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Summarized by Kent Larsen
TRAX Ridership Jumped During LDS Conference
Salt Lake Tribune 4Apr00 D1
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- The LDS Church's General Conference this past
weekend gave Salt Lake City's new light-rail system a near-record
number of riders on Saturday, and 24,000 riders on Sunday, the first
day that the system has been opened on Sunday. TRAX ridership has
averaged about 25,000 riders on Saturdays.
The LDS Church agreed to pay to keep the system operating on Sunday
for General Conference, hoping that the system would help aleviate
the traffic expected for the meetings, expected to be higher than
normal because of the opening of the Church's new 20,000-seat
Conference Center.
It is still not known how much the Church will have to pay the system
for remaining open on Sunday. The bill depends on the number of
tickets sold on Sunday -- the Church will pay the difference between
Sunday's receipts and the cost of operating the system. Many riders
may not have purchased TRAX tickets on Sunday either by using monthly
passes or by riding in the downtown free-fare zone.
UTA officials also praised the day as a success for the TRAX system,
"We had a lot of new riders, people who had never been on TRAX
before. It was a great opportunity because we were able to introduce
the system to a whole new group of riders both days," said Kent
Jorgenson of the UTA's community relations office.
See also:
Thousands board TRAX for rides to conference
Deseret News 3Apr00 D1
By Brady Snyder: Deseret News staff writer
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