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SALT LAKE CITY — Some fans are upset with UTA after finding out there were no extra buses or trains after a BYU football game Thursday night.
Lacie Horner took FrontRunner from Sandy to Provo to cheer on the BYU Cougars and expected to go home the same way after the game.
“Last year when we took FrontRunner there were probably 20 buses sitting in the street waiting to shuttle people to the FrontRunner station, and there was only one bus (at this game),” Horner said.
Horner was even more surprised when the bus driver announced the last FrontRunner train had left for the night.
“We got on the bus and they didn’t realize that people were expecting a ride from the FrontRunner station,” Horner said. “They finally called their supervisors and told us they could take us to the Lehi station and then he came back and said he could drive us home.”
Amidst the chaos, Horner said they got on the freeway, but then had to turn around and pick up more people who were stranded in Provo.
Horner said she got on the bus outside the stadium at 10:30 p.m. and arrived at the Sandy station at 1 a.m.
UTA said that was their plan the whole time.
“Traditionally, ridership on weekday games is lower, and so we don’t usually run extra service for the weekday games because our regular service is usually sufficient,” UTA spokesman Chad Saley said.
Saley said the bus drivers told passengers as they were getting off at LaVell Edwards Stadium that the last train was scheduled to depart no later than 10:30 p.m.
Knowing that the football game could end after the last FrontRunner train departed, Saley said they were prepared with a contingency plan.
Traditionally, ridership on weekday games is lower, and so we don't usually run extra service for the weekday games because our regular service is usually sufficient.
–UTA spokesman Chad Saley
“Our contingency plan was, if the game goes late we were going to have enough buses available that we’ll get everyone back to their origin station,” Saley said.
Saley said they also had extra buses running Thursday night as well.
“We went into it knowing kind of what the situation was going to be, and we planned for that,” Saley said. “We had contingencies. We were ready to make sure that no one was, in fact, stranded.”
Extensive steps were taken to meet the post-game needs, Saley explained.
“We were taking ridership counts for everyone that got off the bus at the stadium so we had an idea of how many people we needed to have buses for to get back,” Saley said.
Saley said most people made the final FrontRunner train, and the contingency plan serviced about 60 people.
“Honestly we only heard from two people today that complained about the service. There hasn’t been a big response,” Saley said.
“We felt like things went well,” Saley said, adding, “We might have been able to communicate a little bit better.”
Contributing: Dan Jessop and Betsy Tracy
