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The Utah Transit Authority says it won't be hiking its fares on Jan. 1.
UTA had planned on raising fares for TRAX and bus tickets by 25 cents while express bus service and FrontRunner commuter rail prices would have gone up by 50 cents.
UTA general manager John Inglish says the agency is postponing its increase until at least March because of the struggling economy.
Inglish says he wants to keep ticket prices as low as possible for customers who are struggling to make ends meet.
UTA spokeswoman Carrie Bohnsack-Ware said, "Economically this is a scary time for us as a nation, us in Utah."
She says riders are already dealing with the temporary fuel surcharge. "We don't want to have to put an extra burden on our riders," she said.
She also said the fuel surcharge may be removed in the spring if this quarter's average fuel price falls enough, and it looks that way. UTA will also revisit the fare increase question again next spring.
The fare increase was originally approved by the UTA Board of Trustees in May 2007 to keep up with the pace of inflation.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
