[CountyLemonade]

Saying FrontRunner is a flop and failure is inaccurate. Saying it failed to meet projections is also inaccurate. It's garnering 5900 riders per day.

Is that on the very low end of the projection? Yes. Is that disappointing? Yes. But that's absolutely not a failure.

Keep in mind that in its infancy FrontRunner attracted 7900 riders. But then a freeway was built that more or less parallels FrontRunner. Compound that with the steep drop in gas prices at the end of 2008... Well, of course ridership dropped.

Oh, and this: On Thursday, I was returning from Ogden on FrontRunner. At 1 pm. Yeah, the train was full. There weren't many people on the trip there at 11, but it was full going back. At mid-day. That is not a failure.

And I firmly maintain that spending all this money today for systems that will not attract stellar ridership for years is smart. Just as building roads that won't be heavily used for years is smart (Southern Parkway in St. George, anyone?).