Just an observation I felt the need to share:
In a few weeks we're going down to see the lights. Much to my dismay, I discovered the last Blue Line train that travels all the way to Sandy leaves the Temple Square station at 10:59 pm on Saturdays. There is an 11:39 pm train but that only goes down to Central Pointe. It's not like we can't modify our schedule so we get back to the Trax station by 10:59, but then I think of the people in bars, or maybe at a late-running concert... Who ends their night at 11 pm? I mean, even for us we'd like to be in downtown for a good while into the night just walking around. Back in rosier times, as this
schedule from 2006 indicates, the last train from downtown to Sandy left at 1:11 am. Isn't that wonderful?
I realize that many things have happened since then that have made service that late a luxury, but my philosophy is that as a public conveyance the UTA should still offer at least one train past that current 11 pm run that goes all the way to the end of the line. We talk here of making downtown a twenty-four hour kind of place; well, if our light rail service ends at 11 pm on Saturday nights, making that a reality is harder. The UTA will say that in their five years of offering late-night service not enough ridership was garnered. To heck with that. If anyone thought they could get trains to be packed at 1 am, well, what a fantastic thought. I can't see why adding one more trip past midnight would be such a big deal.
Just as a point of comparison, on Saturday nights the last train to leave from downtown to the EOL in other cities:
Salt Lake (Blue Line): 10:52 pm
Denver (E line): 1:42 am
San Jose (Convention Center to Santa Teresa): 1:48 am
Phoenix (Jefferson/3rd to Mesa): 2:26 am
Charlotte: 1:00 am
Portland (Blue Line, Pioneer Sq South to Gresham): 1:43 am
Well folks, there you have it.