Getting around town: UTA rideshare service coming to northern Utah County
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- A Utah Transit Authority rideshare vehicle is pictured.
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- A map of the northern Utah County innovative mobility zone is shown.
The traffic conundrum in northern Utah County won’t be solved in a day, but efforts from the county and state partners will provide residents an alternative way of getting around beginning this summer.
The Utah County Commission entered into an agreement with the Utah Transit Authority Wednesday to establish an innovative mobility zone, or an on-demand rideshare program, in American Fork, Eagle Mountain, Lehi and Saratoga Springs beginning in August.
Operating similar to an Uber or Lyft, anyone in the innovative mobility zone area can order a ride via the UTA app and will be picked up and taken to a nearby destination, or bus or a FrontRunner station.
“We have had very successful innovative mobility zones already throughout the Wasatch Front and it is a mode of transportation that we deliver not only for students and other people to connect into our system, but it is really valuable to seniors in the community who use those zones during the day to get to doctor’s appointments or go shopping,” UTA Executive Director Jay Fox said.
The partnership is a result of an effort from Utah County to get more public transportation services. Last year, the county commission sent a letter to UTA requesting it re-evaluate its 2026 budget to include Utah County projects after UTA’s proposed budget included the allocation of $43 million in state and local dollars to projects in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties but none in Utah County.
Utah County Administrator Ezra Nair said in January that UTA returned to the county with the idea for the mobility zone.
The county will use its fifth-fifth sales tax dollars to pay for a large part of it. Nair told the Daily Herald Thursday that they have $18.5 million budgeted for the project over the next five years, but the exact figure used will depend on usage and where trips originate from.
“We also have the opportunity to expand the service area or reduce it if needed,” Nair said.
As part of the partnership, the Utah Department of Transportation will pay for IMZ services in the area surrounding the FrontRunner Lehi station, servicing Silicon Slopes.
Hal Johnson, UTA’s director of innovative mobility, said the rideshare program will service an area of 180,000 people, and is projected to offer 400 rides a day. The zone will have a fleet of 16 vehicles, with 50% of them being wheelchair accessible.
Johnson added that the rideshare program is designed to offer trips up to six miles, but will make longer trips to connect someone to the FrontRunner station.
“It’s very handy within the app environment,” Johnson said. “If you’re on FrontRunner and you’re headed south, you don’t have to book a trip at the station. You can book the trip while you’re on the train. So you can try to time that so you can reduce your wait time.”
Commissioners commended UTA Wednesday for being open to feedback and willing to work with the county to establish the service.
“I think that was a great example of government entities working together,” Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner said.
Commissioner Skyler Beltran emphasized that the service can be utilized in a variety of options, offering examples of college students who can carpool to classes, and an individual who can now get a consistent ride to work.
“This is a great use of those (fifth-fifth) funds,” Beltran said. “We may get some complaints that we’re subsidizing public transportation. We subsidize every road everybody drives on as well. So this is a dedicated funding source for this purpose. And I love that we had so much local input. This was not something UTA brought to us. This was something we brought to UTA and they delivered.”
