UTA dumps ticket machines on 35 MAX line, citing cost

(Al Hartmann | Tribune file photo) In this 2017 file photo, UTA police officer Aymee Race explains the ticket she has just written up to a rider getting off a MAX bus who failed to buy a ticket.Operating ticket vending machines costs nearly as much as the fares they collect on the 35 MAX bus — a partial bus rapid transit route in West Valley City. So the Utah Transit Authority Board decided Wednesday to dump them, and depend on bus operators to collect all fares.

When officials launched the 35 Max a decade ago, they hoped to speed service by passengers buying tickets before they board from one of 26 machines at stops. But the route also had on-bus fare boxes for stops in neighborhoods that…