The Utah Transit Authority for the most part does a good job in providing excellent service for its passengers. I have used several other transit authority services in cities such as Washington, DC, Baltimore, MD, Los Angeles, CA, Dallas, TX, New York, NY, Atlanta, GA, Birmingham, AL, and Columbus, GA. I have traveled to the above cities and used their transit services while there. I have to say that the Utah Transit Authority, as for as service and efficiency, transcends above them all. Of course, like people, all businesses have strong points and they have their weak points.
UTA is very strong in being absolute "customer driven" in terms of providing service. Where they seem to fall short is not seeking the input from passengers prior to change dates. A UTA spokesman made a comment in the Standard Examiner reiterating the weaknesses or failure to communicate. UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter stated in the paper that they decided not to have hearings on the changes because they were minor.
Carpenter's attitude resonates how UTA chooses to operate. They sit in their corporate offices on 700 West, in Salt Lake, desperately trying to make their budget work. In this bad economy, businesses need to make better decisions. UTA should have gotten input from commuters before deciding to expand the Front Runner to Provo. If the northern line of Front Runner was already suffering financially, why add a southern line? Now they want to cut the 472 express to force people to ride the train.
Sad is the reality that UTA is going to lose some of those 472 passengers for good. Some say they will not ride that Front Runner because it is not as convenient as the route 472. Most passengers live inward and away from the Front Runner. The Front Runner does not go into Layton Hills Mall, Riverdale Park & Ride, and Kaysville Park & Ride. The Front Runner is more expensive, and it drops people off at Salt Lake Central. UTA is risking losing these faithful customers to the vehicle. The 472 is valuable to me because I live on Weber State campus. I walk a very short walk to 42nd and Harrison, in Ogden, in front of Smith's. I catch the 473 at 4:15 AM all the way to SLC. Once I arrive at 100 South & State, I board the 472 to go to 500 South and 200 West.
Another sad reality is that UTA does not always listen to its customers, and specifically, the needs of the passengers before a change date. Some passengers feel that the Authority has already made up its mind before holding public hearings. They feel the public hearings is to save face with the FTA (the Federal Transit Agency). Remember the Trax Sandy/Arena line debacle? Only when the customers screamed long and hard forcing UTA to change the route, when that could have been avoided in the first plac by a simple survey. They changed the Trax route on November 2, 2009, a full month before the change date. In August, they made unfruitful decisions to add the 476 and 474 when, in reality, the demographics did not warrant adding such services. Many UTA employees state they did that at the request of the the Front Runner operations supervisors.
Does it make sense to listen to people who are taking your money rather than the ones who are making you money, namely the passengers? UTA should call a special meeting specifically for the passengers who ride the 472 and discuss amicable ways how to make money and save their current 472 customers. In this bad economy, most corporations are seeking ways to keep its customers. UTA, by its bad decisions, are running customers away.
Now that UTA is in a another budget crunch and squeeze, what can they do to make money or save money in this bad economy? One of the things they can do is to show "positive self regard" to the current customers, and seek ways to make more money from their current passenger base. In what ways can they do this? In areas outside of Salt Lake, why not sell the $5.00 bus passes on the bus, and save money for people riding all day. That is an additional $90.00 per passenger per month if the passenger decides to purchase the $5.00 day pass. Volunteers could offer the all day pass to passengers without handling any money. Once the money is deposited into the fare box, the customer will pick up its ticket from a volunteer on high traffic routes. Drivers will offer them on lower traffic routes.
Business majors and other college students could offer valuable free services to the transit authority. One way business majors could help is to develop a brochure instructing passengers how to non verbally communicate with UTA drivers when they are in multiple bus lines areas. The brochure would demonstrate to the passenger hand signals or other body languages indicating that they do not want that particular bus. Furthermore, this method would prove to passengers that they are important to UTA's operations, and that the driver will appreciate a gesture before pulling over for them.
Fraud is another area in which UTA is losing perhaps millions of dollars a year. The train stations do not have a patrol system to discourage fraud. The UTA police do not ride each and every train asking for tickets. One way that college students can help UTA is coming up with a volunteer based system getting volunteers to work in shifts on the platforms making sure each passenger have a ticket. Platform announcements could be made warning customers that to get on the train without a ticket is fraud, and that their police- issued tickets could be "doubled" after such announcements are made. Most dishonest persons, regardless of their sociological status, would not take that chance of being ticketed.
UTA, if they do not already, should encourage large church groups and other travelers to let them know in advance of large crowds rushing the Front Runner on Saturdays. The train yard crew would know to hook up 3 cars on that day rather than standard 2 car system on Saturdays. Volunteers could be on hand at the stations to make sure each and every person boarding the train has their tickets. I have noticed large groups getting on the train without tickets due to the fact the train is pulling off. I have also noticed that when they got to Salt Lake Central, most boarded Trax without purchasing their tickets.
Thousands of dollars are lost in one day because the authority continues its use of the "honor" system. Billy Joel, in a song, stated that "honesty" is such a lonely word, and that everyone is so "untrue". UTA need those lost revenues, and our college volunteers can assist in capturing lost revenues. Only time and humility will tell if the transit authority takes up Weber State college students' willingness to help make more money or prevent fraudulent use of trains.
