Transportation Guide to SC16 in Salt Lake City

Are you coming to SC16 in Salt Lake City? As far as transportation goes, SLC has gone through remarkable changes since we last visited at SC12. As you’ll learn in the Print ‘n Fly Guide to SC16 in Salt Lake City, a new light rail system will get you from the airport and all about town.

Lloyd Brown from BYU was kind enough to share these transportation tips for SLC.

“As a local, I thought I might pass along some information, specifically about ground-transportation options, that might be helpful to people coming.” — Lloyd Brown

• If visitors are just going to/from the airport, and otherwise staying downtown, it’s highly likely that the mass-transit options will be sufficient, and they won’t need a rental car. And downtown isn’t all *that* big, so you can walk many places. For either option, services like Google Maps are the easiest way to figure it out.

• In 2013 (*after* the SC12 conference in SLC), the light rail service (“Trax“) began going all the way to the airport.  It doesn’t run all night, though, so visitors will want to check the schedule, especially if they’re arriving or leaving late.  Here’s info about the airport station.

• There is a “Free Fare Zone” that covers much of the downtown area, when using Trax or Bus (http://rideuta.com/-/media/RideUTA/Maps/FreeFareZone_Aug2014.ashx). That map makes it look like it’s just a few square blocks, but the blocks are quite large in SLC.

• The transit authority also lets you use NFC-based payment (contactless credit-cards, Apple Pay, Google Wallet, etc.), to pay for fare (see http://www.rideuta.com/Fares-And-Passes/Electronic-Fare) and http://rideuta.com/Fares-And-Passes/Electronic-Fare/FAQs. Just be sure to tap-on, and tap-off, for each ride and transit type.  Trax (light rail) and FrontRunner (longer-distance diesel commuter rail) have payment stations on the platforms, and buses have them onboard.  If changing from one service to another (eg. Trax to Bus), be sure to tap-off on the first service, and tap-on again on the second one. The system will automatically handle transfer fares, etc.

• Recent taxi fare deregulation has, unfortunately, had some negative side-effects, especially when leaving the airport (see http://www.sltrib.com/home/4133883-155/complaints-say-salt-lake-airport-taxis?fullpage=1). If given the choice, and mass-transit isn’t an option, I’d personally recommend using Uber or Lyft, but visitors can also verify fare with the taxi driver before getting in.

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This post is just one of the great features in the new Print ‘n Fly Guide to SC16 in Salt Lake City. Inside this guide you will find technical features on supercomputing, HPC interconnects, and the latest developments on the road to exascale. It also has great recommendations on food, entertainment, and transportation in SLC.

Print n’ Fly Table of Contents

• What’s Next for HPC? A Q&A with Michael Kagan, CTO, Mellanox
• When State-of-the-Art Becomes State-of-the-Smart, by Scot Schulz, Mellanox
• Changing the Face of the SC Conference Series: An Interview with SC16 General Chair John West
• Offloading vs. Onloading: The Case of CPU Utilization
• Salt Lake City Guide – A Wonder of the West
• The Ultimate Debate – Interconnect Offloading versus Onloading – Round 3 (InfiniBand versus Omni-Path)
• Our Top Top Recommendation for a Great Dinner in SLC
• Local’s Guide to Food & Entertainment in Salt Lake City
• Transportation Guide to Salt Lake City

Download the Guide to SC16 (PDF)