When we talk about places that are doing great work improving transit, it’s easy to focus on the country’s coasts and its biggest cities. But Utah’s been doing a pretty good job: Last year, the Utah Transit Authority opened up new light-rail lines, Salt Lake City’s first streetcar in 50 years, and has been working diligently on bus rapid transit. The UTA also came up with a simple-but-effective incentive to increase ridership from college kids: tempt them with an iPad.
Each month until April, UTA will give away iPads to students from BYU, LDS Business College, Salt Lake Community College, Utah Valley University, the University of Utah, Weber State University, and Westminster College.
To enter, students need to ride UTA trains and buses with their student pass. Once a student has made at least 10 round trips during the month, he or she will be automatically entered into the giveaway.
The giveaway is designed to encourage students to opt for public transit when commuting to campus.
The program’s gone on for a few months already, and has gotten students singing the praises of public transit — it’s cheap, it’s convenient, you can do your homework using the train wifi. Plus, if you can win an iPad, you can also use the train wifi to catch up on Netflix. Win!
