Thursday, 09 October 2008
FrontRunner line to Utah County may be delayed Print E-mail
The Associated Press   

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah -- The FrontRunner train line from Utah County to Salt Lake City might open six months later — in early 2013 instead of mid-2012 — because of the struggling economy, Utah Transit Authority officials said.


But UTA said it can push up the opening date for the TRAX light-rail line going to the Salt Lake City International Airport to 2013 and can open the line headed to Draper two years early, in 2012. That's possible because their operating budgets are small compared with FrontRunner, UTA general Manager John Inglish said Wednesday at a budget committee meeting.

"We are certainly not in the (bad) shape of a lot of transit systems," Inglish said.

UTA budget officials have dropped projected tax revenue growth for 2009 from 4.5 percent to 1.5 percent, and they expect to get $73 million less in tax revenues between now and 2015.

By delaying the opening of the Utah County rail line to reduce operating costs, UTA saves $10 million. Construction of the train line will continue on schedule and if the economy recovers, UTA could cancel the delay.

Provo Mayor Lewis Billings said his constituents will be disappointed to hear that FrontRunner will fall behind the TRAX lines. But he said he understands budget troubles are facing everyone.

UTA has already addressed some of its funding problems through administrative cuts and fuel surcharges on fares.
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Discuss (4 posts)
wallstreet08 Oct 09 2008 17:55:53
This thread discusses the Content article: FrontRunner line to Utah County may be delayed

Utah County cities should halt the expansion of a tax rate hike since the only promise is a two bus, two trip ride from the SS / EM region. This service maximum movement is one hundred people. These one hundred people would have to be sure there schedules conformed to these two times of day. It would have to be significant savings after reaching the SLC area most would be utilizing another form of transportaion. The proposed route would take significantly longer than by car.

There are alternatives for these areas. Take the grant money and any tax hike and offer this money to citizens who would convert to CNG.
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rightwingedliberal Oct 09 2008 18:23:25
Can't they just print more money and bail us out? ooops I just realized we are the great unwashed. no bailout for us
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unaffiliated_person Oct 09 2008 20:23:24
wallstreet08 wrote:
This thread discusses the Content article: FrontRunner line to Utah County may be delayed

Utah County cities should halt the expansion of a tax rate hike since the only promise is a two bus, two trip ride from the SS / EM region. This service maximum movement is one hundred people. These one hundred people would have to be sure there schedules conformed to these two times of day. It would have to be significant savings after reaching the SLC area most would be utilizing another form of transportaion. The proposed route would take significantly longer than by car.

There are alternatives for these areas. Take the grant money and any tax hike and offer this money to citizens who would convert to CNG.

Frontrunner will cover much more than SS/EM. It is a great alternative to crowding I15 with more traffic.
http://www.rideuta.com/files/flfrontrunnersouthfactsheet.pdf
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wallstreet08 Oct 09 2008 20:30:24
Yes Frontrunner is an alternative. But not an alternative at this point for SS / EM. Front runner still has some isuues to work thru including less funding. The only offer has been 2 busses each day with two runs per day. These are Express runs from SS to SLC. What if we took the grant money and the collected tax hike money and divided it between the 100 max person that could use the service.
 #399196


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