Provo, Orem leaders hope new UTA service will fill ‘gaps' in fast-growing county
Utah County remains the state's fastest-growing county, which requires extensive planning, including ways to handle new transportation challenges.
'Growth is coming and we have got to get ahead of it,' said Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi. 'We can't sit and wait until it's a problem.'
She sees public transit as a potential solution for moving more people around more efficiently than having everyone drive.
Orem Mayor Dave Young's city has FrontRunner, bus rapid transit and traditional bus services. Still, both he and Kaufusi say there are still 'gaps' in connectivity — something that they hope will be fixed by Utah Transit Authority's newest Utah County service.
The state agency extended its UTA on Demand service to Utah County for the first time last month, adding an 8.6-square-mile zone covering the west side of Orem and Provo, including destinations like Provo Airport and Provo City Hall. The microtransit service blends traditional bus operations with ridesharing, allowing customers to hail a van with other riders heading in a similar direction.
Both mayors say it should help west-side residents connect with the transit options that are easier to find east of the FrontRunner line, while offering better connections to key places like the fast-growing airport.
'This on-demand service really is the final touch in making that happen,' Young said. 'This is designed to bring that final level together.'
UTA first tested the concept in southwest Salt Lake County in 2019, reaching an area that experienced similar transit gaps. It became a permanent fixture two years later, before the agency added new service areas to Salt Lake City's west side and parts of Davis and Tooele counties.
Ridership has grown as a result. The agency reported having 2,207 average weekday boardings in April, an 18% increase from last April and its highest monthly average since adding the service. UTA Director Jay Fox hopes the trend continues as it extends to a crucial part of Utah County.
'One of the reasons on-demand coming here is a pretty big deal is because it's been so successful everywhere else,' Fox said. 'You know right away that bringing it to an area, it's going to connect people to places they couldn't connect to before directly; it's going to be an incredible success. ... For both cities, it's going to just drive so much mobility.'
It could also spark new transit service down the road. UTA used heat maps to carve out a traditional bus service route in southwest Salt Lake County that also debuted last month. The same could happen in Utah County.
In the meantime, UTA on Demand will be available within the Orem/Provo zone from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day from Monday through Saturday. One-way rides are $2.50, the same cost as a bus.
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