Salt Lake Express to receive federal funding for new routes

IDAHO FALLS – After seeking public input in March about bus routes between Idaho cities, the Idaho Transportation Department has awarded the Salt Lake Express about $702,705 to go toward three new routes.

The routes include Idaho Falls to Jackson, Wyoming; Sun Valley to Twin Falls; and Rexburg to West Yellowstone, Montana.

The original award was $1.1 million. Rachel Palliser, ITD’s grants and contracts officer, said the full amount wasn’t given is because the remainder is going toward an existing project already under contract.

Pallister said intercity bus funding supports the connection between rural areas and the urban areas. It also connects people to the national system of intercity bus networks.

The grant is a part of a program called 5311F federal funding (Formula Grants for Rural Areas). ITD receives these grants annually specifically for intercity bus routes, or intercity mass transit, ITD spokesperson Jake Melder said in a March 19 article.

“At this time, Salt Lake Express was the only applicant proposing the Sun Valley to Twin Falls route,” Pallister.

The other applicant, Elevated Transit of Utah, had proposed running buses from Rexburg to Salt Lake City and from Coeur d’Alene to Boise.

Pallister said Elevated Transit’s proposed routes are already being served by other providers and are profitable.

Pallister presented the Salt Lake Express’s plan to the ITD board at a Pocatello meeting May 18, where a decision was finalized. The board made a unanimous decision about the proposed routes.

The funding will begin Oct. 1.