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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Extra police officers boarded trains and were patrolling bus and light rail lines Thursday after deadly explosions rocked London's subway system.
There were no specific threats to Utah, but the Bush administration raised the terror alert one step to code orange for mass transit systems in the United States.
"It does not scare me here in Salt Lake City because I don't think this is a prime terrorist target," Don Gooding said Thursday morning as he boarded a light rail train in downtown Salt Lake City.
"If I were in New York, London or Paris, yes I would definitely be quite concerned," said the Mount Desert Island, Maine, man in town for a convention of barbershop singers.
Police officers from the Salt Lake City force and the University of Utah volunteered Thursday "to board our trains and increase visibility," said UTA spokesman Justin Jones.
They were complementing UTA's force of about 25 police officers, with many riding the light rail from Salt Lake City to the suburb of Sandy, about 15 miles south.
Charles Armstrong, a Salt Lake City man who commutes on the train about four times a week, said Thursday's attack made him more cautious but not enough for him to drive to work.
"It struck up some fear in me because those terrorists can hit anywhere, anytime," he said. "Everybody's vulnerable."
But Jones said he hopes the extra officers "will give people a better sense of security."
Department of Public Safety spokesman Derek Jensen stressed that there was no reason for Utah residents to change plans or stray from normal activities, something Lisa Caldwell of Salt Lake City had no intention of doing.
"I feel like I can't live my life in fear and I have to just go about doing my normal routine. I don't want to cave into having my lifestyle change because of people who want to endanger lives," she said as she was boarding a downtown train.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
