Latest news with #UTAonDemand
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
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.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Yahoo
UTA to implement ‘significant' service changes. Here's what to know
'Significant' transit service updates are coming to the Wasatch Front. Utah Transit Authority plans to add five new bus routes across Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah counties beginning as early as Sunday. The agency will also make a few large route adjustments to existing routes and expand more on-demand microtransit services. The agency is expected to add 1.1 million service miles and hundreds of new bus stops to its growing service area. Some changes have already been implemented ahead of schedule. The new South Jordan Downtown TRAX station opened last month ahead of the Salt Lake Bees' first game in Daybreak. A pair of new routes in Salt Lake County highlight changes coming to UTA's bus system. Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, in 2022, voiced his frustration about the lack of transit service in the growing region, arguing that an already worsening traffic situation in the region could become "exacerbated" without alternatives. It ignited years of discussion and planning that landed in the new service. The new route — running every 60 minutes on weekdays — marks the beginning. The bus will connect UTA's Daybreak Parkway TRAX station at the end of the Red Line with Draper Town Center TRAX station at the end of the Blue Line via Bluffdale, Herriman and Riverton, as well as the Draper FrontRunner station along the way. Herriman Mayor Lorin Palmer told KSL-TV last week it serves as an important "part of the infrastructure" of the growing city because "we can only build so many roads." Meanwhile, Route 219 will also debut on Monday. The route, which will also run every 60 minutes, will connect UTA's Sandy Civic Center TRAX station along the Blue Line with Bluffdale, with stops in South Jordan and Riverton along the way. Other new bus routes set to launch include: Route 417: The service will connect Salt Lake City's west side with the Woods Cross FrontRunner station via stops along Redwood Road in northern Salt Lake and southern Davis counties. It will run every 30 minutes on weekdays beginning on Monday. Route 628: This route will replace the existing Midtown Trolley, adding more regular service and paratransit service to the route linking the Layton and Clearfield FrontRunner stations in Davis County. It will run every 30 minutes on weekdays and every hour on Saturdays. Route 823: The new service will run every hour between Provo Center Station and Spanish Fork via Springville on weekdays and on Saturdays. New routing is planned for a handful of other routes, including the ends of long-term detours for some routes and increasing frequency at others. Minor schedule tweaks are planned for dozens of other routes. More details can be found on UTA's website. Meanwhile, UTA on Demand — a microtransit system UTA made permanent in southern Salt Lake County nearly four years ago — is now coming to Utah County. Microtransit is essentially a blend between traditional bus and rideshare services. People can use an app to hail a ride from one portion of a service area to another, while the technology pairs other riders headed in a similar direction. UTA's new West Provo/Orem service area, debuting on Monday, covers 8.6 square miles, connecting Provo's and Orem's FrontRunner stations with key destinations like the Provo Airport. Service will be available within the zone from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day from Monday through Saturday. The agency also offers pockets of service within the west side of Salt Lake City, southern Davis County and eastern Tooele County. It recorded over 2,100 average weekday boardings at its peak last year, making it the busiest year of service it was officially added to the system in 2021. The new service figures to help Utah's largest transit agency as it seeks to bring transportation alternatives to the growing Wasatch Front. It logged over 40 million rides last year for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, and ridership data from the first quarter of 2025 show that this year could inch the agency closer to pre-pandemic ridership levels. Carlton Christensen, chairman of UTA's board of trustees, told reporters earlier this week that the agency is still exploring further service expansions like a fourth TRAX line, more bus rapid transit systems and upgrades to FrontRunner, following a visit from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. All of those could increase future ridership. 'It's key to have an effective FrontRunner, TRAX (and) bus system in addition to our hard surface road area. It all comes together to accommodate the massive growth we have coming at us,' added Sen. John Curtis.
