High Valley Transit proposes 35% budget increase

Popular micro transit destinations include the transit centers at Kimball Junction and Canyons Village. Photo: High Valley Transit

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — High Valley Transit, Summit County’s new transportation service, is calling for $5 million more (35% increase) in its proposed 2022 budget compared to 2021.

The increase “represents a 54 percent increase in total service hours as well as a large expansion of service area, to Francis, the top of Summit Park, Jeremy Ranch, Pinebrook, Silver Summit, and Silver Creek. Further, those customers that previously had 30-minute fixed-route service now have 15-minute service, effectively doubling their fixed-route transit service,” according to a High Vallet Transit staff report.

High Valley offers bus service in Summit County along with a micro-transit service.

The micro service saw a strong increase in ridership this summer, with riders increasing 85% in July compared to June data.

For the last week of September, High Valley’s micro service averaged 426 riders a day. The average wait for a ride was 12 minutes, while the average ride distance was 3.6 miles.

Year-to-date, micro has served 43,888 passengers.