| Show 7 i fJ g t tx x y F. F w afe To bus or not to bus many students students students' left eft with questions about mass transit Tony Burns and Butch Nelson Staff writers ANY students at in an attempt attempt attempt at at- M MANY tempt to avoid campus parking difficulties are finding conflict where they least expected it it-in it in Salt Lake City's mass transit system The worst of their troubles from the fact that buses leave one minute after class gets out For example many classes end at 1200 the bus leaves at 1201 giving students one minute to reach the stop Missing the bus means a one-half one hour wait until 1231 to catch another bus 1 If a student has to catch a transfer bus at another stop and has missed the original bus chances arc they wont won't reach the t transfer stop in time to catch the second bus Within this system a student may leave the campus a 1200 yet not get home until See Bussing on page 3 Bus Continued from page 1 Jonathan Weir an student and a regular bus rider said How can you go UTA when UTA is gone Its It's not like all the time you have to wait is good study time Basically by riding the bus you waste three hours of your day Another problem with the busing system according to student Jan Thompson is that most of the bus stops dont don't have any kind of shelter or bench If the weather happens happens happens hap hap- pens to be bad while riders wait for the bus they could be forced to wait in rain or snow for an hour until the bus ar ar- ar- ar rives Thompson said Ive been riding the bus for eight years and I cant can't remember a time when I haven't waited at least a half an hour for a bus These problems have one basic solution have more buses available so they can hit the stops more frequently said Micheal Allegra Manager of Planning at UTA UTA does have one proposal that can make a solution to these problems possible It is called a light rail system is a comprehensive long range proposal which includes includes includes in in- plans for more buses as aswell aswell aswell well as the light rail which would run up and down in inthe inthe the middle of the valley Buses would transfer into the rail as aswell aswell aswell well as the rail transferring onto the buses The operating program includes the elimination of several bus bus' drivers in the downtown area to be replaced by one light rail operator The downtown area will be covered by leaving the other buses to the east bench and west areas allowing allowing allowing allow allow- ing them to make several new stops and go to the existing ones more frequently The cost of the was estimated estimated estimated es es- es- es at about million in 1987 allowing a couple of million for inflation The breakdown of the cost is million for the actual rail 80 million for new buses and road repair Right now v the light rail is still in a proposal stage and is far form passing legislation If it does pass it has 15 to 2 years for design and 35 years for construction |
