'Connection Protection' as defined by UTA now works better.

In talking to UTA about another matter, I have found that the connection protection part of their compliance with ISO 9001 does work a great majority of the time.

However, there are issues remaining to be resolved, such as those that involve connections to TRAX from buses. I have heard that riders transferring to TRAX from route 62 have consistently missed their trains because the trains do not wait even if both are exactly on time which can be normal much of the day for route 62.

Last night, November 23rd 2007, was one of those extreme situations where there was no way they could really 'keep the trains running on time' as the expression goes, and that was very literal. Downtown Salt Lake City was jammed with people who came down to see the Christmas lights as the day after Thanksgiving as that is the day they are first turned on. It's a big tradition. This year was more exceptional as the Tabernacle renovation was finished and they were able to light up more of the area than they had been able to do for the last two or three seasons, so that really drew a crowd this time.

As early as 430pm, things had already gotten out of whack, one was late by three minutes at Central Point Station and I immediately knew why, it was almost completely full, all three cars, I don't think I saw a train with four cars but could be wrong.

Well that threw other connections off, and doubless buses and trains were missed due to this, I'm almost sure that in some cases they ran so late they seemed early, much like what happens in Las Vegas with their Strip express buses.

Maybe they need to run every train with four cars throughout the evening for a large event like this, and throughout the Christmas season run as many cars as is found to be needed based on reports from bus drivers and train engineers about passenger loads. One would think and I believe they do take this into account, but the reality is sometimes things don't always get communicated properly, that is what this post is all about, so what can be done to resolve the issues?

Another issue is that Customer Concerns does not seem to have access to arrival/departure data to more immediately resolve customer inquiries as to why they missed a bus at a TRAX station. They maintain two separate sets of books here, and the Customer Concerns agents can only access the record for the buses. That does need to be fixed to maintain a better public perception of UTA's use of ISO 9001 in these matters.