The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) partnered with the Utah Transit Authority (UTA), the University of Utah, and Via for a successful award under the Federal Transit Administration’s Areas of Persistent Poverty Program. The project studied a possible transition from UTA’s current traditional 24-hour notice paratransit service powered by gasoline vehicles, to an on-demand dispatching system, which also introduced zero-emission vehicles that could significantly increase rider convenience, improve service equity and productivity, and take steps toward cleaner air and better health for an especially vulnerable population.
The study focused on four tasks: (1) evaluating the potential to transition UTA’s paratransit operating software to a more dynamic on-demand system with a focus on equitably serving high-poverty areas, (2) evaluating the viability of using existing resources during off-peak hours to provide on-demand rides to the public, (3) planning to introduce zero-emission paratransit vehicles, and (4) ensuring in-depth community engagement to include a diverse range of people with disabilities.
CTE was engaged to address task 3 - evaluating the potential for UTA to transition its paratransit fleet to battery electric buses (BEBs). CTE conducted a kickoff meeting to outline its plan to the larger project team and collected vehicle data from UTA. CTE conducted a market analysis of current and near-term BEBs suitable for paratransit service along with supporting infrastructure. CTE analyzed the service requirements to determine the feasibility of BEBs to meet agency requirements and provided a high-level cost analysis of the transition. CTE summarized the results of the analyses in a final report. This project is complete.
