It’s a route UTA has provided for less than a year in its current form. Last winter, UTA shortened the 902 and made other cuts, including buses in the Cottonwood canyons.
UTA said it was forced to make the cuts because of a lack of drivers.
Then, last November, Summit County’s High Valley Transit contracted new buses and created a new route covering many of those stops. That’s the High Valley 107 bus, which starts at the Kimball Junction Transit Center and ends at the Salt Lake Central Station.
Unlike last year, HVT Executive Director Caroline Rodriguez said she doesn’t think High Valley has the funding to cover what UTA no longer will.
“It's certainly been a topic of discussion among the staff members. We will actually talk to our board about it [Wednesday],” Rodriguez said. “I can't speak for UTA, but my understanding is that the ridership on their 902 has been exceptionally high, so it's a shame that they're cutting it.”
UTA spokesperson Carl Arky said part of the reason it will discontinue the 902 is because of High Valley’s 107 bus.
“When there's a bus operator shortage, you have to start looking at, ‘OK, where can our resources best be utilized?’ and try to still continue to serve all the areas that we possibly can," he said. "Since there's another operator who is offering basically the same service, we just see that as a duplication of service, and then we can use our resources, put them to better use somewhere else.”
Arky said UTA hasn’t ruled out reviving the 902, but it’s hard to foresee that happening right now.
But he mentioned UTA is heading in the right direction, recently hiring more staff after a recruiting push that includes pay raises.
“It's not just a matter of finding anybody and putting them behind the wheel of a bus or a train,” Arky said. “It's finding good, qualified people, and it's a challenge right now, but at least we're trending up.”
He said drivers start around $24 an hour with a $2,000 signing bonus, and wages can go up to $28 per hour.
