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SALT LAKE CITY — A group of Utah residents has started an online petition in the hopes of persuading the Utah Transit Authority to open the FrontRunner train line on Sundays.
Julianne Waters, who started the petition, lived in Moab for 20 years and recently moved to the Salt Lake area for work. She said she immediately noticed the poor air quality in the valley during the winter months and wanted to do something about it.
“The air quality in Salt Lake City is horrendous,” Waters said. “I go to a church in Ogden on Sundays and I hate having to drive up there every week. I’d love to take the train.”
Waters said she’s talked to many people who are excited about the petition, which had more than 1,000 electronic signatures at the time of this writing.
“There are people who can’t accept jobs that require work on Sunday because they don’t have cars,” Waters said. “There are people who want to take public transportation up to Salt Lake on Sundays to attend movies or eat at restaurants. I think the city is missing out on potential revenue and economic growth.”
The petition is being supported by many who work in and around the Salt Lake area, Waters said.
“I’ve talked to pilots and flight attendants who would love to see the trains running on Sundays,” Waters said. “They fly in on Sunday and can’t get home.”
Waters said the primary goal of the petition is to create a more sustainable environment for public transportation.
“Our goal would be to increase accessibility to public transportation and get more cars off the road,” Waters said.
#poll
UTA operates FrontRunner trains Monday through Saturday. In response to the petition, UTA released a statement. “We have received the comments from the petitioners and appreciate their enthusiasm for FrontRunner and their desire for more transit service. Implementing Sunday service on FrontRunner would cost several million dollars, and UTA does not currently have the resources," the statement said.
"We recently completed the five rail projects in the FrontLines 2015 program, have been adding service as the economy improves, and we increased FrontRunner service and frequency last year. As funding resources become available, we will consider all input from our riders and the public and evaluate the ridership potential to determine where additional service can provide the greatest benefit to as many people as possible.”
