For the last three years, Idaho Falls has been without any sort of public transportation when the Targhee Regional Public Transportation Authority shut down in April 2019. With the help of $4.2 million in funding from the Federal Transit Administration, the city hired a transportation coordinator, created Greater Idaho Falls Transit or GIFT, and partnered with other contractors to create new public transportation that resembles something closer to Uber or Lyft than a typical bus or subway system.
“We will pick you up in the comfort of your home or wherever you are at in Idaho Falls and take you to your destination often in Idaho Falls,” said Kerry Hammon, a public information officer for the city of Idaho Falls.
The service is a point-to-point service, which allows for greater flexibility in where people can be picked up and dropped off. The service has been in development over the last couple of years. It utilizes an app that can be downloaded to your phone and used to call for a pickup.
“We’ve been working on this new GIFT for a couple of years now as a solution since we lost our public transportation a couple of years ago … and we finalized the contractors for this eight weeks ago,” Hammon said.
The service will begin giving rides to anywhere in the city for $3 per ride this Friday, but you can download the app right now by searching for GIFT On-Demand in the app store.
You can also learn more about the service by checking out the Greater Idaho Falls Transit website here.