I love TRAX, but I'm not in love with TRAX at point of the Mountain. I'd love to see Utah County get light rail, and it seems insane that the two might not connect, but.....Eastern draper is a wasteland of single family homes. There is a rail corridor, but no ridership.
The Utah Legislature (made up of developers) would really like to get UTA to provide service to the Prison site, so they can sell it to the Silicon Slopes tech people. (Who, coming from California, really understand the value of proximity to rapid transit).
That said, the western alignment is less cost-effective, per new system rider:
East - $739 million - 33,000 a day = $22k/rider
West - $1200 million - 44,700 a day = $25k/rider
Been having a long series of conversations on Twitter with 'A Bus Rider' (@sp_redelectric), who has been pretty persuasive in articulating the ways in which Portland has overbuilt its rail network: extending light rail to quasi-rural areas, and then building a truly appalling failure of a commuter rail (WES).
When I think of where I want TRAX to go, it's not to Utah County (FrontRunner has been fine). And the Provo-Orem BRT (UVX) has been done well, so I can't claim Utah County can't do BRT. They have BRT to a high standard (not the crap BRT of the Salt Lake County MAX). So....does Utah County really need light rail? The rail corridor they have isn't exactly central to anything. Might the be better off with an electrified FrontRunner (as regional rail) and a bunch of local bus?
No comments:
Post a Comment
And your thoughts on the matter?