Standard-Examiner: Our View: Ogden Needs a Clean Transit Route - Updated

Kiss your dreams of a downtown fixed rail system bye-bye, folks

Via the Standard-Examiner, we'll cast the spotlight on this afternoon's UTA open house and followup City Council Meeting, in anticipation of where a final decision concerning Ogden City's long awaited downtown public transit mode and route from Ogden’s transit hub at 25th Street and Wall Avenue to the university and hospital:

Today, at 4 p.m., Utah Transit Authority and Ogden City host an open house presenting the preferred route and mode of public transit to connect downtown to Weber State University and McKay Dee Hospital. It’s in the third floor lobby of the Ogden Municipal Building, 2549 Washington Blvd. Afterwards, the council meets in 3rd floor chambers at 6 p.m. where the same information is presented, followed by a public hearing where opinions and concerns can be expressed. Get your voice heard there. On July 28, the City Council will vote to adopt the route and mode.

Here's the full story, WCF readers:

• Our View: Ogden needs a clean transit route

The Standard is fully aboard UTA's "preferred" route and mode, the plan which seems to be chiseled in granite, of course:

We think that the Technical Advisory Committee made the right decision to pick Bus Rapid Transit running along 25th Street to connect downtown Ogden to Weber State University and the McKay-Dee Hospital, both accessed via Harrison Boulevard on the east side of the city.

Kiss your dreams of a downtown fixed rail system bye-bye, folks.

Update 7/9/15 11:22 a.m.:  The Standard is johnny on the spot with this post-mortem report.  The headline tells the whole story, wethinks:

• Many in Ogden still desire a streetcar

Savvy comment from WCF regular Bob Becker, wethink:

An earlier story on this had someone (with UTA?) noting that a BRT route via 25th would "replace" the 603 bus, currently the most heavily used bus route in Ogden. But BRT will, as planned, have fewer stops between downtown and WSU, resulting in less public transit service all along the route, not more. I am still concerned that UTA continues to look upon this upgrade as primarily a Frontrunner to WSU and back enhancement, not one to imorove service over the whole current 603 route. And BRT will imorove the Frontrunner to WSU time less than two minutes. And have a fraction of the TOD impact rail would have. BRT seems like a penny-wise pound-foolish long term decision to me.

"Penny-wise pound-foolish long term decision?"  Yes.  We heartily agree.

Standard-Examiner: UTA Says Weber Transit Service Would Have Many Riders

We'll be keeping our eyes peeled, and fingers crossed, of course, as the UTA plods forward within the bureaucratic constraints of  this this ridiculously tedious Ogden Transit Study process

There's encouraging news for Ogden City streetcar fanciers this morning, as the Standard-Examiner's Mitch Shaw reports on the results of Tuesday's Ogden City Council Joint Work Session, wherein the Council received a a Transit Study update from Utah Transit Authority officials. Here's Mr. Shaw's lede:

OGDEN — If a public transit service between downtown Ogden, Weber State University and McKay-Dee Hospital ever becomes a reality, the Utah Transit Authority says it won’t be hurting for riders.
UTA officials met with the Ogden City Council Tuesday night to discuss progress on a nearly $900,000 transit study that is measuring the merits of a new transit system that would connect downtown Ogden to the campuses of WSU and McKay-Dee.

Here's the full story, folks:

• UTA says Weber transit service would have many riders

And here's the "kicker":

Jim McNulty, a strategic planner with UTA, told council members that by the year 2040, ridership numbers on the system could ultimately reach 8,000 per day. Ridership estimates for when the service initially begins aren’t available yet.
“We’re finding that we would have the ridership there when we open it up,” McNulty said. “We’ll have more precise information (on early ridership numbers) in about a month, but it’s looking good so far.”
McNulty said UTA’s new Sugar House streetcar system, which opened in December, is seeing about 1,000 riders each day.
“So obviously, seven to eight thousand (daily riders on the Ogden line) is a great number,” he said.

“We keep hearing streetcar, streetcar, streetcar.” “Weber State has indicated that that’s what they want, and we’ve heard that from (the public) as well,” Mr. McNulty adds.

We'll therefore be keeping our eyes peeled, and fingers crossed, of course, as the UTA plods forward within the bureaucratic constraints of  this ridiculously tedious Ogden Transit Study process.

Ogden Public Transit Update: Informative Editorial in This Morning's Standard-Examiner

The Std-Ex brings its readers up to speed on the current Ogden City public transit planning posture

Well-crafted and informative editorial in today's Standard-Examiner, summarizing the current posture of the streetcar option in Ogden city's public transit planning process. Today's editorial hits all the important high points:

1) "It wasn’t 'Kumbaya,' but it was close";
2) The administration and council "still disagree about which route transit should take, but they do agree that a streetcar is their vehicle of preference";
3) Both the administration and city council "take a dim view of bus-rapid-transit."
4) "Nary a mention of a gondola — although Godfrey did say, maybe cryptically or maybe not, that if the streetcar turns out to be too expensive, it would be time to look at 'other options.'";
5) The sudden arrival of Boss Godfrey within the pro-streetcar camp is "good news for Ogden."

Although much of the analysis in this morning's editorial will no doubt have a deju vu feel for our regular Weber County Forum readers, we're happy to see the Std-Ex editorializing on the subject, and going the extra mile to inform its general readership about the current status of public transit planning in Ogden.

So how about it, gentle readers? Is there anything either we or the Standard-Examiner left out?

Don't all chime in at once.