History of UTA - Salt Lake's Awesome Rail: Episode 6

The Salt Lake Valley had a long history of streetcars. Now, we have the wonderful Utah Transit Authority, providing bus service since 1970 and rail since 1999! Join us for a wild tour of ancient and recent history, exciting rail expansions, and some coverage of future plans! Thanks to our patron Mike Christensen for supporting the show! Links and stuffs Merch:https://shop.trlpod.com/ Twitter:@TheRedLine_pod YouTube channel:The Red Line Podcast Spotify:The Red Line Podcast Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/theredlinepodcasters Email:[email protected] Website:https://www.trlpod.com/ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:37 We sing the theme song a cappella 01:05 The OG Utah streetcars [1] [3] [5] 01:05 1872: Brigham Young & the Salt Lake City Railroad Co. 02:08 1889: Electrification![2] 02:44 Competition from the Rapid Transit Company 03:22 1893: Over 73 miles of track[4] 04:15 1901: Alfred W. McCune the traction magnate[6] 04:55 Expansion, 1914: The Utah Light and Traction Company, over 38 MILLION paying passengers[7] 05:41 The golden age of trolleys (> 140 mi. of track!), then the downfall 06:13 Go watchHow the Car Destroyed America: Episode 1 for the whole story 06:50 1928: Trolleybus! 08:12 Still doin' alright: 15 million riders a year (1935-1940) 08:35 1939: Forced split of trolley & bus lines 09:49 World War II, ridership drops, service cuts 11:01 The failure of privately-owned transit in Salt Lake City 11:22If Trolley Cars Could Talk 11:38 Salt Lake City lines failed 12:11 1970: Utah Transit Authority was created 12:49 UTA's early start: old buses, $1.87 fare [8] [9] [10] 13:40 Brief mention ofThe Case for Free Transit: Episode 4 13:57 Booze money then sales tax money 14:23 1974: Acquisition of some bus lines; the Golden Spike Express 15:18 Mid-70s: 600,000 riders a year (rip) 15:49 Late 70s: Ski bus service! 16:04 1984: Utah County joins 16:14 Free Fare zone (est. 1988) 16:29 TRAX & the age of expansion [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [15] 17:17 1999: Sandy/Salt Lake (now Blue) Line; very popular 18:22 2001: University of Utah expansion 18:55 2002 Winter Olympics[13] 20:02 175 mile right-of-way acquisition; rail expansions 21:25 FrontLines "2015"—many more rail expansions[4] [14] 22:24 Stagnation & some service cuts (FrontLines was expensive) 23:41 2019: UVX (Utah Valley Express) 24:29 The UTA of today[16] 25:15Free Fare February dashboard (no, we never get back to talking about this) 25:25 The future! 25:25 Mountain View Corridor, should just build rail[17] 26:08 OGX (Ogden Express)[18] 26:32 Plans to restore pre-FrontLines bus service 27:07 The climate crisis[19] 28:34 Parking space licenses 29:57 Economic knobs & more transit 30:24 Outro (thanks Mike Christensen!) 31:12 Patreon extras are up! 31:29 List of sources 31:50Go Go Go UTA References & notes [1]From Mules to TRAX : A Brief History of Salt Lake City's Mass Transit [2] The S Line is a 2-mile long light-rail-line-disguised-as-a-streetcar operated by UTA. We talk about this one a lot. [3]If Trolley Cars Could Talk [4] TRAX and FrontRunner system length:UTA: FrontLines 2015 homepage [5]UtahRails.net: Mass Transit In The Salt Lake Valley: 1872 To 1960 [6] The Utah Light andPower company merged with Consolidated Railway and Power to create the Utah Light and Railway Company. [7] UTA did 46.7 million rides with a service area of ~1.8 million:2015 Annual Agency Profile [8]Deseret News: Utah Transit Authority has long, winding road of history [9]UTA: History [10]Wikipedia: Utah Transit Authority § History [11]Wikipedia: TRAX (light rail) § History [12]UTA: 50 Years Forward: the Olympics Sparks Transit [13]UTA Remembers the 2002 Winter Olympics [14]Railway Technology: Utah Frontlines 2015 [15]Lessons Learned From the Utah Transit Authority System Expansion [16]Utah Transit Authority Ridership Dashboard [17]Some Mountain View Corridor transit plan info [18]OGX info sheet [19] It's 12% renewables (and 9% nuclear!).lol.