(KCPW News) Salt Lake City is expanding a program aimed at increasing use of alternative transportation and making residents more confident in it. Sustainability and Environment Director Vicki Bennett says the city’s SmartTrips pilot program launched in the East Liberty Park neighborhood has been a success, with residents taking advantage of free seven-day bus passes, kits with pedometers and bicycle tail lights, and customized biking and transit maps.
“By being able to give these very specific bits of information to the people requesting it, they can personally see how they can minimize their driving and find the other opportunities,” she says.
She says 15 percent of the roughly 800 homes included in the initial launch have taken advantage of SmartTrips so far.
Now, it’s expanding to the city’s Rose Park and Wasatch Hollow neighborhoods. Dave Galvan, manager of Mestizo Coffeehouse on North Temple, says alternative transportation in his community is essential.
“West High School has 400-plus students that will ride the TRAX line and that ride the bus lines into us,” says Galvan. “When I learned about Breathe Utah and SmartTrips, I thought: this is us.”
Residents of those neighborhoods will receive a letter in the mail allowing them to sign up, or they can fill out a form online.
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