Sunday, December 17, 2006

Personality of Mass Transit



Recently I worked on a story for the Arizona Republic regarding the UTA Trax system here in SLC. I rode around on the trains and hung out at the stations for a couple of days trying to get a feel and make some pictures of the Trax. Like always when one steps out of the routine pathways of everyday you meet some sweet people. One of the first people I met was avid Jazz fan and season ticket holder, Yvonne Wilcox. She has had season tickets, (not bad ones either I saw her at the Mav's game, 6th or 7th row!) for the last 3 years and takes the Trax to every home game then back to her home in Sandy. Richard Strait was involved in an accident leaving him in a wheelchair and has been in a sense stranded here in Salt Lake City. Formerly a mass transit bus driver in Portland he was a gold mine as far as the story went. He knew so much about transportation systems all around the West. I chatted and photographed him for a bit as we waited on the downtown train from the 13th South Ballfield Station. After a few minutes he said "I bet you need some fresh air" while not looking any where in my direction. I was a bit confused until I watched his jacket zipper drop and a white furry head pop out. "Snowball" his service dog rides with him everywhere. They were even photographed together for his UTA pass.

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