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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Transit Authority's Comet cars may not be exiting the galaxy anytime soon, but they are set to leave Utah's tracks.
State transit officials announced plans Tuesday to partially retire the 50-year-old cars that have been a staple of the FrontRunner commuter train since its 2008 inception. The cars, primarily used as a quiet space for riders, will be semi-retired at the end of the week; when service resumes next week, FrontRunner will use three double-decker cars instead.
"These cars have served us well," said UTA spokesman Carl Arky. "All in all, it's a good decision; but we know there's some nostalgia involved, as well."
The agency erroneously announced last month that the cars would be phased out on April 1, and Arky confirmed the announcement is real this time around.
The cars won't be put out to pasture, though. They will head to UTA's reserve next week, meaning you may see them behind a FrontRunner locomotive on days where there's an unexpected spike in ridership or an expected spike because of a major event.
UTA acquired its fleet of 25 Comet cars from the New Jersey Transit for $35,000 prior to the launch of FrontRunner. All of the cars were built by Pullman-Standard in the early 1970s.
After the fleet of cars was acquired, UTA spent $400,000 refurbishing them — much cheaper than the $2.2 million spent for the newer cars on the train.
The Comet cars have been noticeable to riders through the past decade because of the brown leather seats in their interior, and that they're the single-level cars always attached to the locomotive.
But mechanics haven't been able to find many of the parts needed to keep the old cars on the track. At the same time, Arky said ridership data indicated fewer people were using the Comet cars when they rode on the train. And as the cars start to break down, it's clear they've reached the end of their service life — aside from special uses.
The move is expected save UTA between $600,000 and $800,000 annually on fuel and maintenance costs because the double-decker cars aren't as heavy as the Comet cars. The agency also expected fewer maintenance delays because the Comet cars caused many of the problems.
At the same time, the agency says it has plans to make FrontRunner ridership more accessible, calling the removal of the Comet cars "the first step" in a plan to raise "low" sections of the train platforms. The Comet cars require people to walk up steps.
Vineyard Station, which is close to completion, will be the first FrontRunner station designed without a lower section.
UTA ridership steady after fare returns
On Monday, UTA reported its March ridership data, which showed that the use of public transit didn't drop off too much in the month following Free Fare February. It averaged more than 102,000 riders last month, its third-busiest month over the last two years behind February and March 2020.
It's still too early to say whether that's the result of the promotion getting people back to transit or because it offered an alternative as gas prices rose.
"We're seeing some increases in some different modes of transportation," Arky said. "That's very encouraging to us, and we're very optimistic about getting past the pandemic and getting back to the kind of numbers we saw before COVID hit. It is looking up."
