UTA opts for more frequent bus service over expanding coverage

(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) A UTA bus in downtown Salt Lake City, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019.The Utah Transit Authority Board says current revenues won’t allow it to boost bus frequency and simultaneously cover more geographic areas. So, it chose Wednesday to lean heavily toward running popular routes more often, saying that will best build up ridership and serve the most people.

But it also wants a bigger budget pie to allow both options. So, the UTA board asked planners to come up with scenarios to show voters and elected officials what expanded area coverage could look like if transit sales taxes are raised.

“We simply need to make the pie bigger,” Beth Holbrook, one of the three UTA Board…