| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
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Thumbs-up for transportation
Both Utahns, out-of-towners say it's success
By Leah L. Culler
Deseret News staff writer
Both Utah residents and non-Utahns have been pleased with Olympic transportation so far, according to a Dan Jones & Associates poll conducted for the Deseret News and KSL-TV.
Data was collected Feb. 11, 12 and 13 from 428 Olympic spectators — 224 from Utah, 204 from outside of Utah. Of Utah residents, 92 percent said Olympic transportation has been better than they expected. The majority of nonresidents — 81 percent — said their experience with Olympic transportation has been better than expected.
Transportation officials are pleased with those numbers and give credit to those who have been using the transportation system.
"They've been carpooling and using mass transit like they've never used it before," said Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Hudachko. "They're the ones that deserve all the credit."
Utah Transit Authority General Manager John Inglish attributes the transportation success to an "awesome response" from transit agencies across the country who sent 29 light-rail vehicles and more than 700 buses to Salt Lake City for the Olympics.
Of those polled, more Utah residents have used TRAX than the park-and-ride service, while more non-Utah residents have taken advantage of the park-and-ride lots.
Forty-six percent of Utahns polled have used TRAX, while only 37 percent have used the park-and-ride lots. Of non-Utahns, 35 percent have used TRAX and 51 percent have used the park-and-ride lots.
The experiences on both methods of transport were favorable, with more than 85 percent of both Utahns and non-Utahns rating their experience with TRAX or park-and-ride as good or excellent.
UTA spokesman Kris McBride said UTA expected people would take the trains more often than the shuttles.
"People like to take the trains," he said. "It's what we expect. But we have plenty of capacity on the shuttles."
McBride said UTA can handle about 35 percent of Olympic spectator traffic on TRAX and 50 percent on the shuttle system.
Inglish said he is pleased the public is recognizing the hard work of those behind the scenes of the transportation system. And he admits it hasn't been an easy task.
"We had a few rough spots coming in," he said.
Although the Olympics didn't officially begin until Friday, UTA had to deal with two huge events before that — the dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremonies and the torch relay. The dress rehearsal, Inglish said, was the "biggest, most difficult event of the whole thing."
The torch relay and dress rehearsal were the two events Inglish said he was most worried about.
"Fortunately, we got through those," he said. "They were rugged spots right off the bat. We had our challenge and from then on, everything has fallen together pretty well."
Inglish said there's not a lot UTA could have done differently to make things better. He also says he's not too worried about the second half of the Games.
"I hope what we've proven is that the systems in place can handle everyone that needs to come down and they don't need to worry," he said.
But Hudachko said UDOT is worrying just a little bit.
"Our biggest worry right now is that come Monday people will forget what they did this week and revert back to old habits," he said.
During the Olympics in Atlanta, the transportation ran smoothly the first week, Hudachko said. But people saw that and reverted to old habits — creating gridlock the second week.
But Hudachko hopes that people keep their newfound habits.
"We see a lot of people using mass transit for the first time," he said. "We hope it catches on and continues long after the Games."
E-MAIL: lculler@desnews.com
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February 15, 2002
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