The Utah Transit Authority or the "UTA" has been the premier and the only source of public transportation in the Salt Lake City, Utah, and many other counties in the state Utah. But they are limiting their customer’s and the public’s use of their services by not offering a full weekend and later evening service in several of the counties that would use them most, such as Utah and Weber Counties . So I’m petitioning for UTA to offer their customers a full weekend and later evening service schedule for their Trax, Frontrunner, and Bus lines.  

As a college student at Brigham Young University in Provo, I juggle several responsibilities from school, work, church and family. Often those responsibilities require travelling to and from Salt Lake City, and other parts of Utah to see my family and experience what Utah as a whole has to offer a student studying in this metropolitan area. But I, and many others, don’t have an income that can support such travelling when done in a car. Especially when driving a car usually requires up to, if not more than, forty dollars to fill up a tank of gas.  Like many in Utah County, I was thrilled when UTA opened their Frontrunner Line all the way down to Provo. But much to my dismay they do not run on Sundays and have a shorter service time in the evenings. I believe that UTA is truly limiting mine and others ability to travel at a cost effective and environmentally friendly way.

When looking at UTA’s Mission Statement  they say that, “Utah Transit Authority strengthens and connects communities enabling individuals to pursue a fuller life with greater ease and convenience by leading through partnering, planning, and wise investment of physical, economic, and human resources." And that their vision for their company is to “Provide an integrated system of innovative, accessible and efficient public transportation services that contribute to increased access to opportunities and a healthy environment for all people of the Wasatch region.”  But by not offering the full weekend and later evening service schedule they are making it harder for people to connect and all but forcing them to drive their commute instead of riding public transit. All of that driving leads to a more polluted air supply in the valleys, especially the Salt Lake valley, and several car collisions on the freeways. As those of us who live here know that this amount of air pollution causes several health concerns, like those of asthma. Then to add on top of that the number of car accidents that happen daily on the freeways lead to several being injured.  As I see it, UTA is not doing everything within their power to make sure that their mission and vision for their company is met. If they were, they would be offering a full service on the weekend and in the evenings, to ensure that we all can take the healthier and safer way to commute.

If UTA was to offer a fuller service schedule throughout the week, I believe the public would take full advantage of the service. After all we all have to travel, whether to and from the airport, to see the sights at Temple Square, go to the next big game and especially, to see the ones we loves in a safer, healthier and inexpensive way.  Please sign my petition to get UTA to offer a full weekend and later evening service schedule for their Trax, Frontrunner and Bus lines.