Letter: UTA should add, not cut, holiday service

UTA service should not halt all service on holidays such as Independence Day, Labor Day, and Memorial Day, which are associated with increased drinking. It makes no sense to not offer this basic alternative to driving. The Denver area even offers expanded and free service on New Years Eve. The only other option for people coming in from afar are cabs, which are expensive and few and far between. Offering transit services would go a long way to encourage people to be safe and responsible.

The S-Line would get much a needed boost for people seeking to view the Sugar House fireworks and boost Sugar House businesses when hundreds trickle through to the park. And it would give a bit of a traffic reprieve for those neighborhoods inundated with fireworks viewers. Not to mention battling the ozone that settles in during the heat of July.

People would also see the utility of riding public transit making it a major PR campaign for UTA. So the cost of running on holidays is greatly overshadowed by the economic and social benefits. It simply does not make sense not to use these holidays to increase overall ridership, limit traffic and pollution, and keep our roads safer.

Justice Morath

Salt Lake City