Comic Con fans help Utah Transit Authority set another ridership record

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Comic Con and its 120,000 or so science fiction and fantasy fans did it again: they helped the Utah Transit Authority set another new ridership record.

UTA reported on Wednesday that it had 567,892 boardings on TRAX and FrontRunner last week, a new all-time record, according to preliminary numbers. That's about 22 percent higher than an average summer week, according to UTA data.

Comic Con, which holds its three-day conventions in the Salt Palace downtown, has also helped UTA set records previously.

Last year it pushed the transit system to a three-day record of 312,636 rail boardings — nearly triple the average for a Thursday-Saturday period. That, in turn, exceeded a prior benchmark set during an earlier Comic Con weekend. A "boarding" is every time someone enters a train or bus. With transfers, one trip could have several boardings. And while boardings did not create a new three-day period record this year, "it wasn't far off," said UTA spokesman Remi Barron.

Total rail boardings for the three days of Comic Con this year were 292,904. And while that was down about 20,000 from the previous Comic Con convention, fewer additional events took place around the city at the same time.

"Please keep in mind that last year's three-day record was in conjunction with Comic Con [all three days] the State Fair [all three days], a University of Utah football game [Saturday], a special event at the LDS Conference Center [Friday and Saturday], and a special event at Abravanel Hall [Friday and Saturday]," Barron said.

This year, other downtown events coinciding with Comic Con included a circus, Utah Symphony concerts and the women's meeting of LDS General Conference — but no State Fair or college football.

Because of the anticipated crowds, UTA added extra cars on TRAX trains and increased the frequency of its service. Data for additional ridership on UTA buses takes more time to collect and will be available later, Barron said.