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...

UTA: Bring Back the Day Pass!!!!

In 2003 UTA eliminated day passes except for the "roundtrip" tickets purchased at TRAX stations. This put the use of day passes out of reach for most UTA customers especially those who live in counties outside of Salt Lake County. The excuse for doing this was that too many people where abusing the system by not marking off the dates when they rode TRAX. So in other words, because a minority of the people where abusing the system and because TRAX was not adequately enforcing, all had to suffer.

This move is opposite of what most transit agencies are currently doing. Most transit agencies are actually eliminating transfers and using day passes instead. While I am not for eliminating transfers day passes are an important ingredient to getting casual riders on transit.

I am a perfect example of the rider that UTA is losing. I cannot take the bus every day due to the lack of good bus service between where I work and live. When I work to six o'clock the last bus leaves at 5:45PM but there is night ride but it doesn't start till 7:45pm then I have to walk a half mile to get to it, ride the bus about a mile and walk another mile home. Just doesn't pay.

But there is many times I can use the bus, especially on days I am not working. But there is not day passes so I would have to pay full fare and get a transfer that is only good for 2 hours which means I would have to pay three or four times.

However even when UTA offered day passes you could not purchase them on the bus. To get one you either had to go to a place such as Dan's that sold them or once again go to a TRAX station. I would buy a few day passes at a time and have them ready for when I needed them. This makes it difficult for the customer. A better system is the one where there is a section on the regular transfers that bus drivers issue that you can punch it and it becomes a day pass. Yes this system can be abused to but then UTA has an issue with the driver not the system. I like Portland because it uses this system and made it much more convenient to use the bus.

UTA needs to get more people on the transit system. The best way to do that is get make sure the system is as easy to use as possible. The day pass makes using the system easier.