After officially becoming classified as a metropolitan area in the last census, Twin Falls is now rolling out a public transportation system to meet the needs of its growing population.
The city council approved a contract last month with the ridesharing company Downtowner, which will run seven vans, six days a week, throughout the city as part of its "microtransit" program.
Twin Falls is using a $3 million grant from the Idaho Department of Transportation to set up a two-year pilot project.
A similar program, also operated by Downtowner, has been in place in Idaho Falls since last summer.
Kade Marquez, the transportation coordinator for Idaho Falls, said the system — there called GIFT for Greater Idaho Falls Transit — works more like Uber or Lyft than a fixed bus route.
GIFT is on track to provide about 88,000 rides in its first year. The vans are especially convenient for seniors, Marquez said.
"They say, ‘I haven’t left my house in three months; I’m really excited for this to get going,'" he said.
Both cities have had very small-scale, fixed-route public transit options in place in the past, but ceased operating them in the past few years.
Through the new microtransit system in Idaho Falls, users schedule shared trips through an app or by dialing into a call center, and each ride costs $4.
But Marquez said people aren't just using the system in a pinch. Some are making it part of their routines, like calling the vans to go grocery shopping on a payday or to community events on the weekends. Teens even use it to hitch rides to the mall.
“Traditionally, public transportation, especially in a rural community, is only used by those people who don’t have any other option," Marquez said. "Well, we’re creating a system where people choose this because it’s a premium service.”
Marquez also said the data the city has been collecting through the pilot program could inform the implementation of a more permanent transportation system. He's confident the funding for the on-demand service — federal transportation funds distributed by ITD through a grant — will continue for a third year.
The microtransit program is scheduled to start in Twin Falls in July.
Find reporter Rachel Cohen on Twitter @racheld_cohen
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