SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Salt Lake City ranks third among the largest 100 metropolitan areas in the nation when it comes to public transportation, according to a new study.
The study done by Brookings Institution, a nonprofit policy group based in Washington, discovered that 70 percent of metropolitan residents live in neighborhoods where a transit service is available with the highest coverage being in Western metro areas such as Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and Honolulu.
When it comes to connecting people with jobs, Brookings revealed that Salt Lake City is ranked among the top metro areas in the country, including New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Washington.
Because of the efforts gone into improving the Wasatch front public transit, Gerry Carpenter from the Utah Transit Authority feels that UTA "has done a lot of work to earn this ranking" and that it is well deserved.
Provo-Orem and Ogden-Clearfield areas also ranked high in Brookings' study, earning ninth and 11th place, respectively.
"Out of the top 15 metropolitan areas, three places within the Wasatch front got top rankings," said Carpenter. "Part of it comes from geography since this area is a constrained corridor which makes it easier to give public transport to more people."
In Salt Lake City particularly, the Brookings study found that the percentage of jobs reachable via public transit within 90 minutes is 59 percent which is two-times better than the national average and the second-highest behind Honolulu who stands at 60 percent. On a national scale, the study revealed that typical residents can only reach about 30 percent of jobs in the area within a 90-minute commute.
According to the profile Brookings created on Salt Lake City based on research, the area topped the national average in the wait time for a transit vehicle during rush hour with service frequency being 8.5 minutes while the national average stands at 10.1. The Salt Lake City profile from Brookings also revealed that 89 percent of working-age residents live near a transit stop, also better than the national average (69 percent).
According to Carpenter, UTA has gone through major enhancements over the past few years to incorporate more of a hybrid system that includes a grid-like bus system in conjunction with the TRAX line. This system, Carpenter stated, “has really paid off.”
Since the redesign of the bus system in 2007 to help improve ridership and connections, Carpenter saw an improvement in ridership in only two years.
With the addition of the FrontRunner to Ogden in 2008 and the new TRAX lines opening in August, UTA will be able to connect with more of the community, according to Carpenter.
"We focus hard on creating as much coverage as we can," Carpenter stated.
One thing that Carpenter said has helped the UTA in improving their system is the strong public support. According to Carpenter, Utah voters agreed to invest $.25 in an increased sales tax to help fund public transit.
To better understand issues presented by transit service and how it affects how people live and work, Brooking’s Metropolitan Policy Program developed a comprehensive database that contains details on transit coverage and connectivity in the country’s metropolitan hubs.
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Information from: http://www.brookings.edu
