By Isabella Bravo, Staff Writer

When gas prices peaked, so did the number of riders on the University TRAX line. Since then, however, the percentage of U commuters who use mass transit has returned to about 33 percent, where it has remained for the past three years.

But Utah Transit Authority General Manager John Inglish said expansion of the public transit network might bring those riders back.

Norm Chambers, assistant vice president of U Auxiliary Services, said an additional 1,000 U commuters started riding TRAX and buses when gas prices spiked in 2008.

“There were a lot of people about to make that permanent conversion to public transit that didn’t (when the price of gas declined),” he said.

During Fall Semester, the percentage of U commuters using public transportation jumped to 36 percent.

“Since gas prices have dropped we’ve noticed that we’re back in the range of 33 percent,” Chambers said.

But Chambers said UTA has promised to double TRAX service up to the U within the next four to six years.

Inglish said more people are riding the express buses to and from the U with technology that allows the buses to have more green lights along the way.

“Soon, we’ll have lines going out throughout the valley,” he said. “The faster, the more rideable our system is the more people will ride it. We can make that system.”

Keith Bartholomew, a professor of city and metropolitan planning who sits on the UTA Board of Trustees, an oversight committee appointed by local government to create UTA’s policy, said he shares Inglish’s excitement for the future of public transportation in the Salt Lake Valley. Bartholomew said public transportation has grown significantly since UTA’s establishment 30 years ago.

Inglish plans to expand UTA’s service extensively in the next six years to resemble European transportation systems. On Wednesday night, Inglish showed several transit systems from European cities of sizes comparable to Salt Lake City as a part of the U Office of Sustainability’s conversation series, “Commuting Without Cars.”

Inglish modeled the future TRAX system of seven intersecting rail lines that are between five and 15 miles long after similar networks in Lisbon, Portugal; Milan, Italy; Munich, Germany; and Prague, Czech Republic, which all have systems of four and six rail lines that are four to 15 miles long. Inglish plans for a more extensive system with more bus service and additional amenities scheduled for completion in 2030.

With public support, Inglish would like to speed the process along. He is looking at adding bicycle rentals, more hybrid-electric buses and short-term car-sharing programs to UTA’s list of services in the next two to three years.

“I don’t think we have until 2030,” he said.

Inglish also said the electronic fare system, also called the “tap on, tap off” program, is the beginning of a distance-based fare system, which Inglish hopes will allow UTA to decrease its dependence on sales taxes from the Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties. The UTA Board of Trustees approved the series of fare increases that began in the summer of 2006 and will finish with a 25-cent increase on April 1.

However, Inglish said that even with the fare increases and the dramatic increase in numbers of riders when gas prices mounted last year, the revenue generated by fare still did not cover maintenance of the system.

Inglish anticipates that distance-based fares and private businesses leasing space on UTA stations will decrease the percentage of UTA’s funds that come from taxes.

“We would like to see 40 to 60 percent based on fare and transit-oriented development,” he said.

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Lennie Mahler

While TRAX ridership has leveled off, UTA plans to expand its availability to Utah students.

Lucas Isley

John Inglish, General Manager of UTA, compared UTA?s future plans to that of several European cities public transit systems Wednesday night. In this slide John showed UTAs first tracks train to arrive on the U’s campus.