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UTA revels in rebounding ridership recorded across 2024

By Rob Nielsen - Standard-Examiner | Jan 17, 2025

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

Ogden Express buses prepare to run their route from the Ogden Transit Center to McKay-Dee Hospital on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024.

SALT LAKE CITY — Local transit officials are looking back at what they say ultimately was a very successful 2024.

This week, the Utah Transit Authority released its numbers for 2024, showing growth across the gauntlet of transit options and ridership numbers returning to pre-pandemic levels.

“This past year was an incredibly successful year for us,” UTA Executive Director Jay Fox during a media session Tuesday. “Up 15.5% in ridership. … I think the most exciting part of that is, when you look back to the pandemic — which I don’t usually like to do — we are right there in bus and over 80% on our rail lines.”

He said this is a sign that transit is seen as a valuable option by the greater Salt Lake City region.

“People are using transit, not only to get to work, but they’re using it all day,” he said. “They’re using it on the weekends. They’re choosing it as an alternative a lot compared to using an automobile, because I know a lot of them are tired of traffic.”

In 2024, UTA saw more than 40 million riders across all areas of transit.

According to a news release, the various services saw the following number of users, followed by the change from last year:

  • Bus — 20,163,298, +10.1%.
  • FrontRunner — 4,128,459, +10.5%.
  • TRAX — 13,509,954, +26.5%.
  • S-Line Streetcar — 454,887, +24.1%.
  • Paratransit — 366,096, +6.6%.
  • Vanpool — 1,127,566, +9.1%.
  • UTA On Demand — 567,908, +36.8%.

Further, the Ogden Express bus rapid transit line, called OGX, saw nearly 1 million riders in its first full year of operation.

On the southern end of UTA’s coverage area, Fox said there are some big aspirations as part of its five-year service plan.

“In Provo, we have had a very successful on-demand service, which is essentially like Uber or Lyft, but in a defined service area,” he said. “We’re going to add another service area for on-demand in the Provo area, and that’s going to service our train stations down there, the Provo area as well as the Provo Airport.”

Fox said 2024 wasn’t without its challenges.

“The challenge that we faced going into ’24 was a challenge that the entire country was facing, which was labor,” he said. “We have very low unemployment rates, so that was a challenge for us in making sure we had enough operators and mechanics.”

However, he said UTA was able to overcome this.

“We’re fully staffed and we have the team ready to roll out these additional services in ’25,” he said. “We’re not taking the foot off the pedal, if I can speak in transit terms, and we’re just going to continue to hire and continue to build our labor force so we can continue to add service.”