Took UTA once to get to the airport after a ski trip when our uber didn't show during a snowstorm. Have to say I was impressed with its cleanliness and reliability.
@@tylerkochman1007Our hotel was at a ski resort and we took a bus back (not sure if that bus was UTA) but if I remember correctly, we had to make a stop in the suburbs on the way to the airport so we got off early and then took a UTA bus and the green line to get back to the airport.
I live in the Salt Lake area, and wanted to clarify a few things. 1. The BRT systems (UVX, OGX, etc) run with shorter headways at peak times, down to 6 minutes at times, and 2. The *reason* the FrontRunner does not have Sunday service is because much of the corridor is not double-tracked. UTA uses Sunday as its maintenance day for the tracks; when double tracking finally happens it will allow higher frequencies at peak times *and* allow UTA to close down sections of track for maintenance while the train is running on the other track.
@@indigo8592 Yes, but freight trains use them overnight in certain areas, as well as over most of the blue and red lines, to serve local commercial areas.
dont be misled by the population figure of 210k. THe entire Valley alone is 1.3 k.. then you tack on the north and south extensions of this solid built up core of 150_ miles, and you end up with ~80% of states 3.5 million population. The transit system runs nearly the entire lenght of that built up area with a commuter rail line of ~82 miles end to end.
The metropolitan area is approaching 3 million people; it's the 22nd largest consolidated metropolitan area in the US. Because Salt Lake City proper has a small population, people are sometimes misled into thinking the metropolitan area is very small. In short: it is not surprising it has an extensive mass transit system -- if any think the transit system is too small for its population.
What a great video and summary of the UTA and Utah. It was a pleasure meeting you when you visited! In my opinion, which is biased because I am working on the project, the best way to improve transit in SLC is to go away from Salt Lake Central and invest in the Rio Grande Plan. Getting transit to a centralized node in downtown will make it easier for people to access multiple modes of transit and micro transit. Additionally, Salt Lake Central Station is a quarter mile west of the Rio Grande Depot meaning that it is further away from what people want to go to downtown for. There is a reason why Salt Lake Central has half the ridership that North Temple Station does. Again great video, cannot wait for the next one.
Do give UTA credit for what SL Central was when it opened:c a hub for many buslines, FrontRunner, Several TRAX lines, and the AMTRAK and Greyhound stations. Greyhound being all but completely killed off by COVID, the station was shut down and not even the UTA has an office in there anymore. It's very sad.
Really well researched and presented video! I can't wait for the new downtown TRAX extensions and FrontRunner double tracking! And I think there's a decent chance of some electrification efforts relatively soon too! Would have loved to see some talk of the Rio Grande Plan though! :)
TRAX ended up borrowing 29 Kinki Sharyo LRVs from Dallas to handle Olympic crowds! Worth mentioning for the 2002 Olympics, for those heading to Soldier Hollow (for biathlon, Nordic combined, and cross-country), the Heber Valley Railroad offered a special train service to Wasatch Mountain State Park on steam locomotives, and then horse-drawn sleighs took spectators to the venue! Arena station still features the Salt Lake 2002 countdown clock, in the shape of an arrowhead to commemorate the arrowheads found during the station's construction. The station was closed during the games because it was the Olympic plaza. Love when countries/cities use the Olympics and Paralympics as an excuse to construct big transport projects and create lasting change to benefit populations as part of the legacy of the games! For the 2022 Winter Olympics, China built the Beijing-Zhangjiakou HSR, the world's first fully driverless HSR, which connected the different venue clusters, connecting Beijing North with the venue clusters in Beijing's Yanqing District and Zhangjiakou. It also serves Badaling's popular section of the Great Wall as the underground Badaling Great Wall station, the world's deepest HSR station! For Beijing 2008, the first Chinese HSR line, Beijing-Tianjin, opened 7 days before the games. It reduced travel time between the two cities from 70 to 30 minutes. The Beijing subway also expanded, like Line 8 serving the Olympic Green, or the Capital Airport Express. The Tokaido Shinkansen between Osaka and Tokyo opened to coincide with the Tokyo 1964 Olympics, just days before the Games! And besides subway extensions like the Tozai Line, the Tokyo Monorail also opened, connecting Haneda Airport with Hamamatsuchō in the city center. While NYC wasn't awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics, the failed bid still reshaped the area! Like the Barclays Center, Citi Field, the MetLife Stadium being built in NJ as a 50/50 partnership between the Giants and Jets after the Jets's stadium plan in Hudson Yards failed, Flushing Meadows still building an aquatics center (which would've been the water polo venue) in 2008, and the Hudson Yards redevelopment with the High Line, Javits Center renovations, the construction of multiple buildings and mixed-used developments and 34th Street-Hudson Yards station! For Nagano 1998 winter games, they opened the Nagano Shinkansen (now the Hokuriku Shinkansen), initially connecting Tokyo with Takasaki in Gunma and Nagano. Calgary's CTrain opened in May 1981, and after it won the 1988 Winter games in Sept 1981, the Northwest Line extension of the South Line was opened in Sept 1987 (this is the Red Line). They wanted it to serve McMahon Stadium at the University of Calgary, which hosted ceremonies. For Athens 2004, the modern Athens tram system opened in July (linking Athens city centre with the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic complex, Agios Kosmas for sailing, Kraiskaki Stadium for football, and the Hellinikon Olympic Complex). In addition, the Metro and suburban rail systems built new stations, like Metro's Line 3 extended to serve Athens Airport, or Irini and Neratziotissa on Line 1 serving the main Athens Olympic Sports Complex. Athens International opened in 2001 after a need for a bigger airport to replace Ellinikon International. Ellinikon became abandoned and the home of the "temporary" Hellinikon Olympic complex (which turned one of the hangars into an area and its runways as paths to the venues), said complex became abandoned, and it's all now turned into a big metropolitan park. For Vancouver 2010, the Skytrain had a massive expansion with the Canada Line, connecting Waterfront downtown with YVR Airport and Richmond. It also served the Olympic Village, which revitalized False Creek, and the Richmond Olympic Oval for speed skating.
I’m glad I moved here in Salt Lake City this summer. The city is amazing and glad you covered my new home. I am super hopeful for this city and the Rio grande plan
It was a miracle to get the line built in the first place, and then extended to Provo also. YOu have 4 major nodes on that 82 mile line: Ogden, SLC, Murray, Provo. They are now working on double tracking entire length, THEN electification.
A lot of small cities used to have very good public transit. For example, the city of Bakersfield used to have the Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway, which bought streetcar service to the city (which was then a small town). In 1901 it was electrified and would reach peak ridership by the 1910s, with 5 streetcar lines, 3 bus lines, and 1.4 million of annual ridership in 1915. However, the rise of buses would soon cause the streetcar system to go into a slow decline, and the streetcar ended operation in 1942. Bakersfield has grown a lot since then (think about it, 12,727 residents in 1910, 29,252 in 1940, and 403,455 in 2020) but planning after WWII sadly is and overwhelmingly is car-centric suburbia. You can barely get anywhere in the city without driving, that is to say the least. And recent highway expansions would demolish some neighborhoods too! Although bus service still exists, it’s not good enough to compete with automobile travel. I don’t know if there is the general effort and awareness along the populace to actually care about these issues, but I’m a little pessimistic when it comes to this situation, especially compared to larger metro areas where ideas for walkability and expanded public transportation seem more popular than ever.
Pleasantly shocked, for a state where I didn't really think with their politics and transit would ever have this good of an overlap they are doing some really really great things here.
Utah's politics are weird, I would describe them as solidly moderate conservative. It will always be red, but not in the extreme way that many other red states are. I think this general attitude towards politics is what allows transit to flourish there
As a former Utah resident, I’d say it depends on the issue. With immigration, environmentalism, and transit, it’s often surprisingly progressive. But then with other social issues it’s as red as it gets. I’d call it a very conservative state that has unique exceptions due to its unique natural geography and religious history.
@@AlexanderGBlackUtah's politics are weird because Mormons are weird and Mormons control Utah. Mormons have no problems spending lots of money on public infrastructure like transit, normally a Democratic position, but while at the same time hate gays and gay rights. Heck, even leaving the house for a pleasure trip on the Lord's Day is somewhat scandalous; hence the lack of Sunday transit service.
It is part of the Mormon ethos to take care of one’s body. Unhealthy air is not good for the body. Bicycles are good for the body too, with the right infrastructure.
Awesome video! I just moved to a building a block away from the S Line and it’s been fantastic. I only drive a few times a month anymore and I couldn’t be happier about that
Electrification and showing a SEPTA clip? Ah yes, SEPTA's trick to having a fully electrified regional rail network....simply shutting down the diesel services! SEPTA's former diesel services were phased out due to low ridership, a lack of funding outside the five-county area of SEPTA, withdrawal of Conrail as a contract carrier, aging equipment that needed replacement, and a lack of SEPTA-owned diesel maintenance infrastructure. The death knell for any resumption of diesel service was the Center City Commuter Connection, which lacks the necessary ventilation for exhaust-producing locomotives! I have a feeling you didn't include Philadelphia as a streetcar city on purpose to get Alan Fisher to comment here! Should've mentioned the Rio Grande plan! Under the Rio Grande plan, it reopens the Rio Grande depot for train service (for TRAX, Amtrak, and FrontRunner) and moves all downtown rail traffic into a cut-and-cover trench, eliminating grade crossings, yards, and overpasses. This opens 76 acres of industrial land for re-development. UVX is not actually the UTA's first BRT project. That was the 3500 South MAX between TRAX Millcreek station and Magna, which provided an express overlay and some bus lanes along 3500 S, the most ridden route in the state. The route was killed in 2022 during the pandemic as the fancy 3 door buses reached the end of their lives (allegedly a maintenance nightmare) and a lot of folks found it not much faster than the regular 35 route. Also, Utah's famously wide streets. have allowed UTA to build light rail and BRT in the center without having to widen the road or demolish buildings. They're wide not because of modern automobile planners, but rather, they were derived from former Mormon Governor of the Utah territory who stipulated that a team of oxen and their cart should be able to turn around in the street. In 1833, several years after founding the religion in upstate New York, Joseph Smith outlined how Mormon cities should look and feel. The plan drew from that era’s East Coast design principles, as well as the church’s desire for order. Smith called for a temple at the center of a grid and for large blocks that enabled family farming. When they finally entered Utah in 1847, Brigham Young applied Smith's principles to SLC, while adding the wide streets. The 2002 Olympics was home to the tale of Aussie short-track speed skater Steven Bradbury, the first athlete from Australia and also the Southern Hemisphere to win a Winter Olympic gold medal. He first won a bronze with a relay team at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, but at the 2002 Olympics, an amazing thing happened. He won his heat convincingly in the 1,000 m, however, in the quarter-finals, Bradbury was allocated to the same race as the favorite Apolo Anton Ohno, and Marc Gagnon of Canada, the defending world champion. Only the top two finishers from each race would proceed to the semifinals. Bradbury finished third in his race and thought himself to be eliminated, but Gagnon was disqualified for obstructing another racer, allowing him to advance to the semi-finals. Bradbury's strategy from the semi-final onwards was to cruise behind his opponents and hope that they crashed, as he could not match their pace. In his semi-final race, Bradbury was in last place, well off the pace of the medal favorites. However, defending champion Kim Dong-sung of South Korea, multiple Olympic medalist Li Jiajun of China, and Mathieu Turcotte of Canada all crashed, paving the way for Bradbury to take first place and advancing him through to the final. In the final, Bradbury was again well off the pace when all four of his competitors (Ohno, Ahn Hyun-Soo, Li, and Turcotte) crashed out at the final corner while jostling for the gold medal. This allowed Bradbury, who was around 15 m behind with only 50 m to go, to avoid the pile-up and take the victory. After a period of delay, the judges upheld the result and did not order a re-race, confirming Bradbury's victory!
Such a shame that despite hosting the Stadler plant, they REFUSE to acquire Stadler FLIRTS for PROPER regional rail service on Frontrunner. Absolutely unacceptable and a missed opportunity!
Omg I screaming at my computer about the same thing!! They LITERALLY have the most modern rolling stock manufacturer in the US in their backyard and do nothing to utilize it! SMH 😤
The Stadler plant was built after UTA had already purchased and was operating its current rolling stock (the MPXpress MP36PH-3Cs and Bombardier bi-level coaches). UTA's train sets were ordered in the early 00s before Stadler commenced North American assembly operations. Prior to opening in SLC, Stadler teamed with Bombardier to built GTWs for Camden/Trenton, New Jersey and Austin, TX. However they did not built FLIRTS in North America until the opening of their Utah facilities. Stadler was able to take advantage of extra capacity in UTA's Warm Springs shops (which services FrontRunner locomotives and coaches) to build their first orders before the new plant was online. In the future, UTA may elect to buy FLIRT DMUs for future FrontRunner service or if the line is electrified, KISS train sets similar to those built for Caltrain.
@@subdomhourz7946UTA is actively considering stadler trainsets for future replacements of both FrontRunner and TRAX trainsets. the TRAX contract is currently in negotiation. they haven’t announced whether Stadler or Siemens were selected tho.
SLC is a deceptive Metro area. It's a "small" city, with a population of 2.7M if you include Provo and Ogden. Perfect for rail transit, as it's ALL on a N-S line, with very little E-W development.
I just moved to Murray, my apartment is walking distance from a UTA train station. It is very cool to be able to get downtown or even to Ogden without needing to deal with traffic. That said the lack of service on Sundays really makes it impractical for me. Also the price of $170 for a monthly pass is way too high. I do not rely on it for daily transportation for those reasons.
We need the Rio Grande Plan in Salt Lake! I live in Idaho Falls ID to the north. I dream of a day I can have daily service from Idaho Falls to SLC by train, and the Rio Grande plan would probably make the more of a reality.
As someone who lived in the SLC area for a while, I’d add that the physical geography plays a huge role in making transit successful. The 2 lakes in the west plus mountains in the east confine any sprawl. So a single north - south commuter line is surprisingly accessible to almost everyone in the 3 metros (Ogden, SLC, Provo).
Yeah. The Frontrunner is such an important spine thanks to this and easily has the potential for really strong service. Possibly even every 10 or every 7 minutes in the future if its fully double tracked, electrified, and grade separated. Effectively becoming an express metro line.
I didn't hear a mention of the Rio Grande Plan which would place the railroad tracks through downtown underground and revitalize the old Rio Grande Railway passenger depot. Bonus is the existing central station can be redeveloped for shops, offices, apartments and parks.
That's probably because it's still a concept. It's gaining traction, but it has no funding and no approvals from any agencies yet. Hopefully it will be, but it's still very much in the conceptual stage.
grew up all my childhood in Salt Lake City. they have done pretty well to build some key transit lines. if they can get the Rio Grande Plan through to reclaim that historic station for commuter rail, it would be gamechanging for transit throughout the Wasatch Front
Interestingly, many of UTA's rail stations originally were just kind of desolate park and rides. Over the years, more and more developments were being built next to these stations. Now, with the passage of HB462 in 2022 all cities with a rail or BRT station are required under state law to develop a Station Area Plan (SAP) and update their zoning and general plans accordingly. This seems to have led directly to a huge increase in density next to many stations, which will hopefully drive additional ridership and funding opportunities.
Thank you for presenting this highly informative video. If only the powers that run FDOT would take the time to learn from UTA's example. In any case, I look forward to seeing your upcoming video on the S-Line.
Visited SLC about once approx. 30 years ago. As I recall, a very clean city. Don't recall any mass transit at that time but again, I wasn't really interested in mass transit at that time, so I may have overlooked what the city offered in that area. SLC mad e a pretty decent impression to me. A pretty place actually.
Forgot Flex routes, they can deviate up to 3/4 mile from the route if called in advance. Also, the extension to Brigham City will be built from scratch, just like the rest of the FrontRunner system.
I've heard people say that SLC has the best commuter rail system of any smaller US metro area. I'm not which system would win in a head-to-head comparison, but SLC's system is definitely the Front Runner.
Utahan here, Im so glad to see our transit network being presented in such a positive light! It really does have a lot going for it. Hopefully we can continue to get the investment it needs to be successful! Also, would love to hear your thoughts about the rio grande plan! Btw, salt lake is not a southwestern city lol. It has its own region, along with Denver and Boise called the Intermountain West
@@FrederickJenny, The Rio Grande Railroad was bought out by Union Pacific ages ago. So technically, how I referred the Rio Grande Depot as is still correct.
Thanks for this interesting video! I've never been to SLC but I've made a video about it's LRT in comparison with the French one, so this video was twice as interesting for me.
Nice video, couple of quick pronunciation tips, it's pronounced Weber:Wee-bur Orem:Oar-um (Oh hey, you got it! Nice job). Also if you want another facet of Utah transit to look into, go check out the Rio Grande Plan. It's a project that was spearheaded, developed, and championed by private citizens who came up with a neat idea to a problem they saw. The gist is moving the Salt Lake Central station a few blocks east, closer to downtown, to make use of the old Rio Grande station and turn it into a Denver Union Station type central hub. It has a lot of other components, but it's gaining momentum and feels relevant to this topic.
I love SLC, I'd never live there because of the air quality. I'm not sure how useful the transit systems are for locals, but for tourists, they go EVERYWHERE you'd want to go. I love when I get to go to a city where I don't touch my car the entire time I'm there.
As a local, who also happens to be in a wheelchair, the transit system is mostly good. However, traveling from the core of the city to the more southern or western parts can be very difficult.
I've been living in SLC for over twenty years, but I grew up outside of the state. It's not at all southwest, though. It's either just west, or northwest.
I know a lot of other things would have to fall into place for this to happen but I feel like the frontrunner line would be another (along with caltrain) perfect line to fully double track and electrify simply because the Salt Lake region is so perfectly linear along its corridor it could serve a lot of people very well! Also the Stadler Kiss units wouldn’t have to travel very far haha
You did finally pronounce Orem right, but you never got Weber correct lol. You should have talked about the Rio Grande Plan. You should do a video on that in the future.
It would be amazing to see a train from the city to the ski resorts in the cottonwood canyon area for the Olympics. While the ski buses are great in concept, not having a designated right of way just makes the buses stuck in traffic with everyone else. The gondola they've been talking about is an absolute joke.
I’ve never been to SLC, but now i want to. Only after they’ve added Sunday service to the Front Runner and other services, though. That’s so crazy that you can’t take a weekend trip in between cities like Odgen and SLC via Front Runner if you want to return on Sunday!
Great video! SLC really picked up transit momentum in the 20-teens. What made me covet the city planning, was the vital nugget that the city found mass transit and city-wide transit *beneficial* and good for policy! Transit improvements, the SLC report sounds like many other US cities -- improve timetables, frequency of operations. Nice to see all the bikes aboard Frontrunner! 🏔
Important note: SLC is ***NOT** in any sense a "southwestern city". It is a Rocky Mountain city. Vegas, PHX, Tucson, ALBQ, El Paso - THOSE are the Southwestern Cities
@@climateandtransit As a lifelong resident, I have to say, it really isn't. The only thing southwest about Salt Lake City is the hot summers, which still pale in comparison to real southwestern cities. We have more in common with Boise and Denver than we do Las Vegas or Phoenix.
@@bobrulz As a resident of over twenty years, I absolutely agree with it not being southwest. In fact, the NBA considers it northwest. I also tend to agree with that statement.
@@climateandtransit With all due respect, it's an intermountain western city. The proof is in the architectural vernacular, the snow, and the mediocre (at best) Mexican cuisine.
I live in central Utah and travel to Provo and Salt Lake from time to time. I question the demand for radical expansion of Sunday service on UTA, since whenever I happen to cruise through on Sunday-usually to and from SLC Airport-I’m almost alone on the freeways. (Before anyone disagrees, you must know that I learned how to drive in the Los Angeles area, where congestion was pretty much the same 7 days a week.) Granted, I don’t spend a lot of time in Salt Lake, so I may be missing something. But if UTA is going to expand Sunday service, that’s a good thing-kudos to UTA for looking ahead. By way of comparison, it took years to get Metrolink in Southern California to expand Sunday service beyond the San Bernardino Line, even when there was clearly a need. And MTA bus service is a joke today compared to what was operated by the old SCRTD back in the 1970’s and ‘80’s.
This is a great break down. Would love to see something similar in the twin cities. I know this is oddly specific but I wish our commuter rail had better ridership and I think two keys to achieve this would be : 1) Frequency. 4 trains a day does not cut it. 2) I wish it extended further along the Empire Builder tracks to Red Wing with additional stops at Treasure Island (at the Casino for events), Hastings (a vacant station just sits there), somewhere in Cottage Grove and of coarse both down towns (maybe somewhere in the midway or a spur to MSP to offer one seat rides. Or is that too greedy?
The light rail coverage is pretty good. Still quite a few parking moats around many stations, especially along the southern trunk and southern red line. The Front Runner is especially good commuter rail service, they just need Sunday service like yesterday. Luckily all the above can be fixed.
I’m REALLY excited for frontrunner to expand southwards where I live. I also hope they expand more brt in Orem and American fork. I’d like to see a route on state street.
As someone who rode FrontRunner and sometimes Trax to work from 2013-2020, the UTA network was pretty good. In my opinion, and I have heard UTA officials say this before, the FrontRunner is not double-tracked, which can mean that if one train has a problem or breaks down, the whole network of trains breaks down. I hope UTA gets the funding to fix the double tracking so FrontRunner can become more reliable. Small, nitpicky thing, but if you cover UTA again, please learn to say Weber and Orem the way they are pronounced in Utah. I liked the video overall, but when you said those names, I cringed.
About the BRT into Davis County, I believe originally the proposal was for light rail, but of course the residents would never let that happen. They don’t want the ‘undesirables’ coming into their communities 😒
As someone that lives and works in an East-West direction in SLC. Transit options are basically nonexistent. There has been no major expansion to the network in a long time. And now that the Olympics are coming they've finally decided to make these "improvements". I know from the outside looking in, it looks like they are doing good work but as a local it's slow work to a service that is currently pretty useless to a lot of the people that live here.
@@PixelatedH2O yeah and for me. The express bus that goes to my neighborhood is so limited that I would be able to get to work but not home because it doesn't run past 6. People work later than 6!
Would a 15 minutes schedule not justify the electrification of the “FronttRunner” ? Imagine the gain in air quality during inversions in winter time ! And other measures could be taken to encourage people to take the public transport - like,if the air pollution is too bad - offer transit for free…
As an hardcore New Yorker who doesn’t drive I’ve gotten the opportunity to visit PHX last year and did some hiking and sightseeing throughout the city. I only used their light rail and public buses. It did the job for me. Is SLC similar to PHX where I can just utilize their light rail and buses for hikes just outside their city limits ? Also something PHX valley metro has that’s similar to SLC light rail is that you guys have a 1 seat direct rail access from your downtown to your INTL airport. Us New Yorkers don’t have that despite our extremely vast subway network. You have to take a bus from LGA and for JFK you to pay a separate air train fare from the airport at jfk to the subway system. The (A) and (J) lines don’t directly connect to ground transportation like the light rail does at PHX sky harbor intl airport.
The trax and frontrunner are actually amazing services, the buses very much lack though. I love taking the trax downtown to not worry about traffic or parking. Its actually faster to take it than drive during rush hour
If were just listening, I’d almost think you were talking about Denver. But without a vision for rail, & still waiting for the starter line of regional rail to be approved in a couple more years.
Except UTA actually has TOD around stations, and is expanding the network still. Unlink RTD who is reducing service and mostly runs to empty park and rides.
@@climateandtransitfair enough but it’s a top 25 CSA which is the entire Wasatch front region. Provo and Ogden are considered separate MSAs so the SLC metro area is kind of deflated. Idk it’s all how you look at it
@@climateandtransitstill not a “small city” Still a clickbaity title. Disappointing and misleading to click on a video thinking it’s going to be an inspirational story about a small city making outsized investments in transit just to see yet another mid-large city with a metro population of >1million doing things that they SHOULD be able to do.
commuter rails are usually meant for commuters. UTA isnt commuter rail to me, its "local rail" ( a term i completely made up to differentiate from commuter rail)
While I'd been there before, my first "real" visit to SLC was in the summer of 2003. While I was initially HORRIFIED by the conversion of the beautiful Union Station to a Virgin Megastore, I had to admit that it was certainly a MUCH better option than demolition, and I was quite impressed by the redevelopment of its former railyard to The Gateway. The "" eyeballs painted on the streets at crosswalks were borderline adorable. I found an affordable motel merely two blocks from a TRAX station, bought a UTA day pass, and explored a surprisingly large swath of the city via TRAX. The trains were clean, safe, and frequent. Would visit again. Would recommend to a friend.
I would probably like to see multiple S-line type lines going to places like the University of Utah, the Zoo, the Avenues, Millcreek and Holladay. Park City would probably be best served by an east west commuter train running in the I-80 median connecting Downtown and the airport.
I used to live in Salt Lake and there is one bit of UTA history that you missed. UVX and OGX weren't their first BRT lines. The first was the MAX, an upgrade on the route 35, it follows most of what is still to this day route 35's routing, with a short section of dedicated center running lanes along 3500 South through West Valley City. I haven't lived in Salt Lake for a little over a decade now, but I do still go back occasionally to visit. I don't know when MAX was discontinued, other than it was a decent amount of time before UVX even began construction. At least on Google Maps you can still see a few sections of the dedicated lanes that haven't been removed between 2700 West and Bangerter Highway.
@@MiguelX413 the key word in my comment is COULD. I don't mean a system has to reduce traffic by 90 percent, just that coverage should be high enough that 90 percent of car trips could be replaced by taking the train. A great system would be a system where that number is 100 percent of car trips could be replace by train. Even if not everyone chose to ride the train. It is about having the option, not about the number of people who actually use it. It has to exist before people can use it.
the city still suffers from a pedestrian hostile city environment... (the only exception is the "streetcar line" which is something most in the left do not want to talk about since it does not breed class-hatred towards cars) but purely in terms of making transit better, the city authorities are doing their best... they cannot change a really bad hand they were given but are making lemonade... respect!
@@LukeLamoreaux-eg7cy I was talking more about the further suburban part of the line.... downtown is alright, not the best (in Europe I would criticize the hell out of it) but for the US very passable. unless they wanted to make all those malls and stroads totally pedestrian (which I am not sure would work either, because the distances are so great... you get kind of urban deserts in some of the late soviet housing projects... not a good environment even if it is (mostly) car free) as it is, I would say a lot of steps were taken but as I say, an overall bad situation for the city to begin with
UVX is not actually the UTA's first BRT project. That was the 35M MAX (Magna Express) which provided an express overlay and some bus lanes along 3500 S, the most ridden route in the state. The route was killed during the pandemic as the fancy 3 door buses reached the end of their lives (allegedly a maintenance nightmare) and a lot of folks found it not much faster than the regular route. Interestingly, that's sometimes a complaint about the OGX too, but that's a discussion for another time. Additionally, 5600 W and the SL-DCC are both NOT BRT projects, but enhanced buses with fancy stops, maybe signal priority, and 15 minute frequencies. Both were downgraded TRAX -> BRT -> Enhanced bus, but they will both be providing a great service for the communities they serve. Also missing is the future TRAX line that will be serving the Point of the Mountain, a massive redevelopment site in Draper/Bluffdale that claims to be a "15 minute city" (its being spearheaded by suburban real estate developers/legislators who hate cities so we'll see).
UTA is really bad. Really went downhill since they put in Trax. You used to be able to get anywhere in the valley reasonably quickly. Now you're forced to take multiple buses and a trax just to get you anywhere. And a lot of places don't have bus access so if you don't have a car you job prospects are extremely limited. I wish people would stop talking UTA up so much. It's terrible compared to what it used to be.
In WHAT world is SLC a “small city.” Click-bait a$$ title. Very disappointing to click on this video thinking it’s going to be an inspirational story about a small-midsized city and got a metro area of over 1 million 🙄
We need the Rio Grande Plan in Salt Lake! I live in Idaho Falls ID to the north. I dream of a day I can have daily service from Idaho Falls to SLC by train, and the Rio Grande plan would probably make the more of a reality.
Took UTA once to get to the airport after a ski trip when our uber didn't show during a snowstorm. Have to say I was impressed with its cleanliness and reliability.
I’m presuming your hotel was in the city rather than at the ski resort then?
@@tylerkochman1007Our hotel was at a ski resort and we took a bus back (not sure if that bus was UTA) but if I remember correctly, we had to make a stop in the suburbs on the way to the airport so we got off early and then took a UTA bus and the green line to get back to the airport.
@@connorcoffee6183 gotcha
@@connorcoffee6183 The UTA runs buses up the canyons to the resorts in the winter, its actually a rlly nice system
I live in the Salt Lake area, and wanted to clarify a few things. 1. The BRT systems (UVX, OGX, etc) run with shorter headways at peak times, down to 6 minutes at times, and 2. The *reason* the FrontRunner does not have Sunday service is because much of the corridor is not double-tracked. UTA uses Sunday as its maintenance day for the tracks; when double tracking finally happens it will allow higher frequencies at peak times *and* allow UTA to close down sections of track for maintenance while the train is running on the other track.
There is also the problem of freight trains using the track overnight and on Sundays.
@@utahrailfan1946The Frontrunner has its own tracks, doesn't it?
@@indigo8592 Yes, but freight trains use them overnight in certain areas, as well as over most of the blue and red lines, to serve local commercial areas.
Salt Lake City is actually really really nice. Also it's amazing how much transit expansion they are doing being just a smallish city.
dont be misled by the population figure of 210k. THe entire Valley alone is 1.3 k.. then you tack on the north and south extensions of this solid built up core of 150_ miles, and you end up with ~80% of states 3.5 million population. The transit system runs nearly the entire lenght of that built up area with a commuter rail line of ~82 miles end to end.
The metropolitan area is approaching 3 million people; it's the 22nd largest consolidated metropolitan area in the US. Because Salt Lake City proper has a small population, people are sometimes misled into thinking the metropolitan area is very small. In short: it is not surprising it has an extensive mass transit system -- if any think the transit system is too small for its population.
What a great video and summary of the UTA and Utah. It was a pleasure meeting you when you visited! In my opinion, which is biased because I am working on the project, the best way to improve transit in SLC is to go away from Salt Lake Central and invest in the Rio Grande Plan. Getting transit to a centralized node in downtown will make it easier for people to access multiple modes of transit and micro transit. Additionally, Salt Lake Central Station is a quarter mile west of the Rio Grande Depot meaning that it is further away from what people want to go to downtown for. There is a reason why Salt Lake Central has half the ridership that North Temple Station does. Again great video, cannot wait for the next one.
Do give UTA credit for what SL Central was when it opened:c a hub for many buslines, FrontRunner, Several TRAX lines, and the AMTRAK and Greyhound stations. Greyhound being all but completely killed off by COVID, the station was shut down and not even the UTA has an office in there anymore. It's very sad.
I do second the Rio Grande Plan. Salt Lake Central is trash. 🗑️
The last time I saw it, it was just an Amshack.
Really well researched and presented video! I can't wait for the new downtown TRAX extensions and FrontRunner double tracking! And I think there's a decent chance of some electrification efforts relatively soon too!
Would have loved to see some talk of the Rio Grande Plan though! :)
Just you wait on that Rio Grande Part
Their 2050 plan even includes quadruple track sections for express trains, AND they will have the max allowed speed go up to 110MPH
TRAX ended up borrowing 29 Kinki Sharyo LRVs from Dallas to handle Olympic crowds! Worth mentioning for the 2002 Olympics, for those heading to Soldier Hollow (for biathlon, Nordic combined, and cross-country), the Heber Valley Railroad offered a special train service to Wasatch Mountain State Park on steam locomotives, and then horse-drawn sleighs took spectators to the venue! Arena station still features the Salt Lake 2002 countdown clock, in the shape of an arrowhead to commemorate the arrowheads found during the station's construction. The station was closed during the games because it was the Olympic plaza. Love when countries/cities use the Olympics and Paralympics as an excuse to construct big transport projects and create lasting change to benefit populations as part of the legacy of the games! For the 2022 Winter Olympics, China built the Beijing-Zhangjiakou HSR, the world's first fully driverless HSR, which connected the different venue clusters, connecting Beijing North with the venue clusters in Beijing's Yanqing District and Zhangjiakou. It also serves Badaling's popular section of the Great Wall as the underground Badaling Great Wall station, the world's deepest HSR station! For Beijing 2008, the first Chinese HSR line, Beijing-Tianjin, opened 7 days before the games. It reduced travel time between the two cities from 70 to 30 minutes. The Beijing subway also expanded, like Line 8 serving the Olympic Green, or the Capital Airport Express. The Tokaido Shinkansen between Osaka and Tokyo opened to coincide with the Tokyo 1964 Olympics, just days before the Games! And besides subway extensions like the Tozai Line, the Tokyo Monorail also opened, connecting Haneda Airport with Hamamatsuchō in the city center.
While NYC wasn't awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics, the failed bid still reshaped the area! Like the Barclays Center, Citi Field, the MetLife Stadium being built in NJ as a 50/50 partnership between the Giants and Jets after the Jets's stadium plan in Hudson Yards failed, Flushing Meadows still building an aquatics center (which would've been the water polo venue) in 2008, and the Hudson Yards redevelopment with the High Line, Javits Center renovations, the construction of multiple buildings and mixed-used developments and 34th Street-Hudson Yards station! For Nagano 1998 winter games, they opened the Nagano Shinkansen (now the Hokuriku Shinkansen), initially connecting Tokyo with Takasaki in Gunma and Nagano. Calgary's CTrain opened in May 1981, and after it won the 1988 Winter games in Sept 1981, the Northwest Line extension of the South Line was opened in Sept 1987 (this is the Red Line). They wanted it to serve McMahon Stadium at the University of Calgary, which hosted ceremonies. For Athens 2004, the modern Athens tram system opened in July (linking Athens city centre with the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic complex, Agios Kosmas for sailing, Kraiskaki Stadium for football, and the Hellinikon Olympic Complex). In addition, the Metro and suburban rail systems built new stations, like Metro's Line 3 extended to serve Athens Airport, or Irini and Neratziotissa on Line 1 serving the main Athens Olympic Sports Complex. Athens International opened in 2001 after a need for a bigger airport to replace Ellinikon International. Ellinikon became abandoned and the home of the "temporary" Hellinikon Olympic complex (which turned one of the hangars into an area and its runways as paths to the venues), said complex became abandoned, and it's all now turned into a big metropolitan park. For Vancouver 2010, the Skytrain had a massive expansion with the Canada Line, connecting Waterfront downtown with YVR Airport and Richmond. It also served the Olympic Village, which revitalized False Creek, and the Richmond Olympic Oval for speed skating.
I’m glad I moved here in Salt Lake City this summer. The city is amazing and glad you covered my new home. I am super hopeful for this city and the Rio grande plan
Commuter rail is great but I wish more systems were electrified across the US
It was a miracle to get the line built in the first place, and then extended to Provo also. YOu have 4 major nodes on that 82 mile line: Ogden, SLC, Murray, Provo. They are now working on double tracking entire length, THEN electification.
A lot of small cities used to have very good public transit. For example, the city of Bakersfield used to have the Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway, which bought streetcar service to the city (which was then a small town). In 1901 it was electrified and would reach peak ridership by the 1910s, with 5 streetcar lines, 3 bus lines, and 1.4 million of annual ridership in 1915. However, the rise of buses would soon cause the streetcar system to go into a slow decline, and the streetcar ended operation in 1942. Bakersfield has grown a lot since then (think about it, 12,727 residents in 1910, 29,252 in 1940, and 403,455 in 2020) but planning after WWII sadly is and overwhelmingly is car-centric suburbia. You can barely get anywhere in the city without driving, that is to say the least. And recent highway expansions would demolish some neighborhoods too! Although bus service still exists, it’s not good enough to compete with automobile travel. I don’t know if there is the general effort and awareness along the populace to actually care about these issues, but I’m a little pessimistic when it comes to this situation, especially compared to larger metro areas where ideas for walkability and expanded public transportation seem more popular than ever.
Pleasantly shocked, for a state where I didn't really think with their politics and transit would ever have this good of an overlap they are doing some really really great things here.
Utah's politics are weird, I would describe them as solidly moderate conservative. It will always be red, but not in the extreme way that many other red states are. I think this general attitude towards politics is what allows transit to flourish there
As a former Utah resident, I’d say it depends on the issue. With immigration, environmentalism, and transit, it’s often surprisingly progressive. But then with other social issues it’s as red as it gets. I’d call it a very conservative state that has unique exceptions due to its unique natural geography and religious history.
@@SFBWasTaken they're the old fashioned republicans before MAGA
@@AlexanderGBlackUtah's politics are weird because Mormons are weird and Mormons control Utah.
Mormons have no problems spending lots of money on public infrastructure like transit, normally a Democratic position, but while at the same time hate gays and gay rights.
Heck, even leaving the house for a pleasure trip on the Lord's Day is somewhat scandalous; hence the lack of Sunday transit service.
It is part of the Mormon ethos to take care of one’s body. Unhealthy air is not good for the body. Bicycles are good for the body too, with the right infrastructure.
Awesome video! I just moved to a building a block away from the S Line and it’s been fantastic. I only drive a few times a month anymore and I couldn’t be happier about that
Electrification and showing a SEPTA clip? Ah yes, SEPTA's trick to having a fully electrified regional rail network....simply shutting down the diesel services! SEPTA's former diesel services were phased out due to low ridership, a lack of funding outside the five-county area of SEPTA, withdrawal of Conrail as a contract carrier, aging equipment that needed replacement, and a lack of SEPTA-owned diesel maintenance infrastructure. The death knell for any resumption of diesel service was the Center City Commuter Connection, which lacks the necessary ventilation for exhaust-producing locomotives! I have a feeling you didn't include Philadelphia as a streetcar city on purpose to get Alan Fisher to comment here! Should've mentioned the Rio Grande plan! Under the Rio Grande plan, it reopens the Rio Grande depot for train service (for TRAX, Amtrak, and FrontRunner) and moves all downtown rail traffic into a cut-and-cover trench, eliminating grade crossings, yards, and overpasses. This opens 76 acres of industrial land for re-development. UVX is not actually the UTA's first BRT project. That was the 3500 South MAX between TRAX Millcreek station and Magna, which provided an express overlay and some bus lanes along 3500 S, the most ridden route in the state. The route was killed in 2022 during the pandemic as the fancy 3 door buses reached the end of their lives (allegedly a maintenance nightmare) and a lot of folks found it not much faster than the regular 35 route. Also, Utah's famously wide streets. have allowed UTA to build light rail and BRT in the center without having to widen the road or demolish buildings. They're wide not because of modern automobile planners, but rather, they were derived from former Mormon Governor of the Utah territory who stipulated that a team of oxen and their cart should be able to turn around in the street. In 1833, several years after founding the religion in upstate New York, Joseph Smith outlined how Mormon cities should look and feel. The plan drew from that era’s East Coast design principles, as well as the church’s desire for order. Smith called for a temple at the center of a grid and for large blocks that enabled family farming. When they finally entered Utah in 1847, Brigham Young applied Smith's principles to SLC, while adding the wide streets.
The 2002 Olympics was home to the tale of Aussie short-track speed skater Steven Bradbury, the first athlete from Australia and also the Southern Hemisphere to win a Winter Olympic gold medal. He first won a bronze with a relay team at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, but at the 2002 Olympics, an amazing thing happened. He won his heat convincingly in the 1,000 m, however, in the quarter-finals, Bradbury was allocated to the same race as the favorite Apolo Anton Ohno, and Marc Gagnon of Canada, the defending world champion. Only the top two finishers from each race would proceed to the semifinals. Bradbury finished third in his race and thought himself to be eliminated, but Gagnon was disqualified for obstructing another racer, allowing him to advance to the semi-finals. Bradbury's strategy from the semi-final onwards was to cruise behind his opponents and hope that they crashed, as he could not match their pace. In his semi-final race, Bradbury was in last place, well off the pace of the medal favorites. However, defending champion Kim Dong-sung of South Korea, multiple Olympic medalist Li Jiajun of China, and Mathieu Turcotte of Canada all crashed, paving the way for Bradbury to take first place and advancing him through to the final. In the final, Bradbury was again well off the pace when all four of his competitors (Ohno, Ahn Hyun-Soo, Li, and Turcotte) crashed out at the final corner while jostling for the gold medal. This allowed Bradbury, who was around 15 m behind with only 50 m to go, to avoid the pile-up and take the victory. After a period of delay, the judges upheld the result and did not order a re-race, confirming Bradbury's victory!
A very well-researched and enjoyable video. Well done!
Such a shame that despite hosting the Stadler plant, they REFUSE to acquire Stadler FLIRTS for PROPER regional rail service on Frontrunner. Absolutely unacceptable and a missed opportunity!
Omg I screaming at my computer about the same thing!! They LITERALLY have the most modern rolling stock manufacturer in the US in their backyard and do nothing to utilize it! SMH 😤
The Stadler plant was built after UTA had already purchased and was operating its current rolling stock (the MPXpress MP36PH-3Cs and Bombardier bi-level coaches). UTA's train sets were ordered in the early 00s before Stadler commenced North American assembly operations. Prior to opening in SLC, Stadler teamed with Bombardier to built GTWs for Camden/Trenton, New Jersey and Austin, TX. However they did not built FLIRTS in North America until the opening of their Utah facilities. Stadler was able to take advantage of extra capacity in UTA's Warm Springs shops (which services FrontRunner locomotives and coaches) to build their first orders before the new plant was online. In the future, UTA may elect to buy FLIRT DMUs for future FrontRunner service or if the line is electrified, KISS train sets similar to those built for Caltrain.
@@subdomhourz7946UTA is actively considering stadler trainsets for future replacements of both FrontRunner and TRAX trainsets. the TRAX contract is currently in negotiation. they haven’t announced whether Stadler or Siemens were selected tho.
Stadlet FLIRT Is a Little Too Small
SLC is a deceptive Metro area. It's a "small" city, with a population of 2.7M if you include Provo and Ogden. Perfect for rail transit, as it's ALL on a N-S line, with very little E-W development.
in a funny way, the geography makes it so only N-S makes sense. A blessing in disguise
I just moved to Murray, my apartment is walking distance from a UTA train station. It is very cool to be able to get downtown or even to Ogden without needing to deal with traffic. That said the lack of service on Sundays really makes it impractical for me. Also the price of $170 for a monthly pass is way too high. I do not rely on it for daily transportation for those reasons.
thats mormonism for you lol. I think they do some nice stuff, but they also have their quirks like this.
We need the Rio Grande Plan in Salt Lake! I live in Idaho Falls ID to the north. I dream of a day I can have daily service from Idaho Falls to SLC by train, and the Rio Grande plan would probably make the more of a reality.
Hope you have written your elected officials In Idaho and are considering writing the federal officials.
I’m very excited for the Rio Grande Station proposed project with a “train box” to bring Rail Services closer to downtown and underground.
Yes yes yes! Hope you have written your elected officials about it.
As someone who lived in the SLC area for a while, I’d add that the physical geography plays a huge role in making transit successful. The 2 lakes in the west plus mountains in the east confine any sprawl. So a single north - south commuter line is surprisingly accessible to almost everyone in the 3 metros (Ogden, SLC, Provo).
Yeah. The Frontrunner is such an important spine thanks to this and easily has the potential for really strong service. Possibly even every 10 or every 7 minutes in the future if its fully double tracked, electrified, and grade separated. Effectively becoming an express metro line.
I didn't hear a mention of the Rio Grande Plan which would place the railroad tracks through downtown underground and revitalize the old Rio Grande Railway passenger depot. Bonus is the existing central station can be redeveloped for shops, offices, apartments and parks.
That's probably because it's still a concept. It's gaining traction, but it has no funding and no approvals from any agencies yet. Hopefully it will be, but it's still very much in the conceptual stage.
grew up all my childhood in Salt Lake City. they have done pretty well to build some key transit lines. if they can get the Rio Grande Plan through to reclaim that historic station for commuter rail, it would be gamechanging for transit throughout the Wasatch Front
Interestingly, many of UTA's rail stations originally were just kind of desolate park and rides. Over the years, more and more developments were being built next to these stations. Now, with the passage of HB462 in 2022 all cities with a rail or BRT station are required under state law to develop a Station Area Plan (SAP) and update their zoning and general plans accordingly. This seems to have led directly to a huge increase in density next to many stations, which will hopefully drive additional ridership and funding opportunities.
Thank you for shining a light on our little city's great transit system!
Thank you for presenting this highly informative video. If only the powers that run FDOT would take the time to learn from UTA's example. In any case, I look forward to seeing your upcoming video on the S-Line.
Visited SLC about once approx. 30 years ago. As I recall, a very clean city. Don't recall any mass transit at that time but again, I wasn't really interested in mass transit at that time, so I may have overlooked what the city offered in that area. SLC mad e a pretty decent impression to me. A pretty place actually.
Forgot Flex routes, they can deviate up to 3/4 mile from the route if called in advance.
Also, the extension to Brigham City will be built from scratch, just like the rest of the FrontRunner system.
I've heard people say that SLC has the best commuter rail system of any smaller US metro area. I'm not which system would win in a head-to-head comparison, but SLC's system is definitely the Front Runner.
Utahan here, Im so glad to see our transit network being presented in such a positive light! It really does have a lot going for it. Hopefully we can continue to get the investment it needs to be successful! Also, would love to hear your thoughts about the rio grande plan!
Btw, salt lake is not a southwestern city lol. It has its own region, along with Denver and Boise called the Intermountain West
Then there’s the Rio Grande plan to move Salt Lake Central Station’s operations to the old Union Pacific Rio Grande station.
To the Old Rio Grande Depot. The Union Pacific Depot is another building
@@FrederickJenny, The Rio Grande Railroad was bought out by Union Pacific ages ago. So technically, how I referred the Rio Grande Depot as is still correct.
Thanks for this interesting video!
I've never been to SLC but I've made a video about it's LRT in comparison with the French one, so this video was twice as interesting for me.
It would be great if the green line went out to Magna.
Great Video!!!
Thanks for helping with it!
Nice video, couple of quick pronunciation tips, it's pronounced
Weber:Wee-bur
Orem:Oar-um (Oh hey, you got it! Nice job).
Also if you want another facet of Utah transit to look into, go check out the Rio Grande Plan. It's a project that was spearheaded, developed, and championed by private citizens who came up with a neat idea to a problem they saw. The gist is moving the Salt Lake Central station a few blocks east, closer to downtown, to make use of the old Rio Grande station and turn it into a Denver Union Station type central hub. It has a lot of other components, but it's gaining momentum and feels relevant to this topic.
I love SLC, I'd never live there because of the air quality. I'm not sure how useful the transit systems are for locals, but for tourists, they go EVERYWHERE you'd want to go. I love when I get to go to a city where I don't touch my car the entire time I'm there.
its a mountain city, i think the air quality isnt too bad during the winter. Its not LA or Beijing
@@lalakerspro Have you been there in the winter??? It legit gets really bad.
As a local, who also happens to be in a wheelchair, the transit system is mostly good. However, traveling from the core of the city to the more southern or western parts can be very difficult.
Exceptional video! As a lifelong Utahn, do non-Utahns consider SLC to be part of the southwest??
No one should consider SLC the southwest, it isnt. It is rocky mountain
st. george is the southwest. slc is definitely a rocky mountain city. just search up "rocky mountain cities"
I've been living in SLC for over twenty years, but I grew up outside of the state. It's not at all southwest, though. It's either just west, or northwest.
Salt Lake City is on exactly the same latitude as New York City. So if Salt Lake City is in the southwest, then New York is in the southeast.
I know a lot of other things would have to fall into place for this to happen but I feel like the frontrunner line would be another (along with caltrain) perfect line to fully double track and electrify simply because the Salt Lake region is so perfectly linear along its corridor it could serve a lot of people very well! Also the Stadler Kiss units wouldn’t have to travel very far haha
caltrain is already fully electrified and doubletracked from san jose to sf
You did finally pronounce Orem right, but you never got Weber correct lol. You should have talked about the Rio Grande Plan. You should do a video on that in the future.
I was going to say, it’s a great video, but Weber is pronounced Weeber.
Can't believe it took me so much scrolling to find someone calling out the Weber pronunciation 😂
It would be amazing to see a train from the city to the ski resorts in the cottonwood canyon area for the Olympics. While the ski buses are great in concept, not having a designated right of way just makes the buses stuck in traffic with everyone else. The gondola they've been talking about is an absolute joke.
I’ve never been to SLC, but now i want to. Only after they’ve added Sunday service to the Front Runner and other services, though. That’s so crazy that you can’t take a weekend trip in between cities like Odgen and SLC via Front Runner if you want to return on Sunday!
Especially makes it a pain if you want to get in and out of the airport from anywhere not served by TRAX on Sundays
Great video! SLC really picked up transit momentum in the 20-teens. What made me covet the city planning, was the vital nugget that the city found mass transit and city-wide transit *beneficial* and good for policy!
Transit improvements, the SLC report sounds like many other US cities -- improve timetables, frequency of operations. Nice to see all the bikes aboard Frontrunner! 🏔
Important note: SLC is ***NOT** in any sense a "southwestern city". It is a Rocky Mountain city. Vegas, PHX, Tucson, ALBQ, El Paso - THOSE are the Southwestern Cities
@@ZakhadWOW it’s a very southwest city
@@climateandtransit As a lifelong resident, I have to say, it really isn't. The only thing southwest about Salt Lake City is the hot summers, which still pale in comparison to real southwestern cities. We have more in common with Boise and Denver than we do Las Vegas or Phoenix.
@@bobrulz As a resident of over twenty years, I absolutely agree with it not being southwest. In fact, the NBA considers it northwest. I also tend to agree with that statement.
@@climateandtransit With all due respect, it's an intermountain western city. The proof is in the architectural vernacular, the snow, and the mediocre (at best) Mexican cuisine.
ABQ, not ALBQ
I live in central Utah and travel to Provo and Salt Lake from time to time. I question the demand for radical expansion of Sunday service on UTA, since whenever I happen to cruise through on Sunday-usually to and from SLC Airport-I’m almost alone on the freeways. (Before anyone disagrees, you must know that I learned how to drive in the Los Angeles area, where congestion was pretty much the same 7 days a week.) Granted, I don’t spend a lot of time in Salt Lake, so I may be missing something. But if UTA is going to expand Sunday service, that’s a good thing-kudos to UTA for looking ahead. By way of comparison, it took years to get Metrolink in Southern California to expand Sunday service beyond the San Bernardino Line, even when there was clearly a need. And MTA bus service is a joke today compared to what was operated by the old SCRTD back in the 1970’s and ‘80’s.
notices pronouncing orem wrong but confindently pronounces weber wrong 😂 (wee-ber not web-er)
its crazy how much transit this state has, especially in a red state. I wish we would take notes in Texas
This is a great break down. Would love to see something similar in the twin cities.
I know this is oddly specific but I wish our commuter rail had better ridership and I think two keys to achieve this would be :
1) Frequency. 4 trains a day does not cut it.
2) I wish it extended further along the Empire Builder tracks to Red Wing with additional stops at Treasure Island (at the Casino for events), Hastings (a vacant station just sits there), somewhere in Cottage Grove and of coarse both down towns (maybe somewhere in the midway or a spur to MSP to offer one seat rides. Or is that too greedy?
Well done!
1:34 missed Philly
I’m thoroughly impressed by the modal variety in this sun belt city. Bus, BRT, streetcar, light rail, commuter rail, AND Amtrak is quite impressive
SLC isn't really sunbelt, though.
The light rail coverage is pretty good. Still quite a few parking moats around many stations, especially along the southern trunk and southern red line. The Front Runner is especially good commuter rail service, they just need Sunday service like yesterday. Luckily all the above can be fixed.
sunday service has nothing to do with the system itself. You can probably guess why there isnt sunday service lol
@@lalakersprooh I agree, hence saying the Frontrunner is especially good. And yes, Sunday service would be a very easy fix.
Good progress and if they finally get a baseball team and the transit goes to the baseball stadium, then it will become my summer retreat.
The blue line extension to Lehi and eventually to Orem was changed to BRT instead
I’m REALLY excited for frontrunner to expand southwards where I live.
I also hope they expand more brt in Orem and American fork. I’d like to see a route on state street.
Orem state street needs to be completely redone. There WERE plans for that, but the newer administration threw it out. It’s a shame
As someone who rode FrontRunner and sometimes Trax to work from 2013-2020, the UTA network was pretty good. In my opinion, and I have heard UTA officials say this before, the FrontRunner is not double-tracked, which can mean that if one train has a problem or breaks down, the whole network of trains breaks down. I hope UTA gets the funding to fix the double tracking so FrontRunner can become more reliable. Small, nitpicky thing, but if you cover UTA again, please learn to say Weber and Orem the way they are pronounced in Utah. I liked the video overall, but when you said those names, I cringed.
'Weh-ber' and "Oh-rehm" is a very cursed pronunciation haha. We pronounce it "Wee-bur" and "Oar-em" (lmao 12:46)
Nice video otherwise!
I knew I wasn't the only one...
About the BRT into Davis County, I believe originally the proposal was for light rail, but of course the residents would never let that happen. They don’t want the ‘undesirables’ coming into their communities 😒
Rio Grande Plan!
The 2030 Olympic funding is going to help out so much. I live right next to the s-line
*2034
As someone that lives and works in an East-West direction in SLC. Transit options are basically nonexistent. There has been no major expansion to the network in a long time. And now that the Olympics are coming they've finally decided to make these "improvements".
I know from the outside looking in, it looks like they are doing good work but as a local it's slow work to a service that is currently pretty useless to a lot of the people that live here.
Right? Unless I want to go to Valley Fair Mall, there's very few options
@@PixelatedH2O yeah and for me. The express bus that goes to my neighborhood is so limited that I would be able to get to work but not home because it doesn't run past 6. People work later than 6!
I hope there is a bus service from Salt Lake City to Moab, UT, Las Vegas, Boise, ID, and maybe some cities in WY.
Bus service outside the metro area will require a service like Greyhound
you missed the 2 bus improvements, new stations and bus lanes already with 5-9 min between buses in 5 yr plans (packed with college students)
Would a 15 minutes schedule not justify the electrification of the “FronttRunner” ?
Imagine the gain in air quality during inversions in winter time !
And other measures could be taken to encourage people to take the public transport - like,if the air pollution is too bad - offer transit for free…
I prefer UTA to driving in Salt Lake City proper, but the transit on the south side of the valley really needs to improve
East-West travel needs work too.
Agreed. Service between Murray and Draper needs a major upgrade.
@@PixelatedH2O agree. They need a bus going down state street that whole route
2:24 is pronounced WEE BER not WEB ER
every time he says weber like that just a little bit of me dies
I feel you. Web-burr instead of Wee-bur
Not how you should pronounce Orem and Weber. Baby steps I suppose, after those we can work on Mantua, Tooele and Hurricane.
Kinda crazy to not include philly on the "cities that kept streetcars" list
Intentional Philly erasure
As an hardcore New Yorker who doesn’t drive I’ve gotten the opportunity to visit PHX last year and did some hiking and sightseeing throughout the city. I only used their light rail and public buses. It did the job for me. Is SLC similar to PHX where I can just utilize their light rail and buses for hikes just outside their city limits ? Also something PHX valley metro has that’s similar to SLC light rail is that you guys have a 1 seat direct rail access from your downtown to your INTL airport. Us
New Yorkers don’t have that despite our extremely vast subway network. You have to take a bus from LGA and for JFK you to pay a separate air train fare from the airport at jfk to the subway system. The (A) and (J) lines don’t directly connect to ground transportation like the light rail does at PHX sky harbor intl airport.
SLC is significantly better for transit especially for people visiting and wanting to engage in outdoor recreational activity.
@@climateandtransit this is great to know ! Thanks 👍🏼
The trax and frontrunner are actually amazing services, the buses very much lack though. I love taking the trax downtown to not worry about traffic or parking. Its actually faster to take it than drive during rush hour
If only Colorado could get it together
If were just listening, I’d almost think you were talking about Denver. But without a vision for rail, & still waiting for the starter line of regional rail to be approved in a couple more years.
Except UTA actually has TOD around stations, and is expanding the network still. Unlink RTD who is reducing service and mostly runs to empty park and rides.
Maybe we have different definitions of “small city”. MSA>1M and CSA>2.5M plus two major sports teams is a major city in my book
SLC doesn’t crack the top 50 biggest cities or the top 25 metro areas.
@@climateandtransitfair enough but it’s a top 25 CSA which is the entire Wasatch front region. Provo and Ogden are considered separate MSAs so the SLC metro area is kind of deflated. Idk it’s all how you look at it
@@climateandtransitstill not a “small city” Still a clickbaity title. Disappointing and misleading to click on a video thinking it’s going to be an inspirational story about a small city making outsized investments in transit just to see yet another mid-large city with a metro population of >1million doing things that they SHOULD be able to do.
SLC only has 200k population
@@hugomilne-home8310 city limits mean literally nothing when talking about how many people live in a place or region
UTAHHH 😮
Somebody needs to tell Minneapolis the best way to make commuter rail useless is to only make it for commuters.
commuter rails are usually meant for commuters. UTA isnt commuter rail to me, its "local rail" ( a term i completely made up to differentiate from commuter rail)
While I'd been there before, my first "real" visit to SLC was in the summer of 2003. While I was initially HORRIFIED by the conversion of the beautiful Union Station to a Virgin Megastore, I had to admit that it was certainly a MUCH better option than demolition, and I was quite impressed by the redevelopment of its former railyard to The Gateway. The "" eyeballs painted on the streets at crosswalks were borderline adorable. I found an affordable motel merely two blocks from a TRAX station, bought a UTA day pass, and explored a surprisingly large swath of the city via TRAX. The trains were clean, safe, and frequent. Would visit again. Would recommend to a friend.
Dude… do NOT run the orange line to the salt lake central. 400w alignment so you don’t back tracks
It just needs more Sunday service and then it’s perfect
Salt Lake City is not a "southwestern" city. It is exactly the same latitude as New York City.
Can you do VRE (DC Southern Commuter Rail) Video? 🚈
For only $2.50 I can get from the airport to my destination. No one has to come to the airport to pick me up or drop me off .
"Yes Salt Lake City is a Southwestern city, cope and cry about it"
In case anyone missed the 1 frame
How can it be in the northwester quadrant of the lower 48 and yet be in the southwest?
@@johntalbot134 There was a 1 frame text that the guy put in the video.
If you're arguing with me and not him, you clearly missed it.
Add Salt Lake City to: ‘places I’d be willing to take a job and live in the future.’
The one thing They can do is extend the S-line to Park City sometime in the next 8 years.
I would probably like to see multiple S-line type lines going to places like the University of Utah, the Zoo, the Avenues, Millcreek and Holladay. Park City would probably be best served by an east west commuter train running in the I-80 median connecting Downtown and the airport.
@@parkersackewitz6266 I was thinking more along the line of RR ROW(D. & R.G.W.) useage.
2:24 It's pronounced Weeber.
I used to live in Salt Lake and there is one bit of UTA history that you missed. UVX and OGX weren't their first BRT lines. The first was the MAX, an upgrade on the route 35, it follows most of what is still to this day route 35's routing, with a short section of dedicated center running lanes along 3500 South through West Valley City. I haven't lived in Salt Lake for a little over a decade now, but I do still go back occasionally to visit. I don't know when MAX was discontinued, other than it was a decent amount of time before UVX even began construction. At least on Google Maps you can still see a few sections of the dedicated lanes that haven't been removed between 2700 West and Bangerter Highway.
We should only call a public transit system good, if it could replace at least 90 percent of car trips, sadly UTA can't.
If your criterion for “good” is that high then what is “great”?
@@MiguelX413 the key word in my comment is COULD. I don't mean a system has to reduce traffic by 90 percent, just that coverage should be high enough that 90 percent of car trips could be replaced by taking the train. A great system would be a system where that number is 100 percent of car trips could be replace by train. Even if not everyone chose to ride the train. It is about having the option, not about the number of people who actually use it.
It has to exist before people can use it.
the city still suffers from a pedestrian hostile city environment... (the only exception is the "streetcar line" which is something most in the left do not want to talk about since it does not breed class-hatred towards cars)
but purely in terms of making transit better, the city authorities are doing their best... they cannot change a really bad hand they were given but are making lemonade... respect!
they are actually planning on making slc main street completely car free before the olympics
@@LukeLamoreaux-eg7cy I was talking more about the further suburban part of the line.... downtown is alright, not the best (in Europe I would criticize the hell out of it) but for the US very passable.
unless they wanted to make all those malls and stroads totally pedestrian (which I am not sure would work either, because the distances are so great... you get kind of urban deserts in some of the late soviet housing projects... not a good environment even if it is (mostly) car free)
as it is, I would say a lot of steps were taken but as I say, an overall bad situation for the city to begin with
Weber is typically pronounced with a long e. It's wEEber.
RIO GRANDDE PLAN
1:35 Philadelphia?
✌🏾
I didn’t know our transit network was considered that good… I guess the country in general kinda sucks at transit
You ever ridden on it?
Thripled 😂
UVX is not actually the UTA's first BRT project. That was the 35M MAX (Magna Express) which provided an express overlay and some bus lanes along 3500 S, the most ridden route in the state. The route was killed during the pandemic as the fancy 3 door buses reached the end of their lives (allegedly a maintenance nightmare) and a lot of folks found it not much faster than the regular route. Interestingly, that's sometimes a complaint about the OGX too, but that's a discussion for another time.
Additionally, 5600 W and the SL-DCC are both NOT BRT projects, but enhanced buses with fancy stops, maybe signal priority, and 15 minute frequencies. Both were downgraded TRAX -> BRT -> Enhanced bus, but they will both be providing a great service for the communities they serve.
Also missing is the future TRAX line that will be serving the Point of the Mountain, a massive redevelopment site in Draper/Bluffdale that claims to be a "15 minute city" (its being spearheaded by suburban real estate developers/legislators who hate cities so we'll see).
UTA is really bad. Really went downhill since they put in Trax. You used to be able to get anywhere in the valley reasonably quickly. Now you're forced to take multiple buses and a trax just to get you anywhere. And a lot of places don't have bus access so if you don't have a car you job prospects are extremely limited. I wish people would stop talking UTA up so much. It's terrible compared to what it used to be.
In WHAT world is SLC a “small city.” Click-bait a$$ title.
Very disappointing to click on this video thinking it’s going to be an inspirational story about a small-midsized city and got a metro area of over 1 million 🙄
Happy to support you and happy to continue advocating for transit in my town. 🫶
We need the Rio Grande Plan in Salt Lake! I live in Idaho Falls ID to the north. I dream of a day I can have daily service from Idaho Falls to SLC by train, and the Rio Grande plan would probably make the more of a reality.