Mass transit

OGDEN — Reaching Ogden’s vast trail system from the Utah Transit Authority’s FrontRunner commuter rail will soon become easier, requiring fewer encounters with moving traffic.

Later this spring, Ogden city will begin construction on a trail that will connect Ogden’s Intermodal Transit Hub on Wall Avenue to the Ogden River Parkway trail, just east of Goode Ski Lake.

The trail will run north from the FrontRunner parking lot to 22nd Street, then west to Pacific Avenue, then, following Pacific, it will continue to run north until it connects to the River Parkway trail.

That popular children’s song about mass transit got one thing right. The wheels on the bus do indeed go ’round and ’round.

But after that? All that other stuff on the bus? The babies? And the mommies? And the PEOPLE?

Sorry, but the lyrics got those things so very, horribly wrong.

I can tell you exactly what the people on the bus “go,” and it’s not — as the song claims — “up and down, up and down, up and down.” Rather, the people on the bus go crazy, crazy, crazy. Both literally and figuratively.

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill offering an income tax credit for people using mass transit has been voted down in a House committee.

The bill, HB 138, was touted as an effort to clean up the air by Rep. Marie Poulsen, D-Salt Lake City. The measure lost 7-5. The tax credit would have been available to people who spent at least $450 a year on mass transit costs.

Rep. Jacob Anderegg, R-Orem, said he could see no evidence the bill would increase ridership on mass transit.

“This is just a handout I don’t believe will reduce air quality one bit.”

OGDEN — In less than a month, the Utah Transit Authority will unveil several transit projects it hopes to complete in the Top of Utah during the next several years.

The agency is in the midst of completing its “State of the Network” study, which examines the status of UTA’s current transit system and identifies opportunities for improvements.

As UTA nears completion of its Frontlines 2015 program, which includes five rail projects and adds 70 miles of rail to the current FrontRunner and TRAX systems, the agency is “looking at what comes next,” said UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- At the corner of Magnolia Street and Terracina Drive, just off the Riverside Community College campus, empty spots on the front bicycle racks of Riverside Transit Agency buses are becoming a hot commodity.

On a recent day, students snagged the two holders on a southwest-bound bus, leaving another to wait for the next bus to come along.

The high cost of driving and a greater interest in personal fitness and environmental stewardship have many young adults ditching their cars and trucks in favor of buses and bikes.

OGDEN — A systemwide fare increase for all Utah Transit Authority services goes into effect late next week.

The change comes as part of the agency’s overall budget planning to support its services and operations, said UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A performance audit of the Utah Transit Authority shows the agency might not have the money to build wanted future projects or even operate projects that are currently under construction.