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The Utah County Commission voted Tuesday to show the federal government it is willing to match dollar-for-dollar a potential $75 million grant for a bus-rapid transit project in Provo and Orem.
It unanimously approved a memorandum saying it would match such a grant by borrowing $65 million through bonds, plus providing real estate, which would be added to other local planning and engineering work equalling $75 million overall.
It took that action just before a federal deadline this week.
If the federal grant is not awarded, "Then this all goes away," and no bonds would be issued, said Commissioner Larry Ellertson, who is also a member of the Utah Transit Authority Board, which would build and operate the project.
Ellertson said if bonds are issued, they would be repaid through existing countywide sales tax for transit — and the action would not increase current sales tax.
"We understand that there are a number of differing views as to whether this [bus rapid transit] is the right thing to do," he said. But he said elected officials throughout the county view it "as something that will be beneficial as we move into the future" and will help handle population growth.
Bus rapid transit (BRT) is sort of a TRAX on rubber wheels. It has stretches with a bus-only lane on roads, requires passengers to buy tickets from machines and has limited stations. The new BRT route would connect the Provo and Orem FrontRunner commuter rail stations via the BYU campus. It would run generally along University Avenue and University Parkway.
Ellertson said regional planners project BRT could quadruple current bus ridership along the line.
UTA has one bus rapid transit line now along 3500 South in West Valley City and Magna, but it has only about a one-mile stretch of bus-only lanes. UTA is also working on plans for BRT lines between Taylorsville and Murray, and from downtown Salt Lake City through southern Davis County. Several other proposed BRT lines are on long-term regional transportation plans.