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SALT LAKE CITY — All Utah Transit Authority and GREENbike services are going fare-less Thursday and Friday, as a part of Utah's "Free Fare for Clean Air" days.
The program, introduced by the Utah Legislature in 2019, funds days of fare-less public transit in an effort to improve air quality along the Wasatch Front. Through Sept. 1-2, UTA won't collect fares on its bus, light rail, FrontRunner or other services.
GREENbike, an electric bike-share service in Salt Lake City, is also offering a code that unlocks a bike at no cost for 24 hours. Customers just need to enter "8121" at any GREENbike station to unlock a bike during either day.
This year's program comes as air quality is forecast to be "unhealthy for sensitive groups" Thursday and Friday in Davis, Tooele, Salt Lake and Utah counties as a result of extremely hot temperatures and pollution, which mixes into higher ozone levels, according to the Utah Division of Air Quality.
"Summertime ozone pollution is not something we can see like our winter inversions, but over the past few years some of our worst air quality days have been in the summer months," said Kim Shelley, executive director at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, in a statement Tuesday.
UTA last participated in a summer "Free Fare for Clean Air" program in August 2021. The agency says the two-day program resulted in a 5% increase in bus ridership and a 12% increase in FrontRunner ridership. About 1 in 5 of the riders were using public transit for the first time.
Vehicles are the largest contributor to Utah's air quality challenges along the Wasatch Front.
–Kim Shelley, Utah DEQ
The transit agency conducted another two-day stint in December 2021 before the "Free Fare February" earlier this year, which was launched through an initiative of cities. Waving the cost of fare ultimately resulted in a 16% jump in average weekday riders across all UTA platforms.
Carlton Christensen, chairman of UTA's board of trustees, calls these fare-less days "very successful," adding that UTA is looking "forward to building on this success," while also increasing awareness about the air quality benefits of riding public transportation.
Shelley points out that public transportation can play a major role in reducing pollution that emerges from Utah's roadways.
"Vehicles are the largest contributor to Utah's air quality challenges along the Wasatch Front," she said. "We've seen that when we remove barriers to using public transit, people will make the choice that reduces pollution and improves (the) quality of life all around."
