@ Don Tiki U of U Students have a UTA surcharge included in their student fees, so they already have their "monthly pass" They are "required" to wave the pass at the quick pay station before they get on and off, for ridership trending information but who knows how many actually do. The quick pay station also allows anyone with a pay wave/pay pass debit card to simply wave that as they get on/off then it charges the fair. Many people may not look like they are buying tickets, but many have monthly passes, student passes or use paywave, all of which you wouldn't see buying a ticket.

I ride the Paratransit system that UTA provides. It is currently a $2.75 a ride for a one-way trip. They want to raise it from $2.75 to $3.00 to $3.50 to $4.00 over the same time period. We also don't have unlimited monthly passes. They did away with those over 2 years ago. You can only get a 10 trip punch passes for $27.50 right now. They punch every time you ride and mark them down on their sheets of paper.

I've been riding TRAX four days a week since the line started, and I've been asked to show my pass or a ticket exacly four times. Maybe the morning and evening commuters have passes, but the daytime riders never do. You can stand on the platform at 64th or 33rd or 21st or 13th South during the day and see that nobody - and I mean nodody - buys a ticket. Few look like U students. So here's the math. TRAX is making the trip anyway, the cost is fixed. Any fares collected are gravy. Enforcement costs are an expense. And I'd like to hear how many of the tickets UTA gives actually do get paid. The free ride is build into the system. UTA really doesn't care about the extra revenue, they've already factored the free rides into the fares, which is why they're high.

I disagree that SLC doesn't check tickets frequently. I lived in SLC for 4 years and rode trax not frequently, but enough. And I was almost ALWAYS checked. Now, I live in Portland, Or, which happens to have an amazing lightrail and streetcar system. I no longer own a car and ride these systems almost everyday in areas that require fees, and I've been checked MAYBE once. I always tell people here that you pay in SLC because you are always checked, but in Portland, you never are, so I never pay, and neither does anyone else except tourists. SLC checks a lot more than you think, and certainly more than other cities, including Portland, which has the best public transit system in the US.

I have commented about this to UTA for years. I have been riding TRAX and Frontrunner for 4 years. I usually take TRAX at least 3 to 4 times a week to and from work and have only had to show proof of purchase 5 times in 4 years. I have ridden similar light rail systems in other cities and every other trip I had to show proof of purchase. The numbers UTA provided stated they only check a very small percentage of riders stating cost of security is the reason for not checking more. Then how is it that other cities with similar systems seem to have more security checking tickets?