This is why it isn't working...

So, I've been getting a little familiar with the UTA transit network. My car engine ate itself (just a little...it still runs, but it makes a racket!) just before New Years, and in order to afford to repair/replace it, I've had to keep working. Tommy opens the end of next week, and that's hopefully when my period of exile from behind the steering wheel also concludes.

But my experience with UTA has shown me one of the reasons why it hasn't really caught on outside of Salt Lake City. It's inconvenient.

I'm not talking about the actual 'riding the bus'. That's the least inconvenient part of the whole thing. That's easy. A pain in the ass, perhaps...but easy. I'm talking about the rest of it.

Now, if you have ready access to the internet, some of what I'm going to point out isn't so much of an issue. Their website is actually pretty easy to use. Timetables are there, maps are available, information about prices is easy to locate, routes are generally pretty easy to figure out...

But, say, tonight, when I had to run to the store to pick up some last minute items for the show, I realized that, outside of Salt Lake City, I had yet to see a bus stop with a timetable. Now, if you're on a definite planned trip, that's not a big deal...you looked it up, you know when the bus is coming (theoretically--more on that in a moment); but if you just ran to the store and browsed for a while, you've got no idea how long it will be before the bus gets there. Now, on a nice day, that wouldn't be a big deal. But when it's 20 degrees outside, standing there for five minutes is excruciating...waiting a half an hour is Hell.

Which brings me back to knowing when the bus is coming. It would be nice if they were even a little bit more consistent. It seems like every day that I'm on time, they're late...if I'm late, they're on time. Saturday was a perfect example. Every other time I've gone out to catch the bus to SLC, it's been at least five minutes late...and it takes me that long to walk to the stop from my apartment. We had auditions at Salt Lake Community College on Saturday, and I was going down to help out...to get to SLCC from my place, by 10 am, I had to catch a bus at 8:05.

I hadn't quite organized myself the night before, so even though I got out of the shower with plenty of time, by the time I chased down all the odds and ends I wanted to take with me, I got out of my apartment a minute before the bus was supposed to pass the main stop in town (mine was about three stops down from there...) So I started walking, briskly...

When I was a block away from my stop, the bus went by--on schedule. I growled and swore and walked back to my apartment (because I couldn't walk to the bus stop to find out what time the next bus was coming!!!) Luckily, I wasn't expected at auditions until callbacks (I like going to auditions to see who I may be working with for the next year), and the next bus was almost an hour later. I got something to eat, checked on a couple of eBay auctions, and got out the door in time to make it to my stop by the time the bus should be hitting the main Kaysville stop.

And the bus was seven minutes late. It got better...I had a choice of options for how to get to SLCC, all of which connected with my bus route at a couple of different stops once we got to Salt Lake. The fastest, by only a couple of minutes, involved me walking a block and a half to the Trax stop--and the Trax car pulled out just moments before I got to the stop...on time, because I was running late, of course. So I had to walk back to the stop I'd just left, to wait for a different bus. There was a scheduled wait of about ten minutes...that turned into twenty...

At least I didn't have to ride the bus home!

The final problem UTA has is that, once you get out of the Salt Lake area, there's really minimal coverage. In Davis County (where I live, for those not familiar with the geography--it's just north of Salt Lake), if you need to go anywhere outside of 'standard commuter hours' (ie, after six pm!), there is ONLY ONE BUS that runs through towns (I'm not sure how late the express buses run)--and it only goes up the old highway that serves as Main Street for Farmington, Kaysville, Layton, and Clearfield. Kaysville is a pretty broad-ranging city, for only having one bus route. Layton is much worse. It wouldn't be a problem if there were secondary bus routes, that would connect with the existing one...routes that just circulated through Davis County. But there aren't.

And, y'know, there's only so many ways you can encourage people to ride the bus. There's a financial incentive, yes...$50/month for a bus pass is much cheaper than a car payment, insurance, gas, and other maintenance costs. There's an environmental incentive--which has lately been the big number they've been playing.

But, when it's just too damned inconvenient to be practical (I can't go grocery shopping on the bus...it's as far to the grocery store as it is to the bus stop, for one thing, and I can only buy so much in one trip because I have to carry it home afterwards!--I can't take my laundry to the laundromat because there's not enough room on the bus for a laundry bag--and I don't want to carry a jug of laundry detergent on top of that!), when waiting for the bus is rolling the dice on frostbite and hypothermia unless you're wearing enough clothes to make you burst into a sweat when you walk, and when you just can't count on the bus getting you where you need to go on time, those incentives just aren't enough to make it worthwhile. And, if you live any distance at all from the main route through town...well, either start training for the marathon or stay home, I guess.

Damn, I miss my car. I can't wait to get paid...