TRAX Vehicles

New TRAX vehicles are on their way to Utah. UTA will be testing them on a completed portion of the new Mid-Jordan line in the Daybreak development.

News from KSL yeaterday that the new TRAX lines are ahead of schedule.

Before long, the Wasatch Front is going to have a pretty enviable transit network:
(click to enlarge)

Kudos...

.... to UTA for their handling of the recent refinery fire and the related closure of the FrontRunner tracks.

I was on one of the trains that was unable to pass from SLC to Woods Cross because of the fire at the Silver Eagle refinery.

We were all notified by UTA personnel of what the issue was, there were busses to take us to Woods Cross within five minutes, and once we were on the train and on our way northbound, the train host came around with snacks and drinks for all of the passengers.

UTA collectively did an admirable job of handling what could have been a total disaster and after the whole ordeal, I made it home less than 30 minutes late.

MAX BRT

The new MAX BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) line is up and running along 35th South. I tested it out the other day and was pretty impressed. I wish all bus routes were as convinient to use.

You get to wait at a decent looking bus shelter, board without waiting to pay the driver. I'm not sure if it was by accident or by design, but we hit almost every light on green.Having a TRAX/BRT route map posted at the station makes it feel like more than just a bus:

The interior is much nicer than a typical UTA bus too:

Tap on, tap off...

Now that I'm done with all of my evening finals, I rode the train to work this morning.

I noticed that UTA has installed the electronic readers at the FrontRunner stations as well as on the busses. I didn't notice any at the Murray N. TRAX station.

They go into service Jan. 1, 2009.

Read more about them here.

why the TRAX leg of my commute is the worst part of my commute....

UTA needs to do something about better coordinating TRAX trains to the signals downtown. I noticed the other day that it took almost 10 minutes to get from the Gallivan Plaza to Courthouse, because we spent so much time stopped at red lights.

This got me thinking and I timed the TRAX portion of my commute (from Central Station to Murray N.) to see how much time we actually spent stopped at lights and stations. It turns out that the train spends more time sitting at lights and stopped at stations that it actually spends moving.

Here's my suggestion. Find some way to give the trains signal priority so that whenever there is a train at an intesection, it gets to go nomatter what. It seems that TRAX is simply timed so that if it is running on schedule, it will get through on green lights. Seriously though, when is the last time TRAX wasn't running a few minutes behind?

Never.

It's nice that they've started holding the N.Bound FrontRunner trains for the perpetually late TRAX, but there's something about pulling into S.L. Central 5 minutes behind schedule and being screamed at by attendants to run as fast as I can across the plaza to board FrontRunner that is leaving NOW! that makes me wish I'd just driven that day and saved myself the hassle.