As anyone who has seen the black, blue and purple buses and vans driving on S.R. 224 or throughout the Snyderville Basin knows, it’s a new era for public transit in the Park City area. Summit County’s High Valley Transit launched this summer after county officials decided to end their long-term partnership with City Hall on Park City Transit and instead create their own bus system with an eye toward expanding service levels in the greater Basin region. As a result of the change, Park City Transit now operates primarily within city limits.

While officials intend for the two systems to co-exist seamlessly — a rider can take a High Valley Transit bus from Kimball Junction to Park City Mountain Resort, for example, then board a Park City Transit bus to reach another destination in town — the split is nonetheless a significant shift after Park City Transit was the area’s sole provider for so long.

One of the major changes riders have seen, apart from High Valley Transit’s distinctive color scheme and a few route alterations, is an offering known as microtransit. High Valley Transit launched the service in May, allowing users in the Basin to order rides in an app, similar to Uber or Lyft. Within minutes, a van arrives at the user’s location and drives them to their destination.

In the initial months since the microtransit service got rolling, it seems to be a hit. According to data from High Valley Transit, it had served more than 26,600 passengers through mid-August, while in July, 125 people used the offering more than 20 times.

Microtransit, though, isn’t the only new wrinkle High Valley Transit is eyeing. Officials say the next step for the system, which currently extends into the East Side with a route to Kamas and Francis, could be Heber City. That’s long been identified as a need given the amount of workers who commute into the area from Wasatch County, and it could help alleviate rush- hour congestion on S.R. 248.

It’s likely that such an arrangement, which would require a partnership between Summit and Wasatch counties, is still a ways off. But Summit County officials, who have expressed a desire for High Valley Transit to eventually serve a greater portion of the Wasatch Back, seem eager to make it a reality.

“This has been a long time coming,” County Manager Tom Fisher said this spring. “… I think, within the next two years, you’re going to see some decent progress to getting transit on the ground between the two counties.”