Audit Shows High UTA Salaries...and Air Pollution
None by Eric Ray
(KCPW News) Utah Transit Authority executives earn higher salaries than executives of transit authorities in other states, and the state's mass transit system is having little effect in reducing air pollution. Those were just two conclusions made in a performance audit of UTA presented to lawmakers last night."What we are looking at is the benefit we are getting for these salaries," says Terry Diehl, a member of UTA's Board of Trustees. "I think that to achieve what we are getting now, we would have to hire additional people. I think it would actually cost us more money than it is costing us today. We have highly skilled people that are experts in what they do and I don't believe we could hire that type of person for less money."
Diehl says UTA will likely continue to base executive salaries on both public and private entities despite the audit's recommendation to base salaries on comparisons to other public-sector entities.
The audit also concludes that despite popular belief, mass transit isn't doing much to curb air pollution.
"The buses have far more NOX (nitrogen oxide) emitted than cars, vans or light rail. To the extent that you would need 21 passengers on every bus to equal the amount of pollution that those passengers would create in their own cars. Well the average ridership of a UTA bus is not 21, it's about eight and a half," says audit supervisor James Behunin.
Behunin adds as technology improves, the pollution emitted by buses and cars will naturally decrease. Dr. Jerry Benson, Chief Operating Officer of UTA says the group is making a commitment to many environmental aspects, including replacing old buses with newer models that emit less pollution. The audit also found that passenger data UTA uses to determine employee bonuses have been unreliable, with TRAX ridership overstated by about 20%.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom, Legislative Coverage, and 2008 Legislative Coverage. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Michael T Packard BSEE said:
UTA scammed this audit by delaying the release of their "revised TRAX ridership" till two weeks ago. They knew the audit was due out in mid November. So, the audit is crammed with analysis done with UTA's inflated, JUNK, data.
I went through the audit and noted every data item or statement or chart that was based on the junk data. I recalculated all these items, about 50 items, and made up a erratta sheet and a crib sheet of major points for legislators.
I have recalculated the TRAX savings based on the more accurate ridership data. Refer to Figure 6.3 Transit Impact on NOx Pollution, page 85, in the audit document available online at the Legislative Auditor's website. Refer to audit 2008-03.
The $1/2 billion+ light rail saves a little NOx, 42 tons annually.
The $3 million (capital invested) vanpool saves 54 tons, or 12 more tons of NOx annually, than TRAX.
These savings are piled in a, bus NOx, hole that is 297 tons deep leaving a net 202 ton deficit or excess NOx production by transit.
"..transit is a net polluter," the auditors noted.
The Four planned new TRAX extensions might save another 50 tons of NOx, so UTA will still be upside down to the tune of 150 tons of excess NOx.
When commuter rail lines begin, add about 400 net tons of extra NOX to that 202 ton dedicit. This makes 550 tons of excess annual NOx emissions.
RCR locomotives will jump UTA's annual consumption of diesel fuel from about 5 million gallons to over 8.3 million gallons. At Tier 1 emission rates, each gallon burned emits 139 grams of NOx.
This is at a time when we have new, tighter, ozone and pm 2.5 particulate air quality standards to meet.
In a July 2007 presentation to the WFRC, their emissions expert Mr. Kip Billings showed a graph of future UTA impact on NOx..The result was that eventually UTA will break even with cars in NOx emissions, but not save any significant NOx. That is a pretty payback for over $10 billion to build and subsidize trains along the Wasatch Front over the next 25 years.
UTA has scammed the public about the extent to which transit reduces, of possibly can reduce, the most critical pollution.
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