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Mass transit arrived in Salt Lake City in 1872, when a mule pulled the first streetcar down tracks laid on Main Street (Brigham Young himself took the first ride). Within a few years, the Salt Lake City Railroad Company was running 41 cars on nine miles of tracks.
One line took bathers to Warm Sulphur Springs, at what is now north 300 West. People used the bathhouse, built in 1850, for changing clothes but also for dancing and enjoying other entertainments.
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Given the speed of mules, mass transit did not mean rapid transit. But when the company electrified one line in 1889, things sped up. People watching a streetcar pass "stared as though an apparition were flying by." This 1895 photo shows two uniformed drivers standing by an early electric car.The early streetcars sometimes got stuck on humps in the tracks. When that happened, passengers and crew piled out to rock the car over the hump.
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TRAX construction at the turn of the 21st century may be a hassle for
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Construction at
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Fun-seekers rode the streetcars to parks and resorts. These cars ran between Calder's Park (now Nibley Golf Course, on 2700 S. 700 East) and Warm Springs. The photo probably shows them on 700 East. Here, in order to pass each other, the cars had to meet at a small section of double track.
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Fun-seekers rode the streetcars to parks and resorts. These cars ran between Calder's Park (now Nibley Golf Course, on 2700 S. 700 East) and Warm Springs. The photo probably shows them on 700 East. Here, in order to pass each other, the cars had to meet at a small section of double track.
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In the end, busses and private automobiles--and road projects built with federal and state taxes--doomed the trolleys. One by one, the trolley routes became bus routes, the overhead wires came down, and street crews paved over the tracks. In 1941, car number 712, bedecked with a flowered wreath, made a "final" nostalgic run. The run turned out to be not so final, however. Because of gasoline shortages during the war, a few trolleys continued running until 1945.
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The use of public transit dwindled after World War II as people bought automobiles and drove them on federally funded roads. Public transportation in
Since then, UTA has expanded its operations to include express bus routes, paratransit service, and carpool and vanpool programs in six counties and more than 60 municipalities. In 1999, UTA re-introduced electric railcars in the
TRAX might be reminiscent of early 20th-century streetcars, but a TRAX car, in comparison to a 1913-edition Emigration Canyon Railroad oak and steel car, is 34 feet longer, three inches narrower, and able to carry 210 people--three times more than the old cars could carry. Also, TRAX light rail vehicles are made of not only steel, but also of plymetal and plastic.
Since opening TRAX, UTA has seen ridership steadily increase. Nearly 20,000 riders boarded the Sandy/Salt Lake Line on opening day, December 4, 1999, exceeding initial projections of 14,500 riders per day. Opening the University Line ahead of schedule and under budget in December 2001 helped boost average TRAX weekday ridership to nearly 35,000 trips, about 35 percent higher than it was a year earlier.
In its early years, UTA reported an average of three million rides taken per year. In 2002, approximately 30 million trips were taken.
In November 2000, voters in
Many Utahns remember
As early as 2007, commuters traveling between
The rails are back for good, and mass transit will continue to grow, giving Wasatch Front residents expanded options for getting around.
--Marti Money,