UTA’s recently launched and seemingly unprecedented public outreach effort asks the public how the agency should prioritize its conflicting goals of increasing ridership or coverage.
The obvious choice should be prioritizing ridership.
Rideshare services are now ubiquitous and affordable. With the inevitable advent of autonomous vehicles in the coming years — along with decreasing energy prices — rideshare prices will continue to drop. Investing transit funding in low-ridership areas to increase coverage is a battle UTA can't win. Transit agencies should play to their strengths — moving large numbers of people to popular destinations.
Increasing frequency in high-ridership areas is more logical and financially responsible than operating empty buses in efforts to increase coverage. When bus frequency is reduced to an hour or more, calling an Uber or Lyft becomes a much more attractive and realistic transportation option.
The ideal solution would be to partner with rideshare companies to provide subsidized trips for UTA passholders in low-coverage areas. If the partnership could include access to these companies’ coveted trip data, it could be analyzed to determine areas of high transit demand that could benefit from additional transit service.
Private sector transportation innovations have made a sizable impact on urban mobility. As these companies continue to innovate while transit agencies cling to antiquated business models, more people will choose rideshare services over transit. UTA must change and adapt to stay relevant in our evolving transportation landscape.
Trevor Ovenden, Salt Lake City