University of Utah

A lot of the 2002 Winter Olympic events took place on the University of Utah campus.  Not the actual sporting events, only a fraction was there, but the ceremonies and living quarters for the athletes were on campus.  This made parking on campus for the students intolerable.  It was a good thing that the newly built light rail (TRAX) was up and running in time.  The only problem was that after the Olympics the UofU Parking Services complained that their sales of parking permits was down 20%, effectively cutting their budget.  TRAX ended up being so convenient for students that 20% of them decided to keep using public transportation.  Bad for Parking Services, good for the city.

You can see the TRAX station in the bottom left hand corner, the red brick buildings of Fort Douglas, where the athletes were housed, just down the street and Mt. Olympus in the background, to the south of where I was standing.