The recent editorial about the debate on whether to provide a ground level airport TRAX station, or a “world class” elevated station for a “mere” $50 million more is missing a major point about the TRAX airport service.
As you know, the system consists of a main spine (the Blue Line) and two feeder lines (Red and Green lines). Logic from a planning point of view would suggest that the airport line would be the Blue Line, with the others feeding into it in order to serve the largest populace possible most conveniently. However, it was somehow decided that the main airport line would be the Green Line, forcing the majority of users to disembark and transfer all their baggage from the other two lines and then board the Green Line.
Does this sound “world class”? I travel by plane on average about five times a year. Since I have an annual transit pass, each time I book flights I hope that I will be able to use the system to get to the airport. So far over the last 10 years, I have not been able to do this because inevitably one of the legs of my flights, either coming or going, falls outside the service schedule currently offered. If UTA and the City Council truly want to make the TRAX system world class instead of Third World, they would take that $50 million and put it toward expanding the run times of TRAX and Front Runner (those one-hour waits during off peak are a total nuisance), and running more bus routes and expanded bus schedules instead.
Wayne Belka, Midvale