A pair of new public transportation options are coming to Utah Valley next month as part of Utah Transit Authority’s “Change Day.”

Beginning April 13, UTA is introducing an Innovative Mobility Zone to Provo, providing on-demand service to the west side of Provo and the Provo Airport.

A new UTA bus route will also serve the southern portion of the county, beginning at Provo Central Station and going south to Spanish Fork’s Center Street.

The additions are part of UTA’s five-year service plan, a rolling plan set out to 2029.

UTA said more service options to west Provo were highly requested by individuals surveyed in a 2024 engagement period. The main bus route currently serving the area begins at Provo Central Station with stops at 500 West and Center Street, Provo Airport and Center Street and Geneva Road.

The Innovative Mobility Zone will not be a traditional addition to the area. According to UTA Public Information Officer Gavin Gustafson, it is a trial run service that will function like an Uber.

From anywhere within a shaded area, which includes nearly all of Provo west of I-15 and small areas east of the interstate, an individual may order a ride through the transit app, phone or website.

“We don’t always use it as a trial, but with this one, we expect that the demand is going to be high, and so we’re going to use this for a little while to see what the demand is and where we really need a fixed route service,” Gustafson said. “And then if it meets the demand and the qualifications, then we’ll change it over to to a fixed route service in the future.”

The service route will operate through a provider called Via Transportation. For $2.50, an individual can book a shared ride and be picked up in a UTA minivan powered by Via. The service is available in four other areas along the Wasatch Front.

“It’s very similar to a rideshare in that you may often be sharing the van,” Gustafson said. “In this case, it’s going to be like six other people, maybe. So it’s a minivan, and you order up the ride, and it will typically pick you up nearby, maybe down at the corner.”

The new south valley route, called Route 823, will be the fourth bus route and second regular bus route to go south of Provo in the county.

Running every 30 minutes on weekdays and an hour on Saturdays, it will go south down State Street, then turn west upon 400 North in Springville, then head south at 1750 West in Springville before meandering down to Spanish Fork’s Center Street.

“It overlaps some other routes,” Gustafson said. “Of course, we usually like to do that so that people can make transfers and things like that, but it is a new route.”

In other changes, the Tech Corridor Rail Connector, which begins at the Lehi Station and connects Utah County to the TRAX system, will see its route simplified. Instead of going up to the Sandy Civic Center, then looping back around to Draper Town Center Station as it currently does, it will run straight from Sandy back to Lehi.