The Utah Transit Authority is now allowing riders to pay fares for TRAX, streetcars and bus with a new smartphone app, called UTA GoRide.
“The nice thing is you can buy as many tickets as you want and keep them on your phone. You just activate the ticket before you get on,” said Dave Goeres, UTA chief safety officer.
“It’s a little intimidating if you see a train coming and you don’t have a ticket,” he said. “This way, you have the tickets on your phone in your pocket — and you can activate one and get on the train, or bus.”
Goeres adds, “If a family is traveling together, you can activate tickets for everyone on one phone.”
He said UTA also is working with convention planners to tell out-of-town visitors about the app. “They can buy their tickets whenever they want. When they get off the airplane, they can go to the TRAX station, activate a ticket, get on the train, and come into town.”
The app is free — and Goeres said it has some features that could help riders even if they don’t buy tickets through it.
“We’re recommending that everyone download it because it has a great little trip planner. It gives you all the options to get out to your destination,” he said. “You don’t have to buy a ticket to use that.”
He notes that riders often do not realize, for example, that a bus route to their destination may be faster than taking a train — but the app will help show that.
Goeres said three types of tickets may now be purchased on the app: regular one-way tickets for $2.50; a day pass for $6.25; and one-way reduced fare for youth or senior citizens for $1.25 (which require appropriate ID to be shown to fare inspectors or bus drivers).
He said the app also shows how much time is remaining on a ticket (a one-way fare is good for 2.5 hours of travel).
The new app does not now allow buying tickets for the FrontRunner commuter train, because it bases fares on the distance traveled. Goeres said offering those tickets by phone is in the works, and will come in the future.
“We’re trying to make it more convenient for our customers, and allow them to avoid lines” at ticket machines, Goeres said.
Of interest, the app was developed — at no cost to UTA — by passport, the same company that handles paying street parking by app in downtown Salt Lake City, Goeres said. He adds that the company’s fare app is also used by eight other transit systems nationally.
