High Valley Transit District officials are expecting ridership on their fixed-route buses to increase rapidly in the winter months.

They also estimate that the district’s microtransit service — which is called Micro allows users to arrange an on-demand ride in a minivan using an app, similar to ridesharing services such as Uber — will serve 100,000 passengers in its first year.

They were hoping for a utilization rate of 3 to 3.5, which is the average number of passengers per net driver hour worked. A higher utilization means drivers serve more passengers during each hour of their shifts.

The Summit County transit service, which began its microtransit offering in May and officially launched in July, has been a success in its first six months, Executive Director Caroline Rodriguez said.

There were 3,000 more riders on the fixed-route system in November than in October, according to a High Valley Transit report. And in the first two weeks of December, 101 Spiro, a high-frequency route from Jeremy Ranch to Deer Valley, was averaging more than 1,500 passengers a day, about three times the average of riders in November, the report says.

In addition, the utilization rate was getting as high as 10, Rodriguez said.

And as of Dec. 19, Micro had served more than 75,000 passengers and was on track to surpass 100,000 users.

“We’ve exceeded expectations,” she said.

High Valley Transit, which offers fare-free service in Summit County, primarily serves the Snyderville Basin. The county had partnered with Park City on a single transit system, Park City Transit, for years before creating its own district.

Some critics of the split said having two systems serving the Park City area duplicates costs, but county officials said Park City Transit was operating at capacity and could not increase service levels. High Valley Transit District’s budget for 2022 is about $17 million, which includes some startup costs.

Rodriguez said Micro, which takes riders to their destination or a fixed bus route stop, has been extremely popular. Before the service was launched, there were areas of Summit Park, Jeremy Ranch and Pinebrook that had no access to public transit, she said.

“Part of the reason is that fixed route is generally not a match for rural areas,” Rodriguez said. “It’s very hard to serve with a big bus. That’s exacerbated in our area because of the geography and the weather.”

She said the district is in talks with Wasatch County to possibly expand the transit service there.

Both the fixed-route buses and Micro vans help with traffic mitigation, Rodriguez said. Rides in the vans are combined, with a limit of four passengers because of COVID-19, which means there are fewer single-occupancy vehicles on the road, she said.

The biggest complaint from riders is that the bus is late, “but our bus is in the same traffic as everybody else,” she said.

“We can improve that to a certain extent but I can’t control the traffic,” Rodriguez said. “We’re working to find funding to build bus-only lanes, which will significantly improve the experience for transit riders.”

Like many other employers in the area, High Valley Transit is experiencing hiring challenges. It currently has 46 bus drivers and about 40 Micro driver-partners, she said. She wants to hire a minimum of four and up to 15 bus drivers and add as many as 20 Micro drivers.

But even with sign-on bonuses, increased pay of up to $50 an hour in some cases and other perks such as free hotel nights in Park City, Rodriguez has been struggling to fill the spots.

“It’s because there are quite literally no people to fill the jobs, just like every other industry,” she said.