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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Low-income advocates are planning to protest a proposal by the Utah Transit Authority to implement a temporary 25-cent surcharge on one-way transit rides.
The protest is scheduled before today's afternoon meeting at the U-T-A Board of Trustees, who will discuss the hike during talks about U-T-A's preliminary 2006 budget.
Bill Tibbitts, director of the Anti-Hunger Action Committee, says U-T-A needs to do something to help the unemployed find work. He says he can't think of anything they could do that would be a bigger step in the wrong direction.
However, U-T-A General Manager John Inglish says he's not sure why Tibbitts and his group are protesting. He says the surcharge is a tentative idea that will NOT impact passes given to low-income providers, the disabled or seniors.
Inglish says the surcharge is needed to cover six (M)million dollars in increased fuel costs for the next year. U-T-A will give final approval to their 2006 budget in December.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
