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PROVO — A petition to stop Bus Rapid Transit from coming to Provo has failed.
According to Utah County clerk auditor Bryan Thompson, the petitioners had 45 days to gather 17,885 signatures — roughly 10 percent of all votes cast in Utah County in the last presidential election. When the June 5 deadline arrived, only 14,833 signatures had been collected, Thompson said.
“My declaration is that the number of signatures is insufficient,” Thompson said.
The petition was filed back in April by eight Provo residents opposed to the project.
“In general, I think they were concerned about the project not fitting the needs for the area,” Thompson said. “I think that’s where both sides were going back and forth.”
Often known as “light rail on rubber tires,” rapid transit involves larger buses that would travel in designated lanes in a loop around Provo and Orem, running every five to seven minutes during peak times and every 10 to 15 minutes during off peak hours.
There are currently two proposed routes. The first would run past Utah Valley University, cut up to BYU campus by way of 900 East and 700 north and then loop back around via University Avenue. The second option — proposed by residents concerned about bringing the system to 900 East — would avoid 900 East altogether and eliminate the loop around BYU.
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Both routes would allow stops near University Mall, downtown Provo and the Provo Towne Centre Mall, according to Provo city’s website.
“We want bus rapid transit,” Provo Mayor John Curtis told KSL last year. “We want it to move forward.”
Half of the funding for the project — which is projected to cost around $150 million — will come from Federal Transit Administration grants, while the rest is earmarked to come from Utah County transit taxes that are already in place.
City leaders expressed concern on the Provo website that route changes and lack of community support could potentially hurt the project’s chances of receiving federal funding. They argue the transit system will benefit the Provo-Orem are in many ways, helping get people where they need to go and serving some of the biggest commercial areas in the cities.
Those behind the petition have likely exhausted their last option to stop the project, Thompson said.
