is this?

Well it looks like they looked at the success of TRAX which is doing extremely well and decided to emulate it. So they cut out a bunch of the stops and stopped serving the neighborhoods. However, the market for buses and the market for TRAX is different and cannot be applied the same.

Let me use the poor 320 and the previous route 21 as comparisons. The old 21 used to travel through Sandy neighborhoods then make a bee line for downtown. OK it was a little slower than the current 21 but not by much especially when you consider that the 320 has been running late frequently.

So the new 320 eliminated all the stops in Sandy and along Highland Drive so now people have to either walk long distances (and there are lots of hills in the area) or drive their cars to the park N ride lot then board the bus instead of walking to a bus stop and getting on. In other words the service is not convenient.

The 320 has loss a large amount of its market. Not only does it not service the neighborhoods anymore but all the bus service in the area is gone. So in other words the UTA has force people either to drive to park n ride lot, walk long distances or in many cases just go ahead and drive because its more convenient.

In addition if people do take the bus into to town they can't live until the evening rush service starts because there is no bus service along Highland Drive except at 9400 South.

The Fast Bus system has made buses less flexible, less convenient, and less marketable thanks to the bus cuts.

Unhappy Passengers...

Today I had the opportunity to talk to some people I know that used to regularly ride the 21/32 and now ride the 307/320.

First of all they complained that the buses have been running late every day and that drivers are complaining that the schedules have been made so tight that they cannot stay on schedule. In fact the buses have been averaging anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes late. So in other words they eliminated all the stops but they are taking the same amount of the time to do the route.

Another affect that apparently was not considered was that the new routes would be making more stops since all the other buses along 700 East have been cut, passengers from the 27 and 44 are now forced onto the new routes which slows down those supposed "fast buses".

The problem that occurs too many times with transit planning is that lines are look at individually instead of considering a systematic systems approach where you see if you change Route A, how that changes Route B.

We will see what the next few months bring us...

Airport TRAX controversy

Railroaded by train plan?

Apparently there is 12 houses along the right of way of 600 West. Some say that TRAX will increase crime but that seem disingenuous since this is area is already has a crime problem. In fact they would get a street that is in much better shape that it currently is since street work improvements even if they are not needed for the project usually get "added" in.

If it is built down 600 West the connection for the Intermodal Depot down 600 West and 400 South will be critical as it will allow for people to travel from the airport to hotels/motels along the Hotel/Motel Corridor.

Photos of my first trip on the new system...

Here is pictures I took from my trip on Monday on the new systems first "real" day.

Here is the 1995 Gillig Phantom bus I rode from 1300 East/Spring lane to the 7800 South TRAX station. As I mentioned the driver was not friendly at all. Apparently the 213 turns into the 525 when it reaches the station.


Next, here is a TRAX train at the Historic Sandy TRAX station. This was the train behind the one I rode.

Here is the Flextrans bus they are using for the F94. They did paint F94 Sandy Lift on the bus but next stop buzzers have not been installed yet. I told the one lady that they should take some lessons from Denver's Call N' Ride which is much more useful than the F94. However, I was impressed with the number of riders on the F94, but that could be because the 207 no longer serves the station and the 33 is gone.

Photos of what we lost.....

Here are some pictures I took on Friday of routes that are no more and streets that have no or useless service.

Here is two photos of Route 44 at South Union and 1300 East heading toward downtown.




Here is a picture of Route 33 heading Southbound on 1300 East at about 7400 South. This routes cut can be directly contributed to the poor redesign done during the first TRAX line opening. Running this but all the way from 1300 East to TRAX was about the biggest blunder of the big blunders that UTA has done. Yet, UTA planners are not held accountable for this route's failure.


The last two are a couple of pictures of the late Route 32. OK, the route is now Fast Bus 307 but only runs peak hours only toward downtown in am and back in the pm. Plus a majority of the bus stops have been discontinued. In fact in the second picture you can see one of the bus stops that will no longer be used despite the bus turning at this point.





Tomorrow unless there is some earth shattering news I will post photos of yesterday's trip to Alta View.

The Draper NIMBY continues the fight...

Draper TRAX fight bound for high court

It's interesting to talk to Draperites. Old time Draper residents (including my in-laws) support the old UP right of way because it's the best route for the line. Then there are the new Draper Whiners like Pugh who don't won't the big evil TRAX trains near their Taj Mahals. Apparently they are so poorly built that they will shake apart if a TRAX train comes near. So what happens when some bozo with he radio blaring that creates more decibels comes by?

First Business Day of the Bus Changes

Well today was the first business day dealing with the new bus changes. I got nauseated listening to Justin Jones on KSL tell how great this new system is. Of course the guy can be smug after all even though he was in charge of it he will not be held accountable if/when it proves to not be a success. Now if Jones was willing to put his job on the line against the performance of the changes that would mean something. Of course then it would be tied to ridership which of course is a meaningless number.

Then there was John Inglish making his pitch. He said he took route 346 from his Draper Estate to the TRAX station. He said that there was many more riders than normal. Define many more! Of course he failed to mention that the 346 was one of the first experiments in "Fast Bus" and has already had service cut because it was a failure. Maybe he's afraid of losing his bus route.

Interesting is that I had to take a little journey today because my wife had an doctors appointment at Alta View Hospital. Now the easiest way for this to happen would be for me to take the 32 right near our apartment to where she works in an office at 3500 East/Bengal Blvd behind Smiths. But that's right no more 32, that's why my wife can't take the bus anymore, scratch that one.

So I decided to meet her at the hospital. Normally I would walk and take the 45 over to TRAX but decided to take the direct way this time to see how the bus routes were doing.


So I rode the 213 from 1300 East/Spring Lane to the 7800 South TRAX station. Of course the 213 was the 11. I got to the bus stop about a minute before the bus was due at 4500 South. I waited, and I waited, and I waited until finally the bus came running about 10 minutes late.

Strange thing is there was only 2 passengers on the bus which used to carry more than that. Could it be that the bus has loss ridership because it no longer goes downtown and has poor connections to get downtown? Hum??

Both passengers got off by 6400 South so I was along on the bus with a female driver with absolutely no personality. She either needs customer service training or needs to find a new job. Along the whole former 27 portion of the route there was not a single passenger. Once again, could this be because there is not direct link to downtown anymore? Every time I rode the 27 (and it used to be frequently) it at least had three or four passengers on this section so where were they? I addition we saw both the 207 and the 201 which were running empty.

I then took TRAX to the Historic Sandy TRAX station. From here I had about a half hour wait for the F94. The cutaway van showed up and it actually had a good load and two other people got off at the hospital with me and total ridership on my short section 7 passengers. Not bad for a route that had no off peak service for a year and has a joke of a headway (every 80-minutes). There was a driver and a helper on the F94 and they both were extremely friendly. The one lady helping the driver (who is out of the Flextrans fleet and didn't know how to do transfers) mentioned that they are talking about another Flex route for Draper. I will go into detail about the F94 and comparing it to the Denver Call N Ride later in the week.

Who and remember about all the people UTA had out to help you today? At 1:00pm when I started this trip I did not encounter one UTA person out to help. Not a single one at either TRAX station just the lady on the F94 who was actually there to help the driver. So I guess they only cared about the commuters and not the people during the day.

Well we will see what happens....

It's Official...

Today the UTA bus redesign took effect. But don't worry there will be lots of UTA people out tomorrow to help you. The only problem is that they will primarily be at TRAX stations and downtown plus a few other places. Oh and they will be on the buses also. So what's wrong with that?

Well where they plan to have people is where people transfer off of buses onto TRAX or another bus or have already arrived at there destination. Of course at least they will have people out there because there will be a lot of confusion and many of the drivers will not be helped because they more confused than the passengers.

Too bad gambling is illegal in Utah or we could have a pool on what UTA's 2008 revenue would be.

Logan Woman Guilty

Judge finds Logan woman guilty of trespassing at bus stop following birth control remark

More Ridership Crapola from UTA...

Counting riders bedevils UTA

Does anyone find it interesting that all this just happens to be coming out the week they make the big bus changes?

As I have stated before ridership numbers of meaningless. What really matters is revenue, load factors (something that UTA doesn't even figure out and would be hard until they start doing a better job of assigning buses), revenue per passenger mile, equipment utilization, etc.

Apparently they need ridership numbers for the national database--BIG DEAL and also for federal funds. Now since operating funding was eliminated years ago why do they need ridership numbers? Apparently for preventive maintenance funds. Makes no since at but if there is something that make less sense that the UTA its federal programs.

Oh well, tomorrow I will be out taking pictures of some of the lines that will be no more tomorrow.

Work on Commuter Rail South...

Design work progressing on south commuter rail

Broken Promise Land....

Remember the vote that was held in 2000? Not only was there to be a terrific expansion of TRAX service but also we were to see expanded bus service. If you will recall the UTA at the time showed the expansion of service over the next 20 years.

Well here we are at 7 years and what have we seen? The number of bus routes going down and starting next Sunday a severe cut in bus service (oh that's right, according to the UTA's propaganda machine its a reallocation of service).

Yet according to the map from 2000 we would see expansion of service including new service along 7200 South and 9000/9400 South, more transit centers, the new 6200 South bus traveling all the way to Cottonwood Corporate Center, extension of service along 5600 South, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Instead service is being cut to useless on 7200 South (Fort Union Blvd section), we have seen no transit centers, service along 9000/9400 south is a joke, the new 6200 route only services the westside, no extension of route 84 (sorry new route 54) to the east, etc, etc, etc.

So where is our expansion UTA?