page_title: The Ryde
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: The Ryde / History / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Students getting on and off two of The Ryde's buses stopped at the Museum of Art stop
context_page_description: The Ryde is a bus service that provides transportation to the Brigham Young University community in Provo, Utah, United States. The service is owned and operated by Student Movement, Inc. and operates under the brand, "The Ryde". Although The Ryde began as a limited service paid shuttle bus, but the fall of 2015 it expanded to limited-service bus routes that are free to BYU students.
context_section_description: Since at least 2002, BYU provided students (and often faculty and other employees) the opportunity for either free or substantially subsidized UTA bus passes of one form or another. However, in the fall of 2010, BYU announced that beginning with the Fall 2011 Semester, it would dramatically reduced the amount allotted to UTA pass subsidies. The result was that even with the continued nominal subsidy, there was a dramatic increase in the cost of a UTA pass for students.
  In mid-2011, BYU announced that beginning with the Winter 2012 Semester, Student Movement, Inc. (SMI) would begin transporting students between certain off-campus housing units and BYU campus. SMI was founded earlier that year by two BYU seniors (Jake Luekenga and Kevin Smith) who believed there was a need for a more specialized service than UTA provided. (While the UTA passes offered access throughout the UTA service area, many of the students used it almost exclusively to travel to and from BYU campus.) Although earnest discussions with the BYU Administration had begun in March, it took until June to reach a firm agreement with BYU and have it signed. (A contract was necessary as SMI would be partially operating on the privately owned campus of BYU.) As soon as the agreement was executed, SMI ordered three buses. The used buses ordered by SMI were similar in size to the 40-foot (12 m) buses utilized by UTA, but would use cleaner burning compressed natural gas (CNG) for fuel, rather than diesel fuel (as used by most of those owned by UTA at the time). Accordingly, Mr. Luekenga claimed, their buses would have 50 percent lower emissions. Another advantage of the new service (over UTA's routes) is that the shuttles would connected directly with the center of BYU campus.
  Plans for new shuttle included service to three areas: the King Henry area (southeast of campus), the Alpine Village and Glenwood area (west-northwest of campus), and the Raintree and Wyview Park area (northwest of campus). The single on-campus stop was (as designated by BYU) initially adjacent to the Museum of Art. SMI also indicated that plans included Saturday morning "grocery runs". The cost for the new service was set at $99.00 per semester, but residents of the Glenwood and Raintree complexes would have their passes subsidized such that their cost would be $79.00 per semester. Even before it began service, SMI hoped to expand it service beyond the three destination areas, particularly the Carriage Cove and Branbury area.
caption: Students getting on and off two of The Ryde's buses that are stopped at the Museum of Art stop