Summit County residents who receive Medicaid benefits or are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program now have access to discounted Summit Bike Share passes.

“Transportation is such a critical piece of our daily lives, our moods, how we make money and how we get around,” said County Transportation Planning Director Carl Miller. “If we can provide a safe, comfortable, equitable approach that is the best way for people to get around in the community for our sustainability goals, we really want to support that.”

The Access Pass is $7 per month, but riders aren’t locked into a subscription and may opt in or out of the program as needed. The price is the same as the one-hour rate for visitors and deeply discounted compared to the $150 season pass, which is the only other pass specifically reserved for locals.

Ailish Ferrick, a University of Utah graduate student studying city and metropolitan planning, helped the county develop and launch the program earlier this year. Ferrick will monitor Access Pass usage and participant feedback to create a comprehensive report for the county, including suggestions for future seasons.

“We want the intended audience to see it, so a lot of the work I’m doing right now over the summer is outreach,” Ferrick said. “I have a list of the affordable housing units in Summit County, and I’ve been reaching out to them saying, ‘Hey, we have this program. Can I bring posters and flyers to your apartment building and put them up in your elevator?’”

Miller said the Access Pass is limited to Medicaid and SNAP recipients because that’s the standard used by other bike share programs to easily document and verify an individual’s income level. However, Ferrick said she intends to study ways to expand the program so more residents are eligible.

“We want more people who qualify for this to have access and to know about it while making sure this program isn’t used by visitors from across the world or the United States,” Miller said. “These are intended to serve those who often serve us with tourist jobs, restaurant jobs or service jobs and making sure they have access to their place of employment or where they live.”

Miller said the Transportation Department worked closely with a software developer to ensure people can quickly and easily submit documentation through the Summit Bike Share app to receive the Access Pass. But the most difficult part of launching a new program is spreading the word, according to Miller, which is why having Ferrick on board to spearhead outreach efforts has been beneficial for the county.

“It was a soft launch without a lot of backing at the beginning of the season,” Miller said. “People have been qualifying for this and have been receiving their memberships, but I do anticipate that this ramps up considerably.”

Ferrick is also the point person for community feedback. She’s started to interview riders about what they like about the Access Pass, as well as any improvements they think the county should make to the program. She said a comprehensive survey will likely be sent to Access Pass riders after the season ends this fall.

“It’s a full calendar year that I’ll be working on this,” Ferrick said. “When people visit Park City, the people serving them their food and making their beds fade into the background for them, but if those people weren’t there, their experiences wouldn’t be as good. … If the county can support them by helping them get around a little easier, I think that’s a huge way our government can pay them back and thank them for the work they’re doing because Park City wouldn’t be a tourist destination without them.”

Information about Summit Bike Share is available on summitbikeshare.com. Ferrick said housing managers interested in advertising the program can reach her by emailing ailish.ferrick@utah.edu.

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Summit Bike Share has almost tripled its ridership numbers since the program’s launch in 2017, with users embarking on more than 23,000 rides between May and November of last year.

The 2025 season was slightly longer than usual due to the lack of snow along the Wasatch Back, which gave riders extra time to take advantage of Summit Bike Share’s offerings. Overall, riders traveled 69,415 miles and burned almost 4 million calories, offsetting nearly 29 tons of carbon dioxide emissions across 23,700 rides.

The average length of a ride was just under half an hour, with the average distance traveled hovering around 3 miles, according to a county staff report covering the program’s end-of-the-year statistics.

It was Summit Bike Share’s ninth year in operation. Almost 6,000 more riders participated in the program in 2025 compared to 2024, or almost a 32% increase. Compared to Summit Bike Share’s inaugural season in 2017, which attracted a little more than 8,000 rides, ridership numbers have increased by 186%.

The Canyons Transit Hub station near Canyons Village was the most popular bike station, drawing 6,309 riders throughout the year. The least popular station was the Upper Main Street station in Park City, which attracted 1,705 riders.

Other popular rental stations included Slopeside at Canyons, the Old Town Transit Center and Park Avenue.

The staff report specifically praised the Park City Chamber/Bureau and Intermountain Health. Both organizations sponsored Summit Bike Share and made it possible for the program to install two new stations — one at the Park City Visitor’s Center and the other at the Park City Hospital. A third station was installed at the courthouse in Coalville.

The county additionally offered two dozen free or reduced-price days for the first time in 2025. The discounted days were structured around other community events, such as Park Silly Market, Savor the Summit and the Kimball Arts Festival, and were funded through a restaurant tax grant.

Most Summit Bike Share riders were native Utahns, with 33% of riders coming from Summit County and 26% of riders coming from other areas of the state. Approximately 41% of riders in 2025 were visitors from other parts of the country.

The program met around half of its goals, hitting successful benchmarks with ridership, stations, operational days and sponsorships. However, the staff report indicated Summit Bike Share was unable to reduce its costs as hoped in 2025 compared to 2024, which was one of its three failed goals.

The county took over bike share operations from a third-party provider in 2023, and 2024 served as the county’s first full year in charge of the program.

Summit Bike Share also aimed to have 50% of riders come from Summit County in 2025, a 13% increase compared to 2024. The program did not meet that goal, experiencing a slight decrease from the 37% statistic outlined in the 2024 end-of-year report.

The program barely missed its goal of having 250 “reliable” bicycles by the end of the year, too. Summit Bike Share ended 2025 with 243 reliable bicycles, only seven fewer bicycles than originally hoped. The staff report did not include a definition of a “reliable” bicycle or how the bike share measured its reliability benchmarks.

The document also noted important changes to operating procedures over the last 12 months as well, including reducing the cost of a season pass to $50, which improved “affordability while increasing overall participation.” Summit Bike Share also relocated to a county-owned warehouse, which is expected to lower operating costs in the future after the county finishes a few lingering capital improvement projects on the property.

Summit Bike Share listed its goals for 2026 in its annual report, which include launching a “permanent equity access program” to provide discounted passes to low-income residents, continued partnerships with resorts and transit providers, identifying new revenue sources to support longer ride times without increased base membership fees and establishing “station-level” sponsorships with local businesses.

Staff also hope to “improve wayfinding” with mobile-based mapping and navigation, migrate to a new software platform, obtain “next-generation bicycles designed to improve reliability,” and expand partnerships with housing providers, social service organizations and workforce programs to directly enroll participants.

More information on the Summit Bike Share program, including details about its 2025 season recap, is available at summitbikeshare.com.

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Summit County is still working on finalizing its Summit Bike Share ridership data for 2025, but county officials indicated the program is continuing to grow rapidly under the supervision of the transportation department.

The Bike Share serviced approximately 23,700 rides in 2025, a 40% increase compared to the 2024 season, which saw around 18,000 rides between May and October, according to Summit County Transportation Planning Director Carl Miller.

“We added a few new stations, added some bikes, and ridership was up again,” Miller said. “It’s increasing each year, which is a positive sign.”

The county took control of Summit Bike Share operations shortly before the 2024 season, and last year was the first year the program was under the full supervision of the transportation department rather than a third-party service provider. Ridership has been steadily increasing ever since, and county officials have strived to make the program more accessible, both physically and financially.

“We really want to promote our season passes and provide some free days because I think once people get on the bikes, they seem to enjoy them and want to use them for recreation, for running quick errands, a break from work, whatever it is, but getting people on the bikes is a little bit of a barrier,” Miller said. “We’re definitely going to have some reduced or free days to help people see this is not a challenge and it’s something they would enjoy, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of those in 2026.”

The transportation department offered some free or reduced cost days in 2025 in addition to installing new stations at the Park City Visitor’s Center, Canyon’s Village and Prospector Square.

“We’re trying to continually improve and expand the program, so we will have a few new stations (in 2026),” Miller said. “We’ve recently contracted with a new software partner who will help us with an equity program because we really don’t want finances to be a barrier for people to use the bikes.”

Miller said he also hopes to bolster Summit Bike Share’s helmet program. Multiple stations already have a stand for riders to check out a helmet to stay safe while riding, and Miller said the goal is to have helmets at every station by the end of next year.

“That’ll be a pretty big lift, but we’re confident that we can really improve the rider experience in that way,” he said. “And we have great sponsors who have been helping us financially, too, including Intermountain Health, Park City Chamber, Deer Valley and now Mountain Magazine, to help us get the word out and make sure this program is financially viable, too.”

Miller encouraged anyone in Summit County, whether they’ve participated in the Bike Share or not, to respond to the county’s five-minute end-of-the-year survey.

“We want this to be the community’s program,” Miller said. “We want to make sure that we’re checking the right boxes and reflecting the public’s needs and sentiments accordingly, so if we hear certain things in the survey about where we need stations, the pricing, the program that we run, the quality of the bikes, any of those things, we’d really like to get feedback so we can make sure we’re providing a service that works for both the community and tourists next summer.”

Information on Summit Bike Share is available online by visiting summitbikeshare.com.

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Summit Bike Share members had an impressive 2024 season.

Between May and October, riders traveled more than 74,000 miles and burned approximately 4.1 million calories, offsetting 30 tons of carbon dioxide emissions across 18,000 individual rides. It was the longest season the Bike Share has had so far with an opening date seven weeks earlier than in 2023.

It was also the first full year Summit County ran the program without a third-party service provider, and Transportation Planning Director Carl Miller said the county plans to build upon its success even more in 2025.

“I think sometimes the previous service provider had made it as a tourist amenity, but we’re really trying to better integrate into the community and make this something that locals can see as an option for them to get around the community rather than just jumping in their vehicles,” Miller explained. “We have High Valley Transit and Park City Transit that do an amazing job. This can also help with those first and last miles or just those recreational rides where it’s a beautiful sunny day in the summer and you want to get out and get some fresh air.”

As part of Summit Bike Share’s outreach to local residents, the county added two stations in 2024 — Lincoln Station and Park City Hospital. Miller said the transportation department is exploring changes in membership pricing, too.

“We’re looking at reducing the price threshold so it’s more accessible for a lot of people in the community, as well as providing other opportunities, like maybe a free ride day or other opportunities,” he said, “so people can at least try out the bikes and hopefully have a good experience and want to come back to that and default to that as one of their transportation options in the community. We think it’s really the most healthy, best way to get around, both for an individual and for the air quality and traffic.”

The transportation department also hopes to partner with local businesses to sponsor helmet racks and bolster the program’s financial health.

“That way, we can make sure people are riding safely and they have quick and accessible helmets when they check out a bike,” Miller said. “We’re looking for additional station sponsors that can help us with making sure that we have stations in all the areas that people would like to ride, and then we’re looking at better ways to advertise on the bikes, doing decals or wraps, so that businesses can have some moving billboards and really market their product as well as help us with the financial sustainability of the program.”

Based on feedback from its end-of-year survey in 2023, Summit Bike Share decommissioned 60 bikes in 2024 because of safety concerns. Miller said there was a noticeable difference in the community’s perception of the bikes in 2023 compared to 2024 as a result.

“We heard a lot of good feedback from the surveys,” he said. “The quality of the bikes has improved. We have a great operations team that has made sure that these bikes are in great condition. All winter season, they’ve been stripping these bikes down and fixing them to their highest capability, and the sentiment from the community was that the bikes are more reliable and consistent and in better shape than they’ve ever been. We’re trying to set the highest of standards for our bikes.”

Miller said Summit Bike Share aims to open its season sometime in mid-May, but an official date has not been set yet. He encouraged residents and tourists alike to take advantage of the program, especially as the county continues to improve the quality and availability of the service.

“While there are a lot of different ways to get around the community, the Bike Share is the best one to see the beautiful area that we live in and that people come from all around the world to see,” he said. “You can go at your own pace. You can stop and take pictures of yourself or the mountains or the beautiful scenery, and the whole time you’re doing that, you’re getting light physical activity. It really is the best way to enjoy the community and get some recreation.”

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