UTA needs better trip planner...

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.

Salt Lake City to Park City...

Image via WikipediaIn the past I talked about the need to link Park City and Salt Lake City by transit. According to today's Deseret News, there is a study currently being undertaking to decide how this service should be operated.

One option would be to contract this service out to a company such as Lewis Brothers or Le Bus to operate. While I would not have a problem with that per say, connections and fares would need to be seemless between UTA service and the new Park City bus. The ideal solution would be to have timed transfers from the Park City bus to and from Front Runner north and south at the Central Station allowing travel across the Wasatch Front until connections are justified from the Provo and Ogden areas to Park City.

Groups to study Salt Lake-Park City bus route

Service to Park City

With the Park City area experiencing rapid growth including the areas around Heber, the time has come to offer commuter and transit service from the Summit County areas down to Salt Lake including the university of Utah and Downtown Salt Lake.

At the present time Park City has its own transit service which provides free bus rides around the Park City area. Currently Park City is not part of the Utah Transit Authority and should not become a part of it.

In my previous entry: Time to Split Up the UTA?
I proposed a new transit authority that would oversee both the commuter bus and commuter rail operations of the UTA. This new outfit would be perfectly suited to offer commuter bus service to the Park City and Summit County regions. As the region grows and traffic becomes a bigger issue, the need for effective transit service will become even more evident.

Not only could Summit County be linked to the Salt Lake City but also routes to the Provo area and up to Ogden via Echo and Morgan would be natural extensions of the service. Service to Salt Lake City could service the U of U, Downtown, and the airport although private bus companies will scream bloody murder because it will effect them. One way to take care of this situation is to have the service contracted out to private operates, so long as there is monitoring of service quality to ensure customers are being treated fairly.

As Utah continues to grow, it needs new ways to deal with growth. An effective transit system is at the heart of that.