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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Transit Authority is, to an extent, set to take on rideshare services Lyft and Uber with a new late-night microtransit pilot program launching in Salt Lake City this week.
The agency announced Monday that it will begin a new late-night, on-demand service in downtown Salt Lake City Thursday with the global public transportation tech company Via. The program is essentially a hybrid between rideshare tech apps and public transportation.
"UTA On Demand by Via" allows users to hail a ride by using the Via app from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays throughout the summer. Shana Quinn, an innovative mobility researcher for UTA, said Tuesday that the service is a test to see what the level of demand there could be for a late-night public transit from workers whose shifts may run late or people who attend events that end late.
Once a user plugs in their location and their destination, a driver will then pull up at the nearest corner to the user's location and take them to where they want to go. However, all locations and destinations must be within Salt Lake City's limits, UTA officials said. Salt Lake City International Airport is the only portion of the city not included in the pilot program.
Via uses minivans that can collect up to five passengers along the way, Quinn said on KSL NewsRadio's "Dave and Dujanovic" show. That means someone, or a group of people could get a ride from a downtown business to their residence, or anywhere else in the city, during times that UTA's bus and TRAX services don't run — at least on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights into the early mornings the next day.
"The intent is to collect coming from the same location to a similar destination. It's a corner-to-corner service," she said. "So, yes, you might share a ride with one or two more people; very similar to getting onto a bus. It's just way smaller."
Via minivans also go from corner to corner instead of exact location to exact location for "efficient routing," according to Quinn. Via will still offer door-to-door service for people with disabilities and those who are 65 and older, according to UTA.
"There's a little more walking involved. It's a little bit less convenient than traditional ridesharing, but it's a lot more affordable — and it's also accessible," she told KSL NewsRadio.
The new service costs $2.50 per ride and $1.25 for those who qualify for reduced fares, which is the same fare for a one-way bus or light rail ticket. People can pay through credit or debit cards linked to a Via account. Riders can also call 385-217-8191 to set up an account.
The Via app is available to be downloaded at both the App Store and Google Play. The last day of the Salt Lake City pilot program is Sept. 4, which is the beginning of the Labor Day weekend.
The new on-demand service is the second partnership between UTA and Via. The two paired together in 2019 for a similar pilot program to extend public transit access to areas in south Salt Lake County like Bluffdale, Draper, Herriman, South Jordan and Riverton.
UTA officials added that they are also partnering with the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance for its "Downtown SLC Open Streets" program, which also launches Thursday night and carries through the summer weekends. Given that "UTA On Demand by Via" is just a test, Quinn said UTA officials are eager to see the results of the pilot program.
"We're hoping to see if it's cost-effective for UTA to try this out in the Salt Lake City area," she said. "It's not every night, but it's the nights we think there will be a lot of people moving around later at night."
