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

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

#121

Post by dgzl »

hueving wrote: post #85
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…

>A deeply red/Republican and relatively low-density state might seem like a strange place to find a functional public transit system. Only if you buy the strawmen of politics in the US of there being two 'sides' with everyone neatly falling into place on a pathetic line. The further you get away from the shithole that is the US federal government, the more this becomes apparent. The things each 'side' is supposed to…

I'm under the impression that the federal government knows this and actively tries to keep the population ignorant if their individual personalities. In America's violent culture, people see a massive red vs. blue battle and can't help but take a side.

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

#122

Post by mbillie1 »

For what it's worth, living in Salt Lake City: this is one single bus route among dozens. It's nice that there won't be a cost for this route, but this could be expanded to all of our bus routes and still more would need to be done for local air quality.

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

#123

Post by mbillie1 »

conroy wrote: post #12

As usual, this looks like a half-baked implementation of BRT. They get many things right, including articulated buses, off-vehicle ticket purchase, and raised platforms. However, like most BRT systems in the US, it fails on the most important metric: dedicated lanes. Only half of the route is in exclusive lanes, which means the half the time buses will be fighting traffic. Instead, we should be aiming to build more B…

It's also only one single bus route.

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

#124

Post by mbillie1 »

omot wrote: post #34

Just thought to leave an aside for anyone considering working in Utah. I Lived in Orem, Utah for a long-time super interesting state. Everyone is super conservative, no doubt, but they are the nicest people I've ever met. They can be "accidentally" racist and bigoted but I attribute that for their ignorance as opposed to hate. The church itself governs and operates like a socialist country. Every church member in the…

The case is not so extreme in SLC. I've lived here about 4.5 years and while much of the state is overwhelmingly Mormon (I do not practice or sympathize with any religion), SLC is not so different from other similar-sized cities culturally. There's great food, arts, music, and so on. Obviously for a non-Mormon the outdoors access is the primary draw here in my opinion, but it's a nice place to live regardless.

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

#125

Post by bcatanzaro »

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…

Utah is actually one of the most urban states in the country - this 2012 article explains that 90% of Utah’s people live on 1% of the land. Within Utah’s urban areas, population density is in the top 10 in the United States at 2737 people per square mile. Although I’d love to see some updated numbers, there has been a lot of sprawl since 2012.

http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=53794385&itype=cmsi...

It’s true that the state is empty, but it’s actually a better candidate for transit than one would think, because the Wasatch Front, where 2M people live, is small geographically.

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

#127

Post by darksaints »

hueving wrote: post #85
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…

>A deeply red/Republican and relatively low-density state might seem like a strange place to find a functional public transit system. Only if you buy the strawmen of politics in the US of there being two 'sides' with everyone neatly falling into place on a pathetic line. The further you get away from the shithole that is the US federal government, the more this becomes apparent. The things each 'side' is supposed to…

That's true, and Utah was the only Red state with anything close to a successful protest vote this last presidential election. Then again, the only meaningful difference between that candidate and Trump was that he was less vulgar and Mormon.

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

#128

Post by dorfsmay »

Fezzik wrote: post #56
vlunkr wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m happy to see so many positive comments about Mormons here. I usually don’t mention that I’m Mormon in online forums since I see mostly negativity about the church. (It’s just me being self-conscious) We’re certainly not perfect but we do try to look out our neighbors, I’m glad that’s recognized on the outside as well.

(As an Atheist) It bothers me to no end the amount of negativity that gets heaped on Mormons. From their immense early persecution[0] to being regularly ridiculed today, as a people they remain some of the kindest, most open-hearted, hard working people I know. And the sense of community that is stoked by them is tremendous. Sure, we all have issues, but as a group they are darn supportive of both each other and thei…

As another atheist/naturalist, I always find interesting how members of one religion found the mythology of another religion "ridiculous" and worth making fun of, but want the mythology of their own religion to be taken seriously and as a truth.

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

#129

Post by RightMillennial »

chooseaname wrote: post #106
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…

By definition, there's only one way to be a Christian and LDS aren't Christians. Pedantry aside, Christians are still human and thus succumb to sin and as such are not as charitable as they should be.

True, but it's very possible for someone who's not technically Christian to be more "Christian". Not the theological aspect but the whole behavior part: "love thy neighbor", and not throwing out charitable works.

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

#130

Post by DanCarvajal »

vlunkr wrote: post #37
david-cako wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I’m happy to see so many positive comments about Mormons here. I usually don’t mention that I’m Mormon in online forums since I see mostly negativity about the church. (It’s just me being self-conscious) We’re certainly not perfect but we do try to look out our neighbors, I’m glad that’s recognized on the outside as well.

As a someone who is not a Mormon (not even religious) I find the U.S.'s anti-Mormon bias to be very disappointing. My wife an I are planning a move to Salt Lake City while a lot of people talk about cities about the amenities and conveniences, the people are far more important and the people of Utah are a big part of why it's the place we want to raise a family.
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