Elevated Transit

Description

Elevated Transit provides daily routes in both directions throughout its service area, plus some additional roundtrip runs Thursday through Monday. Its headquarters are at 42 North 100 East, Suite 1 in American Fork. Its parent company, Wasatch Transportation, has (as of 2016) been in operating in Utah for nearly 30 years, but has specialized in special needs and school transportation. Elevated Transit's slogan is Travel the HIGH way. Seating is first-come, first-served and smoking is prohibited on Elevated Transit vehicles.

The bus line was created to provide bus service to the central, eastern, and southeastern areas of the state that previously lacked public transportation. It began operating with substantial financial support from the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) and Greyhound Lines. Between UDOT and Greyhound, Elevated Transit will receive $864,000 per year for its first five years of operation. According to CEO Steven Fuller, it is hoped that the initial funding will allow the company to grow "to the point that public funds are no longer needed and it will self-sustain." The service is intended to connect with existing Greyhound service, as well as other transit systems along the routes.

Current Fleet

Elevated Transit's fleet included two models of 35-passenger buses (Glaval Synergy and Thomas HDX) with three of each model. The Glaval Synergy have compartments that have the capacity to hold a limited number of bicycles. However, in anticipation of multiple passengers desiring to transport bicycles to the Moab area, the buses have the ability to tow a bicycle trailer.The Thomas HDX model are most often used for school buses, but is occasionally modified (as for Elevated Transit) for commercial transport. Both buses have Wi-Fi, available satellite TV, lavatories, wheelchair access, additional space for baggage and bicycles

History

Decades ago, Greyhound provide more extensive bus service in rural Utah than it does today, but most of these routes were abandoned years ago For quite a few years replacement service has been sought and a similar proposed bus service was close to realization in 2012. This service was to be provided by the Salt Lake Express, however, the proposal fell through when Salt Lake Express's buses couldn't meet the required Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. The contract was opened again for bidding, with the proposal from Wasatch Transportation being accepted. About a year later the new subsidiary company (Elevated Transit) received its transportation license on 3 October 2013.

After several false starts, Elevated Transit began operating on 13 August 2014. Original plans were to commence operations in late April, then mid June, but buses did not begin running until August. The later-than-planned start was due, in part, to delays in the delivery of it vehicles. For the first three days of operation 13–15 August), passengers were allowed to ride fare free to encourage familiarity with the service as well as identify any possible problems with the service ("beta testing").

In 2015, Elevated Transit was awarded the Best Brand Design by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. The company's logo and brand design were developed with help from Cocoa Productions (Midway, Utah).

Future plans

Elevated Transit anticipates providing express package service in the near future.

Routes

As of February 2016, Elevated Transit continued having two routes: Blanding - Salt Lake City and Richfield - Salt Lake City. It provides daily runs in each direction on both of its routes, with buses leaving every morning from Blanding and Richfield, as well as two more from Salt Lake City. Except as noted, they make the same stops on both the northbound and the southbound runs of both routes. The following are lists of stops on the respective routes:

Blanding - Salt Lake City

Richfield - Salt Lake City

In addition to these daily runs, Elevated Transit provides additional roundtrips on the Richfield - Salt Lake City route. These additional roundtrips make most of the same stops along the route and run each Thursday thru Monday. They start in the mid afternoon in Richfield with a 30-minute layover in Salt Lake City in the early evening before returning to Richfield. There is also a 10-minute layover in Gunnison on the northbound leg only and no layover in Nephi for either direction. These roundtrips do not stop in either direction at the following: Snow College in Ephraim, Fairview, and Mount Pleasant. One of the intended purposes for this additional trip is to facilitate access from the Wasatch Front to the Central Utah Correctional Facility (CUCF). Prison visitors may ride down to Gunnison in the morning and then return the same evening.

Ticketing

Tickets for Elevated Transit service can be purchased online at its official website. Prices are distance based and one-way prices range from $2.00 for cross-town service to $85.00 for the longest run (from the USUE campus in Blanding to the Salt Lake City International Airport). However, slight discounts are offered to senior citizens and accompanied children (ages 2–11), with no charge for infants under age 2. As an official Greyhound Connect service provider, tickets for routes on both bus companies can be purchased on either company's website. (For the first few months of Elevated Transit's operations, tickets had to be purchased separately. In addition, due to website compatibility issues, as of July 2015, Elevated Transit's website was unable to accept credit cards from card customers with a non-US billing address. Such customers were directed to use Greyhound's website to purchase their tickets.)