FrontRunner service could start in April
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Jordan Muhlestein
Standard-Examiner staff
O
GDEN -- Construction and other preparations for FrontRunner commuter rail service in Weber and Davis counties are on track for trains to start hauling passengers in April, Utah Transit Authority officials said Tuesday.
The $630 million project will use eight stations, from Pleasant View in the north to Salt Lake City in the south, and will be capable of carrying nearly 6,000 people a day when it opens.
Each station will offer connections to UTA bus routes throughout the nearby area, said Carrie Bohnsack-Ware, UTA spokeswoman. The exact bus routes will be planned once FrontRunner is operating and rider demand can be evaluated.
"We will determine the needs of the riders in order to make it more convenient," she said.
At the Ogden Terminal, for example, UTA plans to add extra bus service to Brigham City, said Kent Jorgensen, UTA senior marketing representative.
An adult ticket for FrontRunner will cost $2.50, with an additional 50 cents for each station passed through. A trip from Ogden to Salt Lake City would cost $5. Once riders get off at a station, however, they have free transfers to buses and light rail for two hours.
The new station in Salt Lake City, at 250 S. 600 West, will allow riders to simply walk off the FrontRunner train, across a platform and onto a Trax light rail train that can take them into downtown and beyond.
Each station will also have a parking lot.
UTA will offer senior discounts of about 50 percent, daily and monthly passes, disabled passes and family passes. Monthly passes will cost $145.
For commuters who bike, each FrontRunner car can carry two bikes, with the possibility of more bike storage in the future.
Bohnsack-Ware said UTA plans to operate the trains from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays. Trains will run every 30 minutes on weekdays and every hour nights and Saturdays.
That may change if Weber and Davis county leaders fail to pass a tax increase, Bohnsack-Ware said, making the trains stop at 7 p.m., although UTA and the counties are working together in an effort to avoid such a decision.
Initially, the trains will consist of a diesel-electric locomotive and three cars, but they can grow to have up to 10 cars.
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