Salt Lake Express has received a federal grant from the Idaho Department of Transportation (ITD) to open up three new routes.
The new routes will allow customers to travel from Idaho Falls to Jackson, Wyoming and Rexburg to West Yellowstone, Montana. The third new route that has been in high demand for a long time runs from Twin Falls to Sun Valley.
According to an article by the Standard Journal, the grant is part of 5311 federal funding, Formula Grants for Rural Areas. These grants assist in intercity mass transit.
Sun Valley to Twin Falls
Of the three newly accepted routes, the route from Twin Falls to Sun Valley has been in particularly high demand.
This round-trip route will run twice a day. The first shuttle will depart Twin Falls at 6am and arrive at the Sun Valley Lodge at 8am. The return trip will leave the Lodge at 8am to arrive back at the Twin Falls airport at 10:30am. The second shuttle will leave the airport at 4pm to arrive at the Lodge at 6pm; the return journey will begin at 6:30am to culminate in Twin Falls at 9:30pm. This route accounts for the demand for patrons traveling to Jerome, Shoshone, Bellevue, Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley.
Salt Lake Express believes that ticket sales will surpass expenses by 2020. This is also due to the fact that this route opens these rural communities to more bus line options. They gain access to Greyhound, other Salt Lake Express routes, and the National Transportation Network.
These routes will become available on October 1, 2017.