Four years ago, the Utah Transit Authority set out to increase ridership and strengthen customer confidence with its 2021-2025 service plan. So how did they do?
Some of the new services outlined in the plan — which was subject to change — have come to fruition, like Ogden’s OGX bus line. Others, like better connections between Salt Lake City and Tooele, are far from completion or have changed altogether.
Chris Stout, co-founder of the Utah Transit Riders Union, said more people would take public transit if it took them where they wanted to go.
“We have to rely more on buses to be able to make those daily trips to get to the grocery store, to get our kids to school, to get our kids to activities after school, to get to the library, to do things that ordinarily we would need cars for,” he said.
Bus Route 1 began operating in 2022 between Orange Street Transit Center in Salt Lake City’s Poplar Grove neighborhood and the University of Utah. On-demand service was also added to Salt Lake City’s west side in 2021.
As for connecting Salt Lake Central and the University of Utah, UTA spokesperson Gavin Gustafson noted new bus-priority lanes have improved service on 200 South.
Still, Tooele lacks frequent service to Salt Lake City, much to Stout’s frustration.
“I have a daughter who lives in Tooele, and I would love to be able to go out and see her by bus, but I can't do that,” he said.
Neither the 451 bus nor the F453 could bring Stout to and from Tooele in the evening or on weekends. Gustafson said UTA’s plan to implement an all-day fixed bus service was delayed due to pandemic-related labor shortages.
Jay Fox, executive director of UTA, said frequency makes a big difference for riders.
“You're pulling up to the station, the train is leaving. That's 29 minutes till the next train arrives. It's a good chance you're going to get back in your car and leave,” he said. “But if it's 14 minutes away, it's a whole different story.”
That’s why the 2021-2025 plan included “a connected network of high-frequency core routes” that aimed for convenience and efficiency. Gustafson said all three TRAX lines, plus OGX, UVX and the S Line, are core routes, and UTA is working to add more frequent coverage. He added the agency has improved the frequency or hours of roughly half of its bus routes since before the pandemic.
Stout noted, however, that some routes, including 220, 205, 47 and 45, have gone from running every 15 minutes to every half hour.
“I can't tell you the number of people that have contacted me that said, ‘they cut the 39 to 30 minutes. I can now walk to where I need to go in the time that it takes me to wait for the bus,’” he said.
The 2025-2029 service plan calls for route 39 to return to a 15-minute frequency in April. Others, like 205, are scheduled for increased frequency down the line.
Adding trips earlier and later in the day was another part of the plan. But extending hours is complicated. Fox said UTA considers ridership and what works best for drivers.
“We want to make sure we're able to provide service when we're getting — I hate to say this phrase, but — the best bang for the buck, and make sure that we're treating our employees well.”
Further, Fox said TRAX hours are limited because of track sharing with freight trains.
“We acquired [those lines] with an understanding that since they were former freight lines, we still had to give trackage rights to those freight companies,” he said, noting the trains operate during early morning hours.
Beyond Salt Lake City, some new transit options have materialized since the 2021-2025 plan was published. Others are still coming.
The OGX bus line and the Vineyard FrontRunner station began operating in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Gustafson said the South Davis-SLC Connector and a FrontRunner station at The Point are still in the design stage, while MidValley bus rapid transit is expected to open in 2027. The 5600 West express bus service is scheduled to begin in 2028.
Fox is excited for the Midvalley Connector to be UTA’s third bus rapid transit line. These systems prioritize buses over cars and operate as a less expensive alternative to light rail.
“You're going to connect yet another area, which is our Murray station, all the way out to the Maverik Center in West Valley and connect Salt Lake Community College,” he said. "I can tell you, from Ogden Express, which got almost a million rides in the first year, [this] makes a huge difference for people.”
Meanwhile, UTA is no longer planning a bus rapid transit route for the Central Corridor. Gustafson said the current proposal is to shift Route 850 to serve the Valley Grove area of Pleasant Grove.
The 15-minute service between Farmington and Ogden described in the plan has not surfaced either. Gustafson also credited that to pandemic-related delays but said it is in the 2025-2029 service plan as Route 600.
As for accessibility, Fox said UTA’s fare cap system, which began in August, makes riding transit more affordable. Buses and on-demand cars are wheelchair accessible, and UTA plans to replace high-board cars on the TRAX Blue Line with newer, more accessible ones.
Overall, UTA ridership has been increasing since 2021. Fox credits that to strengthening the workforce.
“[UTA] was facing 2% unemployment,” he said. “A lot of what we did from the end of 2022 all the way to this past year was shore that up, which put ourselves in a position where we can not only just do our existing service, but grow the service.”
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.