Image via WikipediaJust a quick note, in the link section of the blog, I have put in the most relevant transit links in Utah. There you will find transit information for the Wasatch Front, Park City, Cache Valley, Cedar City, St. George, and Zion National Park.While working on that project I fiddled with UTA's Trip Planner. I have mentioned this before but I think it needs to be stated again that this is one area that UTA really needs to work on. The trip planner may be the first exposure that some people have to riding the transit system so it needs to be extremely accurate in giving the best directions. However, UTA's trip planner often is next to useless.
A few months ago when I was taking the westbound California Zephyr I decided to see how long it would take me to get to the Amtrak Station (this was before the opening of TRAX and Front Runner). The trip planner had me take the last 213 at 7:00pm then catch the 45, TRAX, 39, 209 and a couple of other buses before finally arriving at Central Station at 10:00pm. That's right a trip that should take less than an hour showed up as a 3+ hour trip.
I have used trip planners in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, and Miami and all of them work better than UTA's. As more new people discover riding the transit system it becomes even more critical to have a easy to use and useful trip planner.
What is really needed is a region wide trip planner that will not only cover the Wasatch Front but also all the transit systems in Utah and connecting services to show customers their best options. But for now it is important to improve the current trip planner from UTA.
