A Utah Transit Authority bus with pride livery will no longer appear in Sunday’s annual Pride Parade, a spokesperson with the transit agency confirmed Friday.
UTA spokesperson Carl Arky said Friday that “the decision was made” to instead showcase one of the authority’s 20 new Gillig Electric buses in the parade.
“They’ve become pretty much the flagship of our fleets,” Arky said of the UTA Gillig buses. “They wanted to emphasize the clean energy vehicle and put it in front of tens of thousands of people who stand to benefit from the technology.”
The decision to pull the pride-wrapped bus from the Pride Parade came two days after a tweet from the transit agency on Wednesday had showcased the bus, which features colors from the progress pride flag.
In the Wednesday tweet, UTA encouraged riders to “keep an eye out” for the pride-wrapped bus throughout the agency’s transit system.
The tweet prompted support on social media, but it also drew criticism, including from the Salt Lake County Republican Party, which quote-tweeted the post and asked, “Is this appropriate? Tell us what you think below. @RideUTA who payed for this?”
Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, also quote-tweeted the post, and asked, “Why is @RideUTA using tax dollars on this? Also Quasi-State agencies must remain apolitical.”
The pride livery was not paid for using public UTA funds, Arky confirmed late Friday, though because it was after hours, he said he could not specify at the moment who did pay for the livery.
When The Salt Lake Tribune asked if state lawmakers had prompted UTA to pull the pride-wrapped bus from the annual Pride Parade, Arky deferred to UTA executive director Jay Fox. However, Arky added, Fox was on a camping trip Friday evening and did not have cell service.
The Tribune still sent Fox a request for more information via email. It was not immediately returned Friday evening.
A representative from the Utah Pride Center, which organizes the annual Pride parade, said they were not aware of UTA’s apparent change in plans.
The pride-wrapped bus has been on Wasatch Front streets for more than a year, Arky said Friday. At the time, he could not confirm whether the pride-wrapped bus will continue to be used for service in the future, or whether the livery would be removed from the vehicle.
