Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

rideuta.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 188 posts

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#21

Post by david-cako »

Mbioguy wrote: post #6

A deeply red/Republican and relatively low-density state might seem like a strange place to find a functional public transit system. Utah is an interesting place. The geography of the Wasatch Front lends itself to public transit in ways that less geographically-constrained places do not. The region is mostly a north-south corridor, with occasional off-shoots to the side, which is how the transit network has developed…

Mormons are the kindest and hardest working people in the country. They understand taking care of each other in ways no one else seems to, and I think that is most of the reason why Utah is so functional. Christians that actually act what they speak in nearly every way.

An aside, smog is really bad in Salt Lake due to its geography and that is probably one of the reasons they are taking this so seriously.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#22

Post by dba7dba »

reaperducer wrote: post #16
mmanfrin wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thing a larger factor is the Mormon Church/Mormon population. Utah has some strangely progressive economic policies like housing-first solutions to homelessness. Utah is a red state for sure, especially when it comes to social policies, but has the 'community' orientation that another commenter mentioned that public transit falls neatly in to.

A lot of Christians talk a big game about charity and such. But once I started becoming familiar with LDS folk, I was really impressed. They’re Christians in ways many other denominations only claim to be. KSL-TV (LDS-owned NBC station) has an AppleTV app, and watching the SLC local news is far more interesting than I thought it would be. And there’s far less needless murder and mayhem plus more “good” news than is a…

The thing with LDS is that it's more of an organization with a strong (aka oppressive? or too powerful) leadership at top. Every adult has to go on a 'mission' for a full year?

On the flip side, there is no such distinct leadership/requirements in most other Christian organizations. Pretty much anyone call self a Christian.

Maybe Catholics are similar to LDS but I'm not too familiar with them.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#23

Post by Nasrudith »

gumby wrote: post #11

I don't understand why road taxes aren't used to pay for free public transport. The more people on public transport the more room for cars.

If it is anything like the situation in Pennsylvania I can see two causes - politics and representation of the rural and further-suburban disapproving of services 'just for the city' and the current road taxes alone being insufficient. Free while great for adoption also has a bad revenue curve in the more people who adopt it the less money they make in addition to increased operation costs/decreased quality from more crowding of the system. And then there are issues with metrics and success or failure. If public transit makes the road only need repaired every ten years instead of every notice its benefits may not be accounted properly or in a really bad case not even realized if they have roads on fixed repair timetables and only accelerate them if they clearly need repair ahead of schedule.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#24

Post by loeg »

jessriedel wrote: post #4
mozumder wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if you're one of the many people that don't pay taxes! (retirees, children, the poor, etc..)

Most retirees pay taxes, including on social security.

Most of "the poor," too, unless you pick a particularly narrow definition.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#25

Post by rsweeney21 »

dba7dba wrote: post #22
reaperducer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Christians talk a big game about charity and such. But once I started becoming familiar with LDS folk, I was really impressed. They’re Christians in ways many other denominations only claim to be. KSL-TV (LDS-owned NBC station) has an AppleTV app, and watching the SLC local news is far more interesting than I thought it would be. And there’s far less needless murder and mayhem plus more “good” news than is a…

The thing with LDS is that it's more of an organization with a strong (aka oppressive? or too powerful) leadership at top. Every adult has to go on a 'mission' for a full year? On the flip side, there is no such distinct leadership/requirements in most other Christian organizations. Pretty much anyone call self a Christian. Maybe Catholics are similar to LDS but I'm not too familiar with them.

Missions are 2 years for men, 1.5 years for women. It's optional for both men and women, but men are expected to go.

I went on a mission to Peru for 2 years. It was amazing, I have no regrets, but I wouldn't do it again. It was incredibly hard.

In contrast, I've started two modestly successful companies (one bootstrapped, one backed by $16M in VC money) and I'm working on starting my third. Startups are grueling, but not as grueling as a mission IMO. :)

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#26

Post by uxp »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #17
Mbioguy wrote: post #6

A deeply red/Republican and relatively low-density state might seem like a strange place to find a functional public transit system. Utah is an interesting place. The geography of the Wasatch Front lends itself to public transit in ways that less geographically-constrained places do not. The region is mostly a north-south corridor, with occasional off-shoots to the side, which is how the transit network has developed…

Salt Lake City is not a very conservative place. Yes, it is crazily Gerry mannered by pie slicing into a bunch of red congressional district, but SLC itself is fairly left of center just like any other big city in the west.

You're correct, however this article is about transportation in Utah County, aka Happy Valley.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#27

Post by ivanech »

dba7dba wrote: post #22
reaperducer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Christians talk a big game about charity and such. But once I started becoming familiar with LDS folk, I was really impressed. They’re Christians in ways many other denominations only claim to be. KSL-TV (LDS-owned NBC station) has an AppleTV app, and watching the SLC local news is far more interesting than I thought it would be. And there’s far less needless murder and mayhem plus more “good” news than is a…

The thing with LDS is that it's more of an organization with a strong (aka oppressive? or too powerful) leadership at top. Every adult has to go on a 'mission' for a full year? On the flip side, there is no such distinct leadership/requirements in most other Christian organizations. Pretty much anyone call self a Christian. Maybe Catholics are similar to LDS but I'm not too familiar with them.

Catholics are pretty different. The Catholic Church asks for less than the LDS (and most churches) at the local level, and it's quite a bit more hands-off. The higher levels of Catholic hierarchy looks like a medieval institution because it is a medieval institution. There is definitely set dogma, and the Church does not waver on it, but Catholics are generally quite comfortable being buffet Christians (choosing which bits to follow and which to disregard). I've met many more buffet Catholics than buffet Mormons.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#28

Post by goda90 »

dba7dba wrote: post #22
reaperducer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Christians talk a big game about charity and such. But once I started becoming familiar with LDS folk, I was really impressed. They’re Christians in ways many other denominations only claim to be. KSL-TV (LDS-owned NBC station) has an AppleTV app, and watching the SLC local news is far more interesting than I thought it would be. And there’s far less needless murder and mayhem plus more “good” news than is a…

The thing with LDS is that it's more of an organization with a strong (aka oppressive? or too powerful) leadership at top. Every adult has to go on a 'mission' for a full year? On the flip side, there is no such distinct leadership/requirements in most other Christian organizations. Pretty much anyone call self a Christian. Maybe Catholics are similar to LDS but I'm not too familiar with them.

The belief is that God speaks to the world through a prophet, like he did with Moses, and that he still actively does so to this day. The leadership at the top is established so that it can be certain who that prophet is, and not just anyone who claims it.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#30

Post by seanmcdirmid »

ivanech wrote: post #27
dba7dba wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing with LDS is that it's more of an organization with a strong (aka oppressive? or too powerful) leadership at top. Every adult has to go on a 'mission' for a full year? On the flip side, there is no such distinct leadership/requirements in most other Christian organizations. Pretty much anyone call self a Christian. Maybe Catholics are similar to LDS but I'm not too familiar with them.

Catholics are pretty different. The Catholic Church asks for less than the LDS (and most churches) at the local level, and it's quite a bit more hands-off. The higher levels of Catholic hierarchy looks like a medieval institution because it is a medieval institution. There is definitely set dogma, and the Church does not waver on it, but Catholics are generally quite comfortable being buffet Christians (choosing whic…

That is only true in the states and perhaps parts of Europe. Catholics in Latin America, Africa, and the Philippines are much less buffet.
Post reply on HN