Sunday, September 02, 2007

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...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I just caught your blog today while searching the net. I have been riding the UTA/Trax system for about 7 months. I live in Sandy and work in West Valley. I work in the evenings. I have always been frusturated with the system but it is my only option right now.

Let me give you a brieft rundown of my journey to work. I usually have to leave the house about 2 hours or more before my scheduled start. Then, I walk 2.5 miles to the closest Trax station. There are no routes or any services available for me to have an easier journey, so that's what I do. I then board Trax to 3300 South and then take the 35 to Magna. That portion of the trip doesn't bother me, it is having to walk amost 5 miles total a day, just to use the Trax/Bus system. I have tried plugging my trip into the Trip Planner, and I always get the same results. The Trip Planner tells me to leave and catch a bus to downtown SLC at 6:39am, sit around in SLC for about 8 hours, then board the Northbound Trax to 3300 S and complete my journey. What a joke huh?

Then another thing I'd like to complain about it is the drivers. Some drivers will wait if they see someone running others will stare at them and drive off. Some drivers leave the stop before the scheduled time, and others sit around and wait several minutes then finally leave. What is up with that?