It's great that UTA is finally restoring some service on holidays. What the advocates have been saying for years now, that UTA is restoring service after the recession-induced cuts, finally seems to be happening in a meaningful way.
40% discount is really nice. I bet it probably still makes financial sense - not just marketing - because bus rides tend to be shorter trips, meaning the fare never should have gotten as high as $2.50 or whatever it is (I have an ecopass, so I'm sort of oblivious to this sort of thing).
It is strange that they haven't advertised this. It seems like they're really pushing the FarePay card now so that when they go 'cash-less' they have far fewer complaints and/or drop in ridership.
When is that change supposed to take place anyway? And when will we hear more news about distance-based fares? I thought that was supposed to be decided upon soon.
In unrelated news, I saw that Toronto recently took delivery of new Bombardier bilevel cab cars. These are the same design as UTA's FrontRunner cars, except that the new Toronto version is streamlined:
This:
Vs This:
Imagine how nice one of those streamlined cars would look on the south end of a FrontRunner train! The shape almost reminds me of the S70 cars, which would fit UTA's image pretty well.
Advantages: With the operator higher up, there is higher visibility. There is also more crash-cushioning for the operator in the case of a collision. UTA has hit large trucks before, but fortunately all of them have been hit as the train was going Northbound, so the heavier and safer locomotive took the hit. There is also the slight energy savings in fuel costs by being slightly more aerodynamic, and then there is of course the
cool factor.
Disadvantages: No more 'railfan seat' opposite the driver, which allows passengers to look out of the front of the train going southbound (and out the back going north). I would miss that. There is also the lack of flexibility, as the streamlined version cannot be used as a mid-train coach, as UTA currently uses its 'extra' cab cars. Some say that this flexibility is important, especially in an emergency, but I don't buy that. UTA is peculiar among commuter rail operators in that they use the same fixed consist for all their trains all day every day. Nothing changes, so no flexibility is needed on the operational level.
I hope that if UTA buys more cars soon (expanding to hopefully 4 bombardier cars and a Comet, at least) that they would consider buying some of these, and convert the existing cab cars to coaches with bike racks. It's not really economically sound, but I think it projects a good image and adds safety where there currently is a lack.