Utah Transit Authority Giving Away Free iPads To Frequent Student-Riders

If you want more people to take public transportation, why not just bribe them with free iPads? That might sound a bit excessive, but that’s apparently exactly what the Utah Transit Authority is now doing.

If you’re a college student in the area and you take at least ten roundtrips during a single calendar month, then you’re automatically entered into the giveaway. Not a bad deal for the students — though, I’ll be curious to see how much the giveaway actually ends up affecting ridership numbers after it is no longer running.

Image Credit: Utah Transit Authority via Flickr CC

Deseret News provides more details:

Utah Transit Authority will be giving away iPads to college students who use their student passes to travel to and from campus. 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.

An interesting approach, for sure, but I’m not totally convinced that it’ll prove effective in raising long-term ridership. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Are any of our readers students in the Utah area? Any comments?

For more information, visit rideuta.com

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