Utah has no plans for autonomous transit, UTA says

SALT LAKE CITY — A handful of major cities across the country have implemented or are planning to implement public transport options that do not include a driver at the controls.

The Utah Transit Authority weighed in on whether Utah will be joining that list with a resounding "no," for trains, buses and cars.

Senior public information officer Gavin Gustafson said it's not even a plan to eventually plan for something like that in Utah — that it's just not feasible.

"The Utah Transit Authority has no plans in (our) long-range transit plan to implement driverless or automated vehicle service," Gustafson said, adding that for trains, the systems other cities are implementing are either "elevated tracks like a monorail or underground tracks like subway."

"Neither of which UTA has, nor plans to do (in the future)," Gustafson said.

For one, Gustafson said, it would be required for the autonomous driving train above ground to avoid interactions with traffic — a crucial point for the computer-controlled element.

As for an underground option, Gustafson says it's a landscape hurdle.

"Underground with the fault lines that we have here and the relatively high water table would be unlikely, I think," he said.

The options for Utah to have an elevated track, or a monorail, are limited due to funding that would interrupt what UTA is already working on.

"Our focus is to maintain what we have so that we can continue to provide high-level safe service as it is," Gustafson said. "And then potentially expand service would be the next priority. Simply altering existing service doesn't expand service."

That expansion includes expanding the Frontrunner line and doubling the track, so two tracks can use the same line. Gustafson estimates this would cut wait times in half during peak hours.

For the rest of the planned expansion, Gustafson referenced the UTA Move 2055 plan that is currently open for public comment.

Contributing: Paige Zamora and Mary Culbertson

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