Salt Lake Transit News Thread

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by jtrent77

By this logic, people without kids should be annoyed that their taxes go to schools; or medicaid when I am not old yet.

Not the same. Everybody ages, so therefor everybody will depend on Medicaid at some point. Most of us had, have or will have kids. Or even if you never had kids, you were, at one point a kid who attended school.

[jtrent77]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

Not the same. Everybody ages, so therefor everybody will depend on Medicaid at some point. Most of us had, have or will have kids. Or even if you never had kids, you were, at one point a kid who attended school.

It is the same thing, what about the kids that attend private school? why should they have to pay for the public school kids too?? It's part of living in a community.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by jtrent77

It is the same thing, what about the kids that attend private school? why should they have to pay for the public school kids too?? It's part of living in a community.

That's their choice.

[Hatman]

I got junk mail from UTA!



I think these are really great ideas.
1)15 minute service on state street is great. If successful, it really shows the need for BRT down State Street immediately after the Provo-Orem line is done.
2)What better way to get people to try it out than with free coupons? Especially Utah County People. It's nothing big or revolutionary, but it's a nice touch, and I'm glad UTA is advertising its expanded service in this way. (I've got my transit pass, so if anybody wants them, I'll gladly hand them over).

[jubguy3]

You need to block out the rest of ur adress

[Future Mayor]

I'm not sure if I posted this, but since I didn't get the job I'll go ahead and spill the beans. Taylorsville City has been working with UTA on developing some potential BRT routes through the city. It appears that they one they have chosen is along 4700/4500 S. I'm assuming Murray and WVC have also been in discussions, as a line would be pointless without Murray being involved, and having WVC involved would also make sense.

They didn't discuss details on where it would terminate, on either end, but it would make sense that it would possibly terminate at Trax Fireclay on the East side, but maybe it could extend further east to 7th or 9th. On the West end I could see several possible termination points, but I'm sure redevelopment potential along the route will be a critical factor. Extending the line past 5600 W could serve Usana Amphitheater, and would connect to the eventual 5600 W BRT/Trax.

There was no time line and I believe they are now looking to fund the environmental impact study.

There are many redevelopment and density opportunities along 47/45th; 500 W, Redwood, 2700 W, 4800 W, SE corner of 3200 W, NW and NE corner at 3600 W, Bangeter to 4000 W, 4800 W and of course 5600 W. All those intersections are currently commercial/industrial (5600 W).

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

The Gas Tax went up or is about to go up 5 cents that will go towards both roads and Mass Transit from what I've read on here and else where. Hence why I've been annoyed having to pay more for something I can't even use at this time. Not unless Trax can continue running til after 3:30 in the morning for us grave yarders.

And why should I care if it affects you or not?

It's part of living in a community. You agree to things that benefit other people and in the process benefit that community as a whole, even if you don't see a direct, obvious benefit to yourself.

[airhero]

I'm curious. I've ridden frontrunner 6 times in the last month. 3 of those times the train slated to arrive at my time of departure has failed to arrive and I've had to wait another 30 minutes for the next one. Is this a common occurrence? Because I'm getting pretty frustrated with it.

[Hatman]

The only times a train never showed up for me in the last 5 months was when there was either a suicide (twice) or the power went out because of high winds (once). One day was really bad, and both of those things happened. That was also the day my train broke down, and we had to wait 30 minutes for the next train to come get us. That was a BAD day. My commute to Provo, which usually takes 90 minutes, suddenly became 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was sad.

I'm curious to hear your three stories. A train just not showing up has got to be seriously annoying.

[slc801]

Originally Posted by airhero

I'm curious. I've ridden frontrunner 6 times in the last month. 3 of those times the train slated to arrive at my time of departure has failed to arrive and I've had to wait another 30 minutes for the next one. Is this a common occurrence? Because I'm getting pretty frustrated with it.

I've never had that happen with frontrunner. I find that it is much more common with TRAX, although still very infrequent, mostly because once again that has never happened to me on frontrunner.

[ajiuO]

I was finally going to get a hive pass only to discover that the price has increased by 15$ per month to 45$ and also no longer includes front runner. :/

No thank you... I'll just keep driving and polluting 😀

[airhero]

Originally Posted by Hatman

I'm curious to hear your three stories. A train just not showing up has got to be seriously annoying.

The first time I don't know what happened. It was at night at sl central and I waited a loong time. The second was also at night also at sl central and there were mechanical problems. The third was yesterday, the 4:20 northbound from Provo, which was also mechanical problems.

[CountyLemonade]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

I was finally going to get a hive pass only to discover that the price has increased by 15$ per month to 45$ and also no longer includes front runner. :/

No thank you... I'll just keep driving and polluting 😀

Dude, you will not find a cheaper transit pass in the country for a comparable-sized city. Even if it is $43/month and doesn't include FrontRunner. It's still a screaming deal.

[asies1981]

Hive passes go on sale Friday.

[LeVaJe]

I have realized nobody has mentioned this yet. The WFRC projects map has been updated, including links to many of the projects, and is open for round two comments.

Mountainland also has updated their plan map, also open for comments.

And CacheMPO now has their project map open for comments as well.

[Reachforthesky]

Looks like Nashville is taking a page out of our Transit books


http://www.ksl.com/?sid=34430573&nid...s_cid=queue-13

[Hatman]

Ha ha! This was a pleasant surprise to read! Let the high-tech autonomous car revolution begin, right here in Utah!

Cars talking to cars? UDOT about to launch tests to help development

Imagine if cars could talk to one another or with traffic signals. Such conversations could help avoid collisions caused by fallible humans, or smooth out travel to save fuel costs and cut pollution.

Actually, the Utah Department of Transportation is involved with experiments seeking to develop such systems and perhaps transform driving forever.

UDOT has three tests going at once. One is to let communicating trucks tailgate each other on the highway at a minimum distance of 30 ft:

The system allows the rear truck to draft off the one in front. Some early testing demonstrated trucks "can save between 7 and 12 percent of their fuel costs, which also reduces emissions," Leonard says. "That's an enormous thing."

(Slip-streaming trucks testing in Utah, pic from article)

Test 2 involves UTA:

Experiments envision that buses automatically would transmit information about their route, schedule and speed. "As it approaches a signalized intersection," Leonard explains, "it would communicate with the signal cabinet."

Software tested by the federal government could analyze if the bus is behind schedule and what else is happening at the intersection to determine if it "can afford to give you a green light earlier to try to get you back on schedule."

Leonard says UDOT hopes to work with UTA "to see if we can get a corridor that's 88 percent reliable to be, maybe, 94 percent reliable."

The third test involves trucks being able to relay weather and road condition information to UDOT headquarters from rural areas where UDOT does not have weather and ATMS stations. Also cool, but not nearly so important as the other two tests.

Once these tests are successful for trucks and transit, and I have no reason to think they will fail, UDOT will have established a platform for other vehicles to be able to communicate with each other as well. Cars that offer self steering capabilities on the highway (such as Tesla, Audi, and GM, all by next year) would probably be able to use this platform to slipstream as well. (It will be nicer to slip stream behind a Tesla because there is no exhaust!)

This is exciting stuff! We should be proud we have such a forward-thinking Department of Transportation in this state.

Link: http://www.sltrib.com/news/2413155-1...out?fullpage=1

[brankrom]

SLC gets some national props for the protected bike lanes downtown... I constantly hear drivers dissing them but they're mighty nice for bikes.

http://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/05/0...for-bicycling/

Salt Lake City is on track to implement America’s first protected intersection for bicycling this summer.

The intersection design is based on a Dutch template that minimizes potential conflicts between people biking, driving, and walking. For example, it allows cyclists to make a left turn in two stages without crossing against oncoming car traffic. It will be part of a protected bike lane running a little more than a mile through a central portion of the Utah capital.

[Hatman]

Originally Posted by brankrom

SLC gets some national props for the protected bike lanes downtown... I constantly hear drivers dissing them but they're mighty nice for bikes.

http://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/05/0...for-bicycling/

Awesome! The first Dutch intersection to be built in the united States is being built in Utah! I mean, this is a BIG deal!
Come to think of it, why not? Our wide streets and square grid system lend themselves to this sort of thing. I love it! Everyone, watch the video in the link, it's worthwhile. Here's to hoping this test is a success, and that there will be many more of these protected lanes and intersections in the near future!

[ajiuO]

That would be cool if we had several streets running both east/west and north/south with protected bike lanes and intersections all up and down the streets.... But one intersection? Maybe it's just a test but even so there should be at least a few of these intersections to even test.