UTA UTAH TRANSIT AUTHORITY ENGLISH 2010 ALEXIS BRASIER

PURPOSE The purpose of this investigative report was to find out why prices from UTA are almost double those in other states  Example: UTA charges 2.50 for a one way trip while the L.A. Metro charges.55 cents to 1.50

RHETORICAL OPPORTUNITY The rhetorical opportunity for this investigative report is that it is a Eng assignment in Mr. Anderson’s SLCC class I have also thought about buying a UTA pass myself, but: 1. They are too expensive, 2. They do not discount students enough and 3. It takes too long to get from place to place. I have interviewed students that say they sometimes don’t even make it to class [because] the busses are so late

CORPORATION Corporation: a large business or organization that under the law has the rights and duties of an individual and follows a specific purpose UTA: The Utah Transit Authority operates a public transportation system throughout the Wasatch Front of Utah. It operates fixed route buses, express buses, ski buses, three light rail lines (TRAX), and a commuter rail line (FrontRunner) from Salt Lake City to Pleasant View, north of Ogden.

RHETORICAL AUDIENCE SLCC, the students would like to see more school run buses to get us to and from school at a discount instead of UTA which is the only other choice for buses in the Utah Valley Governor Herbert, addressing that we need competition to UTA here in Utah so that it is not a monopoly and competition can drive the prices down In comparison, Utah charges 2.50 for a one way trip on UTA while L.A. metro charges only 1.50 and down to.55 cents with a discount. This is due to all the competition in L.A., this is why we need competition

PROBLEM STATEMENT UTA is a big advertiser at Salt Lake Community College  On the getting started page at slcc.edu for new students joining the college, getting a UTA pass is one of the 8 main steps UTA 30 day passes for Salt Lake Community College are $50 With UTA being the only form of public transportation in the Valley it is a monopoly, with this they charge us what ever rate they would like instead of giving students and faculty more of a discount that we would like

IMPORTANCE OF THE ISSUE The problem with UTA at Salt Lake Community College is that they are a monopoly here [and] in the whole Utah Valley. There is no other big transportation company at SLCC or in the Utah Valley, so they are able to charge what they want with no competition to drive prices down Being students and faculty of SLCC, people feel that we should be getting more of a discount than we are.

TARGETED GROUPS As you can see in this map here, where the blue arrows are pointing too is the UTA station in the redwood Salt Lake Community College campus. This shows how UTA directly affects us students and faculty of Salt Lake Community College It is our only form of public transportation for the college so we have no choice but to buy passes at the rate they advertise since they is not lower rates

QUOTATIONS FROM TARGETED GROUPS Students I asked students what they feel about UTA Kamron Coon, student at SLCC said, “I have only used UTA once while going to the college and the reason I would never use it again is that the price isn’t worth the inconvenience of depending on a public bus instead having my own car.” Alie Salazar, student at SLCC said, “I feel like there are some good things and some bad things because it is expensive but it is useful too.” Faculty I asked faculty members at SLCC what they felt about using the UTA. Paul Anderson, from the English department said, “ I have used the UTA system but time is the main reason for opting for private transport. It takes longer to get to work or the different campuses.”

CONCLUSION In conclusion I found out that the high prices are due to the monopoly effect UTA has in the Utah Valley Call-to-action I call upon the transportation department at SLCC to expand the existing shuttle service at the college I also call upon Governor Herbert to promote competition for the UTA by encouraging private bus companies and thus create competition so that consumers (SLCC students and faculty) can better from cheaper prices.

WORK CITED Interviewed student Kamron Coon Interviewed Alie Salazar