The bus route will remain free of charge for Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University students, faculty and staff due to UTA providing passes for several higher education institutions in Utah.

About 80% of UVX riders are pass holders with passes provided by their school or place of employment, said Heather Barnum, UTA chief communications officer. Those riders who have passes provided to them will not be impacted.

UVX first began service in 2018 and has been operating as a free-fare service since then due to federal grant money, Barnum said, which helped build the ridership of the new service. Since it opened, the bus route has become one of the most popular routes in the UTA system.

The free fare period initially was slated to end last December but was extended while UTA conducted a public comment period and analysis of the change.

According to Barnum, UTA always intended to add fares to the UVX route, as all other public transit routes are fare-based and it provides consistency.

“Also, I think it’s important that it ensures financial stability of UTA’s regional system, so that we can build additional routes and we can add more service,” she said.

During the public comment period, which also covered other UTA service updates aside from UVX, the organization received more than 1,400 comments, according to a presentation given at a May 22 meeting of UTA’s board of trustees.

The UVX route ridership has increased somewhat since last year, according to data provided by UTA. Ridership typically is higher during the school year, with weekly ridership during the 2024 spring semester above 8,000.

On the day of the change, Barnum said UTA employees will be available at UVX bus stops to answer questions, helping riders with payment and providing resources on if riders qualify for reduced fares. She added that they also will be giving out 1,000 free FAREPAY cards, which normally have a $3 fee.

The August change day also will include updates to the UTA FAREPAY cards and expand the eligibility for income-based reduced fares.

The FAREPAY card will be switched from a pay-per-ride system to a “capping” system where after a rider reaches a certain dollar amount per day or week, the remaining rides are free.

For a regular FAREPAY card, there will be a $5-a-day cap on services, except FrontRunner — meaning that after a rider pays $5 in fares, the rest of their rides for the day are free. The weekly cap will be $20 and rides after that will be free the rest of the week.

FrontRunner service will have a higher cap, with a daily maximum of $10, and $40 weekly.

Barnum said she’s excited for the changes to FAREPAY as they work to attract more riders and make transit more accessible.

“We want you to feel like you can use transit consistently for all of your trip needs and not just for the football game, but actually for your grocery shopping,” she said.

The upcoming change day also will including route updates in the UTA system, which can be found at rideuta.com/Rider-Info/Change-Day.