The City of Moab was recently awarded $1 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act through the Federal Transit Administration. The funds will go directly toward the city’s plan to create a shuttle program.
The shuttle program, now named Moab Area Transit, has been in the works for a few years and was originally awarded “hotspot” funding from the Utah Department of Transportation.
The original plan was to have one micro-transit van that would operate 14 hours per day for seven days a week and operate on an on-call basis. With the extra funding, City Engineer Chuck Williams proposed that the city pursue a micro-transit van and a fixed route van that would both operate for 10 hours per day for seven days per week. Both shuttles would cover the area between Highway 128 and the Spanish Trail Arena.
The exact stops haven’t been determined yet, Williams said, but he anticipates between 10 and 12 stops based on prior consulting on the project.
“It’s possible that after year one, if nobody rides the fixed route, we’ll reevaluate,” Williams said, adding that it would be entirely possible to have only micro-transit vans or vice-versa, depending on their popularity.
The council voted unanimously to approve the new budget which will fund two vans. For next steps, William will put out a Request for Proposal to find vendors who could run the shuttle program.
