UTA's Flex route in Utah County proving itself

AMERICAN FORK — For Erica Sanderson, Flex868 provides a way to get to her college classes.

For Betty Barney, it's a lifeline to her job at the Utah Developmental Center and back home.

For Rachel Merrell, the bus gives her a way to shop for her family and run errands while she's without access to a car.

For Steve Halliday, it's a little more critical. He needs the little bus to get to and from his life-saving dialysis treatments.

"I'd be in trouble without it," Halliday said. "I ride every other day to get to my treatments."

Known as "The Lift," the relatively new route is Utah Transit Authority's solution to providing service in an area where the needs are diverse and ever changing.

"When we had a regular 40' bus in there, it was essentially very inefficient. The ridership didn't justify the cost," said Gerry Carpenter, a UTA spokesman. "We came up with the flex option which seems to be working well. What we found is our ridership got better and our efficiency improved."

The Flex bus is smaller than a conventional vehicle and can divert to pick and drop off passengers, like Halliday, right to their doors when necessary.

Flex868 provides federally mandated ADA service as well as an option for shoppers and students who need affordable, dependable transportation near their homes and jobs.

Carpenter said the Flex routes were started in 2009 in Riverton, Draper and Tooele and encouraged UTA officials to add three new Flex routes in Alpine/American Fork, Herriman and Syracuse/Hooper in 2010.

"This was directly in response to changes in the ADA," Carpenter said. Since the transportation authority must provide public access to the disabled, it makes financial sense to combine that requirement with the needs of the rest of the population. Flex868 strikes that balance.

"It's more flexible. It's open to anyone. It's designed to meet customer needs," he said.

Flex868 runs about every 90 minutes, departing from the Frontrunner station on 200 South to Main Street over to 7th East and 1100 East up to Alpine and back down 100 East to 9600 North in American Fork and 1200 East in Lehi.

The loop takes about an hour depending on how many deviations are requested. Each deviation costs an extra dollar and must be requested to UTA two hours ahead of time.